New treatment helps rare form of diabetes - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Anne Marie Tiernon/Eyewitness News

There's been a breakthrough for diabetes patients who are having success after quitting their insulin shots. It's for patients diagnosed with diabetes at a very early age. Some of the patients might not be type one at all. They have a genetic mutation, and their treatment is different. The only US case of mother and child is in Indiana.

A simple trip through the a cafeteria lunch line used to have a lot of limits for Wendy Rowlett and her son Nick, who were both diagnosed with diabetes early. Wendy was diagnosed at 11 days old, and Nick from day one.

"His sugar I think at birth was 595 and I guess normal for a baby is 40," said Rowlett.

It's been constant monitoring and reliance on insulin shots.

"I kinda felt captive being a diabetic; kinda felt like an outcast," said Nick.

But that changed when Danville pediatrician Dr. Samuel Wentworth urged Nick and his mother to test for a rare type of diabetes that is part of a clinical trial at the University of Chicago called monogenic diabetes. It's caused by a genetic mutation rather than an autoimmune disorder like type one.

"It didn't take very long to get the results and Nicholas immediately tested positive," said Rowlett.

That led to enrolling Nick and treating him with Glyberide pills rather than insulin injections. He now takes four a day.

"In the case of this syndrome they actually can't make insulin there is a block in the production of insulin for some reason that we don't understand. The drug erases that block and they start making their own insulin," said Dr. Wentworth, Hendricks Regional Health.

The improvement is measurable. Nick's blood sugars, which ran 250 to 300 on insulin, dropped to 120 on Glyberide.

"I can eat whatever I want now. I can eat pizza. That is my favorite food," Nick said.

This mother and son are two of only 20 or so cases diagnosed in the United States, but Wentworth believes the incidence is much higher. The tailored treatment could change lives, if only patients knew.

"I think anybody who takes insulin would say, 'Hallelujah, let me get off this shot,'" he said.

The DNA test is done with a simple swab of saliva from your mouth.

More info on monogenic diabetes