My Story-
I went to the Doctor's office in 2004; I had a yeast infection. The my Judy (Nurse Practitioner) asked, "Do you have extreme thirst, frequent urination?"; I had both. She said, "I bet you have diabetes...you are too old to have Type 1 (23 yrs old) and you don't fit the normal Type 2." She pulled out a meter to check my BG's (blood sugar), the meter read 454.
I started to cry; my husband had just went to back to Iraq, what was I going to do? Judy put me on glizipized, did lab work and I left.
As soon as I got into the car I called my mom. She said she should have known I had diabetes...she couldn't put 2 and 2 together. She helped me compose myself, informed me on what she knew about diabetes.
1 week later by lab work came back. Judy said, "I am confused, I've never seen anything like this. You are different. The medication for Type 2 is working for you, your labs suggest are aren't producing as much insulin as you should be. I am sending you to an Endocrinologist.
2 weeks later, My first appointment to see Dr. Menon. He asked me if I was taking any medication. He looked at me and said, "I know you have Type 1.5/LADA, I need to run test to confirm this." I have never heard of Type 1.5 before in my life!!!! He said," The medication is going to work for you for a little while but eventually you will insulin dependent. I can not tell you how soon you would need the insulin, I will continue to keep you on oral medication until you require insulin."
I went home looked up Type 1.5 on the Internet, changed my diet brought my A1C down from 14.5 to 5.4.
That was almost 4 years ago...
In December of 2007, I noticed my BG's were getting a little out of control; I would only eat 2 carb choices (30g of carbs) and my readings would read 200. I called my new NP and she said maybe I had an infection; test came back negative for infection. I called back a week later; fasting BG's 150 and above. We thought I could be pregnant; not the case. She added metformin before lunch to my already 2 glipizde's bid (2.5mg), 2 metformin's bid (500mg). I called her back a week later; med's still not working. I asked her to put a referral in for me to see a Endo. I went to see NP at the Endo's office and he changed my medication again; still didn't work. I told Wesley I was DX w/ Type 1.5/LADA. He ran GAD65 test and told me I am now a Type 1 diabetic because my antibodies attacked my immune system. I was placed on Lantus once a day at night; still didn't work, my Before and after meal BG's were still too high. I went back to the office and Wesley put me on Humolog 3x a day. He said I might want to start looking into insulin pumps.
I told him I was interested in the OMNIPOD system.
I went on You Tube and saw how the omnipod system worked; it's my best option. I put my authorization request in. I was denied ny my insurance because the only decumentation I sent is stated I was a Type 2 diabetic. I appealed the deniel and it was overturned. My Pod is due to arrive on Thursday. I am excited. No more MDI (multiple daily injections) for me.
I will keep you all posted on the OMNIPOD system and me just being who Iam and living w/ diabetes.
Be Blessed
Cherise
