I'd like to share with you
the issue of mine which is really dilemma and a big question for me. Hope for
your feedback on it.
So, I’m diabetes since 2006 .I
was 17 when I firstly diagnosed with T1D and now I’m 23. First 2 years of my
life as diabetic was like a hell for me
with my highs, highs and then scary lows. No matter how I was controlling my diabetes
I couldn't find that golden mid of my blood sugar. On the other hand, I had
tons of problems with insulin choice which actually my doctor prescribed for me. I injected Actrapid for 6 times as a short
acting insulin before meals (after 2 hours of meal as usual my blood sugar was
high than target and I had to inject 2-3 units for correction almost a year)
and Insulatard 2 times (in mornings and
before sleep in the evenings) in a day as basal insulin. But after such kind of
doses of insulin my A1C was 10 and even more. I was depressed and didn’t know
what to do, cause my doctor also was shocked with it.
Then I decided to become ” a
doctor for myself “. Without talking and discussing with my doctor, I changed
my insulin types and began to inject lantus as a long acting and novorapid as
short acting one according to my carbohydrate amount in the meals. Gradually my
body began to react to it and my blood sugar lowered (I never used pumps since I’m
diabetic).
Now it’s almost 2 years that I’m using lantus and novorapid.
But the matter is: I actually don’t use novorapid regularly. I mean, I use it as
2-3 units, once or twice in a week when I eat a big slice of cake or something
like that and last time when I checked my A1C it was 4.3. It means, my body
regulates the blood sugar based only on the lanstus (I inject 26 units per day)
which I inject once in a day. In the mornings I sometimes check my BS and it’s surprisingly
81-85 range even if ate too much the previous night before sleep without using
novorapid.
I’m really concerned what it is, because it’s not normal for
T1D person without using appropriate doses of insulin as I understand. Is it
only lantus that so excellent controls my blood sugar or my diabetes “gone” ? :)
i am a mechanic not a doctor, still I use a basic princepal "If what you are doing is working then keep doing it" and in my opinion it helps for both machines and people too.
since some people do not have definitive"autoimmune type 1 diabetes" then it's possible for you to be making a little insulin on your own. If you are making a little insulin on your own you could have great blood sugars with "less than typical" insulin therapy only. there are many (mody, LADA, etc) kinds of diabetes and in some, like type 2 for instance, your body will make it's own insulin.
is your diabetes gone? if you are taking no insulin, eating meals with carbs, and your blood sugar remains normal all the time then yes, it's gone. could it happen? ida know. it would be great though.
does it make any difference? if your a1c is awesome and you feel good, then no I don't think it matters that you have great control using only Lantus, 1x per day.
Could you talk to your doctor about cutting back your Lantus to see how much you need? I have heard, but don't know if it's true, that injecting insulin helps preserve the islet cells of a person with diabetes.
My guess is that because you're taking a substantial amount of Lantus each day and it hasn't killed you, that means you have diabetes. But your pancreas is obviously still making insulin too. That's wonderful!
In the Joslin study of people who'd lived well with type 1 diabetes at least 50 years, something like 76% of their bodies still made at least some insulin.
Because you were diagnosed older it is possible that you have the LADA form of diabetes, where pancreas function diminished really slowly over a long period of time. It's also possible you were misdiagnosed and have type 2 diabetes. You might also ask your doctor about using Metformin or other oral medications that help healthy islet cells make insulin and use it better.
Like Joe said, you don't have to do anything at all. Just enjoy it!
Doses vary, depending on a person's weight and insulin sensitivity. Your friend's dad was type 2, so his body doesn't use insulin well. I'm almost 40 and am overweight and take about 20u a day of basal insulin with a pump.
To see if your Lantus dose is average, the formula is to multiply your weight in kilograms by the number below, based on your activity level:
Mostly inactive .25-.60
Moderately active .20-.50
Very active .15-.40
So if you weigh 120 pounds, that's 54 kg (kg = pounds/2.2046)
If you're moderately active then an average range of Lantus is 11 - 17u per day.
But that's just a range. You can have 2 people of the same weight who take a lot less or a lot more because of their insulin sensitivity.
Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease and cannot just disappear.
26 units of lantus is a large amount and is probably why you do not need as much short acting. I myself only take 8 units of lantus, and cannot take my short acting unless its a dire situation because even 1 unit usually results in hypoglycemic episodes for me. I also have a hba1c that is far below the average diabetic (5.1%) but still i can assure you, i still have type 1.
Unfortunately, you still got it :( The good news is you still have us as brothers and sisters in your struggle and we will always help :)
I would need a grape farm and juice factory to keep up with 26 units Lantus. . . And I doubt I could live though a bolus of fast acting insulin with that much Lantus.
I had a HUGE problem on Lantus. I'd take my usual shot of 26 units, and I'd be either normal or low for the next 2-3 days, with no other shots. No Humalog to cover meals, no Lantus the next night. IF you haven't yet, I strongly recommend getting off of Lantus before it gets worse (I would drop to below 30 and stay there for hours, no matter what I ate!).
Now that I've switched to Levemir, I haven't had a problem. It only lasts about 18 hours, but it's better than staying low.
Oh yeah, I was on Lantus about 2 years before this happened to me, too.
Erica, are you type 1.5? this does exist and is a form of diabetes, or did you suffer from gestanional diabetes? Lantus is only active for 23-25 hours after injection... im not sure you are type 1... Im not trying to be rude or anything either... you would just be the first subject to have this affect from lantus as far as i know... Also i like the bantha skull, HG-209 would approve.
Pressed post too soon…oops when I was a kid, I had to switch from human insulin to pork, because I would have extreme lows at least 3 times a week. By extremes, I mean passing out. No such lows on pork. I guess I’m just extremely sensitive to the different types of insulin.
That's crazy! I don't mean that in a bad way, its just something i have never heard of besides case studies, did you have any hormone issues growing up or anything? I have just never heard of anyone getting a reaction like that to human homogenized insulin and i'm assuming it has to be a hormone issue because the interactive period of Lantus is so much lower than 3 days...
It's of note the poster hasn't written anything in response to any comment. We have no way to correlate and rationalize the information provided in the first post. There are many possible explanations and probably more than one is accurate.
I'm so sorry for being away from this topic for such a long time cuz i've been busy with my graduation issues. Bit by bit i'll reply to all comments. Sorry again.