My boy is still in honeymoon, but has been on the same dosages for insulin for a month. I figured from this point forward, he'd start gradually going up but over the past week, his BG has been quite low through most of the day and most concerning, before bed. I've dropped his dosage today with little impact (guess it needs to come down further tomorrow), but is this standard stuff? Will the levels his body produces in honeymoon phase vary?
I got diagnosed 6 weeks ago and the same thing is still happening to me. I talked to my my endo about it because I was getting a lot of lows. According to her the honeymoon phase can last anywhere between a month and a year usually. But she said it can last up to three years. I did this little "experiment" per say, where I didn't give myself any insulin for about four days just so I could see how well my pancreas functioned on it's own. Moral of the story, DO NOT DO THIS!!! My numbers read normal for the first three days (which actually made me question whether I even had diabetes at all) but by the fourth day they had shot up to the 14-15 mmol/L range (270 mg/dl) and it took me forever to bring them back down.
His blood sugar is going low is because his pancreas is still producing some insulin and when you add his injections to that, it means that there is too much insulin in the body. But the reason why doctors put you on insulin right away and not wait until your beta cells completely die, is because there is no way of knowing exactly how much insulin you body is still producing. And if you don't take the insulin then there is the risk of going high and developing diabetic ketoacidosis.
I'm not going to tell you what to do because I am not a qualified medical proffessional but what I have done is I've just lowered my dosaging by two units every time i get more than 2 consecutive lows during certain times throughout the day. I'm now at a point where all my numbers are in range and I get maybe 1 or two lows a week. Keep in mind that once the honeymoon phase is over, you will most likely have to increase his dosages again.
Best of luck!! If you want any other diabetes tips you can check out my blog.
http://hannathepancreaticallychallenged.blogspot.ca/
I got diagnosed 5 yrs ago…I went threw the same thing. then eventually I stopped producing insulin all togther. Untill he levels out…if u test his bg rt before bed n its under 100 he prob wil drop a bit threw the night. u can always have him drink 2 tp 4 oz of oj or take a few sugar pills. I grew a fear tht I wld drop too low in my sleep so I’m comfortable goin to bed w my blood sug around 130 ish. anything under ill take about ten carbs before bed. they also have glucose shots to take. it looks like a 5 hr energy drink. its a tiny bottle equivalent to ten carbs I think??? they come in good flavors for a kid. how old is he?
2 to 4 oz I ment…
2 to 4 oz I ment…
Hey I'm going on 3 years now, my honey moon phase was spent mostly actually entirely on the low side of the spectrum. It all got under control with a lot less lows around 6- 7 months. I have very good blood sugars right now but I'm not sure if my pancreas is producing any insulin at all because I have a very low dosage of insulin. But don't get discouraged you can make it!! I'm guessing in a few more months things will be smooth-er sailing.
I'm confused... the term Honeymoon Phase in the old days was used by doctors when we would say this is not so bad and they would say your in the Honeymoon Phase once your body stops making insulin it will get tough. I would have to agree with my old doctor and my TDD was about the same for the first 15 years then the other shoe dropped, the wheels came off...I was faced with DP, and was Hypo unaware, call it what you may, but my Bete's got down right ugly.
No it’s not ridiculous at all to hope for that. I’m doing the exact same thing. I am looking at getting involved in some clinical trials. Maybe you could look for some of those in your area.
John, the honeymoon phase is characterized by a lessened need for insulin right after dx as the body's beta cells recover and "help out". It typically lasts a few months up to a year. Once the beta cells are completely gone and no insulin is being produced, a person is no longer considered being in the honeymoon period.
Laura, you are doing all the right things, just keep adjusting, keep testing, keep adjusting. Warmer weather and increased activity also tend to decrease insulin needs as both increase the body's absorption, so those may be factors as well. As for us, I hate the honeymoon period, seems my daughters pancreas tends to sputter more than give a nice steady helping hand. Instead of even numbers, some days she has a roller coaster of highs and lows without any predictablity. I can't wait for us to be out of it.
Yeh…I ve def heard of cases where ppl turn around n start making mre insulin again for a while…my honeymoon stage didn’t last tht long…but I’m a rare case tht got diagnosed at 31 so maybe bcuz of tht it was different for me. U r doing a great job n in time it will level out. I’ve learned tht even being 100 perecnt of top of my diabetes…there r still unexplained times where things just dnt make sense or my bg is high or low for no reason. its all prt of this very annoying disease. keep up the good work tho. u sound like a great mom! -jessica
Oh cool! I have a friend who lives in Sherwood park. Have you been on the JDRF clinical trials website? They have hundreds of differnt clinical trials listed. There are lots down in the states if you’re willing to travel a little bit. Some will even reimburse you a portion, or all of the associated fees. And I will let you know if I find anything a little closer to home.
Laura, how old is your son? Mine is 12 and diagnosed last summer, his honeymoon stage lasted about 5 months, like you we had to lower insulin doses for quite a while, we sure knew when it was over though! Had to increase and increase and increase. For some the honeymoon stage seems to be an easier time (we had consistent BG's consistently between 5 and 6 and with few lows) and for others it is more of a rollercoaster. Now that we're out of it we are finding it a little harder to avoid the higher numbers. Every kid is so different.
Hi Laura,
Hormones play a big role, as does activity! My son seemed to end the honeymoon stage and enter puberty in a big way at the same time :)
We are on MDI (lantus once a day and novorapid for all meals) recently switched from nph and novorapid. My son is much happier with the MDI, gives a lot more flexibility in when and what he eats. We are hoping to start pumping in the fall.
I agree with you about the backward-blessing of age, Michael has done all his testing and injecting from day 1.
Are you on facebook? There is a great group of Canadian parents on there that is super for support, message me for details.
Suz
Suz, I'd love the FB group info if you wouldn't mind.