Some are getting hit with both types of diabetes

Filed in archive News on July 18, 2005

The lines are beginning to blur between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes:

Doctors are seeing a new phenomenon dubbed Double diabetes that makes it harder to diagnose and treat patients especially children.

The mix can strike at any age, and comes in various forms: Children who depend on insulin injections because of Type 1 diabetes gain weight and then get the Type 2 form in which their bodies become insulin resistant, for example.

Or someone with classic Type 2 symptoms isn't responding to therapy, and tests reveal they also are developing the insulin-dependent form of the disease. Or they may not fall clearly into either category.

These atypical cases makes a sometimes challenging disease more difficult to treat. (Neergaard, "'Double Diabetes' Harder to Detect, Treat", AP/ABC News, Jul.18)