My eye doctor was the first to suggest diabetes he said "your eyes are fine this is likely diabetes". I am sure glad he knew to suggest I go see my PCP, I would have waited (cause I am a guy) too long before I went to see my doctor.
I was able to see the PCP in time to not have any DKA, my A1C only got to 10.7 and my bg was 500. Within 3 months I was back to 6.0 and 5 months I was down to 5.2. Six months before diagnosis I had a fingerstick at the company wellness appointment and was only slightly high, not enough for them to send me to the doctor.
It took me 11 days to get my first in range(120) fasting bg after diagnosis.
MeganB, I know this is a dated thread, but I was wondering what you decided to do with the Omnipod. My situation is a lot like yours. I love the fact that on the omnipod it does such fine increments, but I can’t turn off all basal, so I was having to temporarily basal to OFF every 12 hours. Is that what you did or did you get off the pod entirely and do pen shots? That beep every hour on the temporary bugged me a lot, but I am undecided on which is best, to do a bunch of temporary basals or to just go off the pod and do shots until I need a basal.
I have been diagnosed for only about 3 weeks. Initially they started me with basal only-- 20 units of lantus a day. This was not having the desired effect, by BG was still off the charts all day. They added novolog with meals, which quickly brought my numbers down. Appearantly I'm in the honeymoon period now, because they have continuously had to reduce my doses of both types, but particularly of the lantus basal dose. Starting tomorrow I'll be down to 4u once a day with the lantus and only a 20:1u ratio on the Novolog with meals. Wondering what would be considered a typical dose for other people my age / size, etc with the Lantus?
It is definitely all different. I have found my insulin to carb ratio is about 1:50. Since I am just using the FlexPen, I just try to eat in quantities of 50. Since we are honeymooning, I do find that if we are off by a little, our pancreases do a good job of compensating for us, or at least mine does. If I knew that I was going to be honeymooning for a few years, I think it would be worth getting some type of “smart” pen, or at least those that deal in half units. I am afraid though, since my insurance approved me for the pump, that it would all come out of my pocket.
One week I say that I am just going to do the pods for the exact dosage, then I get tired of it and say I am going to do the shots. At first it seemed like such a hassle, but after reading about those that have no beta cells left and how even the smallest things like taking a run affects their blood sugar, I just am enjoying everyday that I have a fraction of my pancreas still working, even if it’s just for a few more months.
About to get GAD and C-peptide testing done but for the last month I have not needed hardly any insulin. In fact for the last 2 weeks I have not been on any insulin or other Diabetes medications. I am going low without it so when I take it I go even lower. My last A1C was 5.5 and my initial diagnoses was DKA, A1C 16.5, LADA BOOM have a nice day. My BG at the time of my hospital visit was 650 mg/dl. I am sure I will go back on insulin and should probably be taking some small amount to preserve beta cells now but I really can't or I drop out. Great topic as I was wondering if other LADA were as sensitive as I am in this early stage. Almost like I am not Diabetic right now. I eat really careful and I exercise every afternoon when I get home from work. So right now life is OK. hope yours is long lasting and makes your days easy. Have a great weekend.
I'm finding myself to be very sensitive to insulin also-- my A1C was just over 11 when initially diagnosed. Luckily my mom is a doctor so she recognized the signs early when I mentioned things like excessive fatigue and excessive thirst to her and had be get tested.
Since starting insulin and getting my levels back down to normal, I've been requiring less and less insulin. I'm suspecting they may eliminate by basal dose altogether, because I am trending lower than anyone really likes as well.
Not sure if this was the right thing to do or not, but I decided to get back on a little insulin once my spikes were greater than 60-80 mg and then they lingered there. This was so easy for me to see since I am fortunate enough to have a CGM, but I would just say to test on the hour, and if your numbers aren’t coming down like they should, then you know you will need a little bolus.
I asked the same question that you did. Why take insulin if it makes me go low? I didn’t understand how that saved beta cells, because that means obviously the cells are working at the same rate if they bring you down to normal on their own and added insulin makes you go lower. I say (in my non-educated personal experience only, although my endo essentially said the same thing) if you are getting good numbers without insulin, then don’t take the insulin. Just play around with small doses. Again, what I did, and it may be the worst way to do it, was not take any insulin for a few days. I saw where my body needed the extra “help” and just supplied it. I’m with you, it’s good to know we aren’t anomalies!
