Diabetes is a serious condition affecting millions of people in the U.S.; some don’t even know they have it.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who have diabetes are at higher risk of serious health complications like blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and loss of toes, feet or legs.
“When a person develops diabetes, they don’t make enough insulin, so their blood sugars go high and the concern with that is those high sugars can damage vital structures,” said University Hospital Endocrinologist Dr. Brian Burtch.
Megan Metz, 37, was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her first pregnancy 10 years ago. After birth, her sugars never regulated, so she was then diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
“They told me that it’s a possibility because I was much heavier then that it could happen, that it was underlying and the pregnancy just kind of brought it out. “ she said.
At her heaviest, the Geauga County wife and mother weighed 320 pounds while pregnant.
“I was on different medications, usually once or twice a day, depending if it was a pill or nighttime insulin for years," she said. “Things were for the most part regulated, some highs and lows.”
After a second pregnancy, eventually, things got worse.
“We changed medications again and [it] just wasn’t working and at that point, I’m just like, what’s going on?”
Metz lost a significant amount of weight and did what she was supposed to do to regulate her blood sugar, but it wasn’t enough.
That’s when she turned to a new endocrinologist who diagnosed her with 1.5 diabetes, or latent autoimmune diabetes.
“If you’re not diagnosed with the right type of diabetes, you’re potentially closing the door on a lot of therapies that would make your life and your overall medical profile much better,” said Burtch. “Type 1.5 diabetes is really more related to, it’s like a milder version of type 1."
Burtch said type 1.5 is usually in middle-aged patients, and they’re often misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
“They’re started on medication but they never quite respond,” he said. “If you’re not diagnosed with the right type of diabetes, you’re potentially closing the door on a lot of therapies that would make your life and your overall medical profile much better.”
With this new diagnosis, Metz now takes insulin at meal time.
“She came in on oral medications and long-acting insulin wasn’t getting the job done,” said Burtch. “When we added mealtime insulin even within a week or two, we saw incredible results, within about three months follow-up, she was nearly perfect.”
