October 22, 2002
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Chicago, Illinois, USA:
My son, who was overweight around his waist and diagnosed about six months ago, had an A1c of 11% at the time and an A1c of 5.5% three months later. He is currently taking 3 units of Humalog with 9 units of NPH at breakfast and 2 units of NPH at bedtime, and his blood sugars have not gone above 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] since diagnosis. Could he possibly have type 2 diabetes? Should I ask the doctor the next time we go in for his checkup? Should I just accept the fact that he does have type 1?
Answer:
Differentiating between type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be difficult in the best of situations. Your son’s physician should be able to discuss the two at length with you. There are various blood tests that can be helpful in differentiating the two types if it is not clear based on history and physical examination at the time of diagnosis.
MSB
