March 18, 2004
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Insulin
Question from Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates:
My son is 14 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but three separate laboratory tests gave the same results: no presence of antibodies to GAD in the blood. He takes two insulin (mix) injections of 12 units and 8 units every day and he is doing fine with blood sugars in the 100 to 130 mg/dl [5.6 to 7.2 mmol/L] range. Is it possible that he has type 2 diabetes at this age? Do we need to do other tests? Do we need to change to tablets instead of insulin injections? Are there any side effects of these tablets at this age?
Answer:
There is no insulin tablet. There are oral medications that can affect pancreatic insulin production and the body’s response to insulin. There certainly are cases of type 1 diabetes whereby antibodies are not detected. This has been referred to as type 1b diabetes. There is a less common, confounding condition called Maturity Onset Diabetes of Youth (MODY).
Without other history, I would say that the likelihood of a 14 year old having type 2 diabetes is less than the likelihood of type 1. Your pediatric endocrinologist should be able to sort out things for you.
DS
