July 27, 2003
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Escondido, California, USA:
I am an adult was initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but after a year and a half it was clear that oral medication/diet failed to control my blood glucose so my diabetes nurse ordered a test to determine whether I really had type 1. What test would have been used? Is this test normally done when diabetes is diagnosed?
Answer:
You are asking the wrong people. You should ask your diabetes health care team what tests were ordered, why they were ordered and how the results can be interpreted. Most likely, they did antibody tests. Usually islet cell antibodies or GAD 65 antibody tests are the most commonly available outside of research setting.
SB
[Editor’s comment: Antibody testing is not routinely done when type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, unless there is a suspicion that the patient actually has Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults.
WWQ]
