August 3, 2007
Other
Question from Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA:
Have you ever seen a person diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have an undetectable C-Peptide and positive antibodies for diabetes at the time of diagnosis, along with hypothyroidism, and then, approximately four years later, after using an insulin pump, have a C-Peptide of 3.1 and negative antibodies for diabetes? My doctor at the Medical University of South Carolina said he has never seen this before and said it’s like my body is doing everything backwards. What is your opinion about this because I seem to have everybody at the doctor’s office scratching their heads?
Answer:
I have not seen an absolutely unmeasurable C-peptide, but I have seen low values that get higher after diagnosis. This has to do with the fact that at the time of diagnosis, any of the remaining insulin-producing cells do not function well, even though they are alive. This is called glucose toxicity and is shown to reverse with removal of the high glucose levels. Therefore, once your blood sugars have improved, this may have allowed some insulin secretion to occur and explain why there was later C-Peptide measurement. This is only my hypothesis. It would be strengthened if you had serial C-Peptide measurements.
JTL
