LADA Diabetes is a subtype of diabetes. I’ve learned a lot about it from reading books on diabetes, both Type I and Type II, as well as books on specific topics like how to use an insulin pump or how to get the most out of your CGM.
I am currently writing a book about LADA Diabetes, as LADA has its own unique challenges. While sometimes it is described as a subtype of Type 1, it’s also referred to as Type 1.5, so there is a lack of consensus on whether LADA is its own distinct type of diabetes. Regardless on where the terminology lands, people with LADA diabetes have unique challenges. In my book, I’ll share my experience and provide tips and insight into LADA diabetes. If you’d like to be one of the first people to read my book (I will be giving out free copies to beta readers), please sign up to my mailing list.
Below are a list of books that have helped me on my journey. Although these are not specific to LADA, they provide a wealth of information and are great books to accompany you on this journey.
Bright Spots & Landmines: The Diabetes Guide I Wish Someone Had Handed Me by Adam Brown.
Learn how to navigate this disorder by someone who’s already been here! This book comes up first on Amazon when searching for LADA Diabetes, and a lot of the book is about topics that would apply to all types of diabetes, like dealing with the mental stress of diabetes and making smart food choices.
Below is a photo of a passage from this book. This book discusses the benefits of low carbohydrate diet and how to accomplish that. I also agree with the author here that a low carb diet is very helpful in managing diabetes.
The Type 1 Diabetes Self-Care Manual: A Complete Guide to Type 1 Diabetes Across the Lifespan by Jamie Wood, MD, and Anne Peters, MD. 2017.
This book is very thorough. It isn’t about LADA diabetes, but LADA diabetes is treated like Type 1, so the vast majority of the book is relevant. I recommend it for anyone who is using insulin to treat diabetes, or planning to. It has in depth medical information. It’s the kind of information that you’d hope to receive from your endocrinologist. This book is written by two doctors and I really love how openly they share their knowledge.
I also liked how this book has quotes and stories from people with their first hand experiences in coping with the challenges of diabetes.
Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin –Completely Revised and Updated. By Gary Scheiner.
This book has a lot of great information about types of insulin and how to determine the correct dose. If you are new to the world of insulin, this is a great read.
Insulin Pumps and Continuous Glucose Monitoring: A User’s Guide to Effective Diabetes Management
by Francine R. Kaufman, M.D. with Emily Westfall
This is the book I am currently reading. Even though I am not yet using an insulin pump, this book has provided a lot of really useful information. It contains a lot of new information which is not covered in the other books on this page. It covers really practical things like how does an insulin pump work, what type of infusion set to use, and how much tubing to buy.
It also goes in depth into WHY spending all of this effort to control your blood glucose levels is a smart reason…. Ever wonder why doctors are so sure that getting your A1C low is important? They’ve done studies that show that people who have better A1C are less likely to have any serious side effects. They actually had to stop a study early because side effects like going blind were happening in the group of people who were only taking insulin once a day (which was the standard treatment then). Intensive insulin therapy by using an insulin pump or multiple daily injections became the standard of care BECAUSE it’s proven that intensive insulin treatment cause a person’s blood glucose to be closer to normal and this stops blindness and kidney failure, as well as other serious long-term health effects!!!