Hi, folks… This is my first post but I have read almost all you people have written to find an answer.Here’s the situation (Reader’s Digest version). Several years ago I suffered a back injury which took me from a very active life to the mobility of a slug. The PA at the clinic tested my blood and told me I was pre-diabetic and put me on Glimiperide. As I recall at the time my BG was 100. Fast forward to 3 years ago. I had a commercial driver’s license and went for my physical. BG was 120 (still on the same dose of glimiperide). My regular doctor refers me to an endo. My A1c all this time is 6. He starts tests and changing my meds to Januvia, Actos, Metformin (could NOT handle that!). The more the meds,the higher my A1c goes, 7, 7.2, 7.6, 7.5 the last one being 9. The PA decided to test for LADA and the number was 18.5 (range is supposted to be <= 0.02.
Okay, now I’m on insulin and trying to find a base line. My C-Peptide is 3.0 which means I’m still producing my own insulin. They had me start on 40 units of Lantus at night (morning numbers were 224,240 and wanted me to up it until my morning numbers were around 100. I’m dosing 90 units and my numbers are still 240 +. I’m also taking between 20 to 24 units of Novalog 3 times a day before meals. I have yet to have a reading below 100 (reached 102 once…!) and my average is the high 200’s. Because of my injury, I am fairly sedintary but I have been trying to move more. I started the insulin 5/13 and I wonder if maybe the last blood test the doctor read was incorrect? Can’t seem to make a dent…My diet has always been good, no fast food mainly protein and I was told to try for 15 gm. of carbs every meal.
I’m worried that I could get too much insulin…I bought a home A1c test and will test myself tomorrow.
Any thoughts?
Hi Hoopersmom: I am very sorry for what you are going through, which sounds very difficult! Based on the lab tests, in which it appears you are antibody positive, you have Type 1 diabetes and I am glad you are now on insulin. I would say if you are “moderate carbing” it then there really isn’t an issue of “getting too much insulin,” it’s just a matter of using the right amount of insulin to bring you into the appropriate range. You may have a combination of Type 1 diabetes with some insulin resistance. Have you discussed this with your doctor? There are various things you can do to deal with the insulin resistance. Hopefully others on TuD will weigh in, people who have had similar experiences. Best of luck to you! And give yourself credit for working to do the right thing for yourself.
You are very insulin resistant. 150 units per day injected, with BG still high, and still producing your own insulin. I assume you know that excess weight is often the primary cause of insulin resistance. Weight loss improves insulin sensitivity. As does exercise. So your efforts in those ways will definitely eventually pay off if you can stick to it. If this doesn’t apply to you, then it must be something else and your Dr should figure out why you are so insulin resistant.
An A1c of 9 sounds about right if you’re seeing an average BG in the 200’s (a 9.0 A1c translates to an average BG of 211). Most T1’s don’t have much insulin resistance, whereas that is the main indicator of T2 diabetes, so you may find more helpful advice from Type 2’s (this was posted in the T1 forum) on how to deal with insulin resistance.
WHat was your A1Cwhen you tested it today?