Hi all, just wanted to share this story of how I was misdiagnosed as type 1. I hope some may find it interesting.
Diabetes seemed to run in my family, and atypically. My father and grandfather were both diagnosed as type 2 and had no weight or insulin resistance issues. Metformin did not lower their a1c. I knew my fasting sugars had been high as early as 7 years old when my dad tested my sugars in his meter so I figured I probably had whatever they did.
Through a blood test at age 19, we saw my fasting sugars were high and I got referred to an endo. I thought I had type 2 like my dad and grandfather so I dieted and exercised very hard to try to lower blood sugar. I did keto diet but still had a1c of 6.6 after doing keto for months. Nothing seemed to work.
Upon presentation to my endo, he told me the GAD antibodies were negative but because my keto diet didn’t work then it can’t be type 2. He told me there are other antibodies he did not test for which can cause type 1 so from now on I should quit keto to prevent possible DKA and live the rest of my life as a type 1 diabetic.
I did this for 3 years. At age of 23 I questioned my diagnosis and my families diagnosis. I looked up whether diabetes can be genetic. I discovered MODY which there are 14 different genes that can cause diabetes. Most often Mody is misdiagnosed as either type 1 or type 2. They have different presentations depending on which gene is mutated. For my specific situation I was MODY 2.
I talked to my new endo and ask about Mody. She agreed to test my c peptides to see if my body was producing insulin. It was. She also tested other antibodies. All negative. Genetic test revealed Mody. I was able to come off of insulin completely.
This is my story hope you find it interesting.