After talking it over with my PCP (who's the only doctor I've got at this point... live in remote area of Alaska) We've decided to join your club of bolus only no basal. I'm a little apprehensive about making a change when I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting to my stride-- but without snacks between every meal I am going low, and not until after the point at which, in theory, the novolog should be gone-- so we'll see what happens. Will keep in touch on this one as we may be able to compare notes again here
I understand what it is you speak of, onset was 10.7 BG was 500somethin', now I can go low the next day, just from not eating enough carbs the day of an endurance road ride or Mountain bike race.
I even did a Glucose tolerance test this week, at 1 hour I went from 90 to 234, then back down to 188 at two hours. After the test I went and enjoyed a large breakfast with lots of protein and fat, and just enough carbs to "balance" everything. Within an hour after eating, I was at 58 then 56, then 50. I had to drink a juicy juice just to correct. I am hyper sensitive to my own Insulin, so we have not started exogenous yet. I have Humolog on hand for correction but am afraid to take the first 1/2 unit.
Sam, how long are you saying the Novolog is lasting? Not sure if any other super insulin sensitives are like me, but I have checked duration of my novolog and I have found that it keeps dropping me up to 6 hours! I found this out becuasemy lunch is 5 hours after breakfast, and with no basal I was always going low mid afternoon. So basically the last hour of my breakfast dose was stacking with my regular lunch dose, and it was killing me. Between the hours of 4 and 5 is where it brings me down the most, obviously because the food has been completely digested.
I too don’t think that by going off your basal will affect much at all. I think it will even be helpful to try and see how long the Novolog actually is working. All about eliminating as many variables as possible.
I've just assuming that the advertised duration was about 4 hours like the manufacturer says was accurate for me. Haven't really thought about the possibility it could be lasting a lot longer than that.-- It'll be easier to get a better feel for it now without the lantus affecting things as well. Good pointer on something to look out for. When I'm at home I try to space me meals a little better than is working out here. Breakfast is only about 4 hours before lunch here, normally I would go at least 5 hours... The picture is very slowly starting to get more clear with all of this.
I was thinking the exact same thing Shawn! What helped me decipher my own pancreas vs. Novolog was by a CGM. I would assume that ones own pancreas, once food is digested, automatically starts slowing down, as opposed to artificial, which if you have too much, will bring you down like a freight train. Those days where I was “stacking” I would drop substantially after 4 hours. Although I am sure some of that is my own, the dramatic drop has to come from my bolus. Not sure if it makes sense, or even plausible, but once I started subtracting the insulin on board for a 6 hour duration, I have yet to go low and almost always am within 20 points of my target pre-meal range for dinner.
Without testing about every halfhour for 6 hours, I am not sure if there is a way to figure this out. If you can get your hands on a CGM, do it.
Remember that what you eat factors how much you will go low. The higher the GI, the higher the spike, but then the more dramatic the fall. With more fats/proteins, will help keep the fall from 4-6 hours to a minimum.
I am a math teacher, therefore I love everything to come out to an answer. From what I have found in my very short time in dealing with this is, there is very little black and white, and a whole lot of gray. I try not to worry too much about the science of it all, just know enough to where my pre-meal readings for every meal are stable. I am doing that now and I am happy. In my first couple of months, I wanted everything to work out like an equation, and as everyone can attest, that doesn’t work at all. If it works 80% of the time, I can correct/treat the 20% that didn’t work out. One thing is for sure, we are all on the right track.
Very interesting article, Shawnmarie. Thanks for posting the link.
Thanks for pointing me towards this thread - wow, it's been so helpful to hear about others' experiences with low insulin needs.
I think I smiled the most about reading about another adult using the 'junior' pen to get 1/2 units. The instructions do say it starts at 1u, but I did some 'tests' dropping insulin onto a plate and it seemed to provide a uniform volume of a 1/2u and I've been using the pen as such ever since, ignoring the childish green frog on the package that made me think it was only for kids.
Thanks for this article... I think I was struggling with 'reactive hypoglycemia' for years before T1 diagnosis..
My endo says that some diabetics suffer years with reactive hypoglycemia before they become diabetics. I know I did, and that's how I became his patient (and he was already my mom's endo). I was constantly having to eat candy due to drops--so not fun.
I don't know what I'm doing now...I feel like I'm in 'no man's land'.
That’s like me Kate, lucky you have an endo that at least recognizes that fact. I have hypo unawareness now and I’m not even on insulin yet, just from several years of reactive hypos:(