Wow, that is great advice.
You see, I only suspect Adrenal Exhaustion due to high stress in my life. I have nearly all the symptoms of it. Especially the memory loss and foggy thinking (no I am not low or high when this happens). I have orthostatic hypotension as another diagnosis from a different doctor.
And when I eat loads of salt, most of the symptoms go away.
I am basically wanting to use insulin for the following 3 reasons:
1) To stop my rapid weight loss
2) To reduce diabetic complications later on in life when control is much more difficult
3) To restore some semblance of my former lifestyle
My diabetes was not acquired in the 'usual' way. Mine was caused by medications I took last year.
Initially, my endo wanted me to use a sliding scale of 1ui for 150-199 BS, 2ui for 200-250 BS, and so forth. That was at my postprandial.
It quickly turned out to be ineffective and problematic as taking that at such a late time caused me to go hypo a couple of hours later.
I started taking insulin at the start of mealtime and eventually figured out that 5 units generally would cover my 'normal' breakfast. This kept my blood sugars in the lower ranges to the point that I can have high spikes into the upper 200's and still come back with an a1c of 5.2 .
Sometimes I would need more if I was sedentary after breakfast so I would take a 2hr pp bolus if needed.
An ex heroin addict (they quit 35 years ago) gave me some very good advice.
He said "you can't go back if you use too much, but you can always take more if you need to"
This is why most of his friends are now all dead and he's alive today. They couldn't go back.
It seems that if you can get spikes to return to normal fasting levels within 3 hours, your a1c should drop like a rock into the normal non diabetic range. Mine did exactly that. It would be even lower but I am sensitive to heat and very sensitive to cold.
I also discovered that Humulog takes me almost precisely 1 additional hour to bring my blood sugars back down to the safe range.
About Basal insulins: Most of my fasting numbers are around 95 in the mornings. I want them 15 points lower. And when using a basal insulin, that can give me tighter control even at mealtimes.
About NPH: it doesn't last all that long. I need the Humulog/Novolog/Apidra for mealtime & the NPH if I am eating pasta. You can Google 'Dreamfields Pasta and delayed blood sugar spikes'. For my digestive system, fast carbs hit me hard and fast, slow carbs hit me hard later.
I tried the same meals over and over, adjusting everything each time. Eventually for a given pasta meal, I need 5-7 units of Humulog at mealtime and up to 10 units of NPH to cover the later spikes. Works nearly perfectly for me. A couple of weeks ago, I ate some pizza and only had my Humulog with me. I took my 5 units at the start. 2 hours later I was in the 200's. I waited another hour and still in the 200's. I took another 5 units. An hour later I dropped just under 200. Another hour after that into the 160's. I didn't bother checking it any more after than. This is how I know the NPH works for me. Same meal, but this time using Humulog and NPH, spikes were reduced and BS stabilized within a reasonable amount of time. But fasting blood sugars were elevated. 119 the next morning.
The only meats I can eat that pull in the reins of the blood sugar spikes are fatty beef and fatty sausage, and pepperoni. I don't need much of either to get the job done. Ham, chicken, fish do absolutely nothing to curb the blood sugar spikes.
Winter is nearly here and I will turn into a hermit. My sedentary lifestyle is here again, except for shoveling snow once in a while. So, insulin or starvation are my only effective choices to control blood sugars. Dr Bernstein's or similar diets cost too much versus eating cheaply.
Here's what happens if I stop or reduce taking insulin:
I get quite weak. I lose 3-5 pounds of body weight in a single night, unless I eat a certain kind of cheesecake - dunno why. But at $7 a day, I cannot afford to eat like that.
I also get muscle wasting.
I was losing weight so rapidly that the doctors were worried about it. At that rate, before taking insulin, my body would have wasted away to the point of no return and I would have literally starved to death. Insulin instantly stopped most of that.
On the good side though, my blood pressure is terrific, my lipid profile is near perfect, and my a1c is almost exactly in the middle of the normal non diabetic range.
I am also aware that when I switch to novolog, I have to adjust my dosage downward a bit. And when I start taking the Levemir, I should lower my dosages even further.
I am not opposed to taking many shots per day if that is what can keep me alive and healthy.
My doctor can't understand how I can have regular spikes into the 200's and still have an a1c in the normal range. My doctor last time said "You're not insulin resistant", then handed me the 3 types of insulin, with no instructions whatsoever.
I did tell her that if I needed less than 1 ui of Levemir per day, then I don't need any.
I will start with 5ui and see how it affects me. Adjust accordingly.
My daily routine will be pretty much fixed most of the time with a set schedule. Basal insulins work very well under those circumstances.
I know how Lantus affects me. I need Levemir to provide contrast. Then choose which works best for my situation. I only need either during the sedentary months when it's cold or too hot for me to control spikes on my own.
I will see about the book you mentioned. Don't know if the Library has it or not. How much is the book if I buy it outright?
I would write more but have to pick up my son from school.
I look forward to your reply. I need to dwell on others experiences as much as I can. Don't want complications later..