Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John on November 16, 2009 at 1:01pm

Hi Christine,
I had 1.45 which was considered on the end of low normal. I'm on a pump and use 50 units a day and 6 foot 1" 180 lbs never more than 10lbs + - with no anti bodies.... so it puts me in type 2 per my endo @ Joslin. Go figure.... I've given up trying to define type 1 or 2. Just working on keeping my A1C under 6.5 if I can do this none of the rest matters. Well maybe ; )

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Smith on November 16, 2009 at 2:31pm

Was it a fasting C-peptide or was it with a glucose challenge?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christine on November 16, 2009 at 3:30pm

a fasting C peptite

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Zoe on November 16, 2009 at 4:33pm

What type were you diagnosed as? If you are possibly LADA our pancreas tends to work in fits and starts, so you could be having an insulin spurt. Also, perhaps some more tech savy person would know, but I wonder if that is little enough of a difference that it could just be accounted for by different labs?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christine on November 16, 2009 at 4:59pm

Zoe, yes I am a LADA .
Dave, thanks for giving me the correct spelling.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on November 17, 2009 at 7:45am

Unless you are a type 1, the fasting c-peptide may not tell you much, it really depends on your fasting blood sugar. If your fasting blood sugar is pretty much 80 mg/dl and you are insulin sensitive your basal insulin requirements are probably pretty low and your corresponding c-peptide will come in pretty low even if you are non-diabetic. The c-peptide does tell you something when you have an elevated fasting blood sugar or you measure it with a glucose challenge (the so called stimulated c-peptide). If you are type 1, your c-peptide will likely come in very low (out of reference range) or even zero. Surprisingly, many type 1s still retain some residual insulin production, just far to little to be useful. Your own test pretty much says nothing without knowing the conditions of the test.

If you have a high fasting blood sugar and a low c-peptide, that indicates insulin deficiency.

if you have a high fasting blood sugar and a high c-peptide, that indicates insulin resistance.

If you have a low fasting blood sugar then your c-ceptide probably won't tell you much.

Even more confusing is that if you are using insulin, your natural insulin production may be suppressed so it may even tell you less than nothing.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christine on November 17, 2009 at 5:01pm

ah ok,thanks bsc!:) I had a high fasten BC and a c-peptide at the low end of the reference range, that's what confused me. Last time I also had a high fasten BC and a very low c-peptide that's why I am really confused. I hope my Endo can explain it at my next visit in 2 month...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Welker on November 23, 2009 at 1:27pm

The normal range is 1.1 to 5.0 ng/ml according to my last test.
The 1.1 is on the low side of normal.
The govt requires less then 0.7 to pay for pump supplies on medicare.
If you scored a 0.6 a year ago, then you are a type 1. I doubt a type 1 can get better. Probably the Lab made an error after all a nanogram is very small number. The test however should be done while the BG is less then 200 or so since the Glucose possibly throws off the test. I think that the peptide is produce as a byproduct of the production of insulin by the pancreas.

• ▶ Reply