Basal insulin is long-acting and lasts up to 20 hours. They release slowly and gradually with no peak so if you take small amounts, they are unlikely to make you go low. Lantus and Levemir are the most common. Rapid acting insulin, like Novolog or Humalog are taken before meals to deal with post meal high blood sugar. you are more likely to go low with these insulins because it is not always possible to time the shot to correspond exactly with the carbohydrates. Are you seeing an endocrinologist, or is this your regular doctor? If she isn’t an endo, you might ask for a referral, if she is, you could just talk to her, tell her about other people’s experiences and ask if you can try insulin to see if you can get better control. I had to see a couple of different endos before I found one who lets me try stuff. I started on novolog first and just added Levemir a couple of months ago and find the combination works really well. There isn’t a lot of information out there about us LADAs so we have to experiment and find out what works by trying things and keeping good records of meds, food, exercize and BG levels.
When you inject insulin, it should reduce your endogenous insulin production.
Joe,
Here’s a description of how Levemir works. Gretchen’s point is important- if you reduce your own insulin production, this will protect your beta cells from burn out.
Levemir is a long-acting insulin medication. Two different characteristics make it a long-acting medication. First, after the drug is injected, it is slowly released from the injection site into the bloodstream. Second, once it reaches the bloodstream, the medication binds to a blood protein known as albumin. Both of these characteristics contribute to the long duration of Levemir. As a long-acting insulin, Levemir helps to work as a “basal” insulin, which means it provides a steady background level of insulin to help control blood sugar throughout the day. For controlling a spike in blood sugar levels after meals, other types of insulins may need to be used in addition to Levemir.
My doctor is a GP . She ask me if I have any questions . I haven’t ask the right questions because I didn’t know what to ask .
I think the first few months ,I spent more time getting over the shock…
Okay, There was a part of me that was afraid to even bring up the subject of insulin.
Up to now, I’ve felt like I was all alone in this. ADA was no help.They were more interested in me join than helping.From the doctor to the diabetic educator ,things either T2 or T1 and nothing in between. The information on diet was geared towards those who need to lose weight to control their diabetes. I was already underweight.
I’m so greatful for your help (and others here) . For the first time , I feel that someone is hearing me and understanding what I’m saying and going through!!!
fascinated by this discussion,it is like a scientific paper for publication,describing the usual path to full blown diabetes and the stage when islet cells get complete exhution. Diabetes is classified and reclassified every now and then because of this puzlinng path.
even in children,the same still holds.I have families with MODY whose affected member can present like that,normal fasting,high postprandial with big meals,going on for years before drugs or insulin is recommended.
I have patients with negative antibodies,normal c peptide level on diagnosis but with frank diabetes,insulin is the answer for kids whatever the type of diabetes as any infection can precipitate DKA.
Thank you guys I learn a lot from you
Hello Marie,
I am so happy to hear of someone else that is controlling their diabetes with diet and exercise. My husband is also Type 1.5 The doctor said it is Type 1, but I did my own research and I’m pretty sure it’s Type 1.5 because he was 24 at the time of diagnosis which was Jan. of this year 2008. The doctor wanted to put him on insulin immediately (his fasing BS was in the 400’s). I did my own research and we have both been on a RAW FOOD lifestyle. It is wonderful! It is very strict and very hard because we travel a lot he is a contractor, but it is better than insulin or any medication. I love natural remedies. I hope and pray that this phase will last forever. I do not want him to have deal with insulin ( HE HATES SHOTS) Everytime he even checks his sugar its difficult for him.
I am glad that the raw food thing is working for you so far. But please do not take my experience for a yardstick since I was not diagnosed until my late 40’s. As my new Endo told me you have to think of diabetes as a “progressive” disease: it is a diagnoses at a point in time but does not STAY at the same point forever, it slowly, or quickly, turns into another phase. Age 24 is not too old to be type 1 since type 1, the autoimmune type of diabetes, is usually diagnosed in children and adults into their 20s. The progression of your husband’s diabetes could change very quickly out of this phase into full blown shut down of the insulin producing beta cells and thus full " no insulin production at all" type 1.
I too am pretty needle-phobic and if I think about the test jabs too much i get kind of queasy, so I jab my left forearm since I use my fingers all day ( I’m an architect) and it hurts much less in the arm than the fingers ( less nerve endings) I hope that your husband is testing a lot at this phase so as to get a good understanding of what kind of carbs raises the BG alot and what doesn’t , it can be different for every person.
My first endo told me I would be at the point of needing insulin sometime between 5 to 10 years after diagnosis and I am resigned to that if it is what I need to do to stay healthy.
Keep up with your research but do keep up with the BG testing , do not let him become complacent about keeping good BG control.
Even with the reclassifications with diabetes (or any other disease) it seem to the medicial community a long time to catch up. It is often frustrating to the patient ,when the doctor doesn’t want to look at another view or check other avenues of treatment.
I think too often doctors are treating test instead of treating the patient.
Knowing that other have been where I am “at” ;give me hope. …I know , I too, can make it. Thanks for the support!
I agree with Marie - he will most-likely need insulin at some point. Insulin isn’t a drug - it is a naturally occurring hormone in our bodies. You produce and use lots of insulin, but your husband doesn’t do this as well. He’ll just be dependent on a synthetic insulin instead of what he no longer will produce in his body. I’ve been on and off of the raw food diet lately and at no point did I not need insulin. I was diagnosed a little over a year ago at the age of 32 with a random BS of 386. Without insulin, I would a) probably be dead by now and b) have felt like something you skim off of a pond up until death. Insulin was the most awesome thing in the world to me because my body was finally able to use the food I was putting into it as fuel.
My daughter was just recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She is on her “honeymoon” She is also conmtrolling it with only diet and exercise. Her blood level average this month has been 98. The only other non insulin dependant we have heard of is Halle Berry… see her interview on you tube. We have been keeping on a 6o carb meals with two 15 carb snacks. We also follow the Glycymic index. What does your doctor say about this? Please e-mail me at msnssnyder@msn.com.
My gp, the diabetes educator the nutritionist, and the two endos that I have seen have all suggested complex carbohydrates as opposed to simple carbs so those would be pretty low on the glycemic index. I have a book on low glycemic foods but have found out more from trial and error ( OK, OK, really big ERRORS)
But you need to be aware that not everyone reacts to each type of carb the same way. Keep notes as to meals and resultant BG and you should start to see some trends. Some complex carbs don’t make the high post prandial rise for me that they do for others and some rather complex carbs send me soaring: I can eat pototoes with no problem but brown rice and lentils make me go way up even if I limit the amount to only a 1/2 cup serving.
I follow a 60/30/45/30/45 routine of meals and snacks and add another 30 gm snack at bedtime if my bedtime BG test is below 80 to avoid going low at night. I have found that adding protein and monounsaturated fats ( olive oil and olive oil based margarine) to the meals and snacks keeps the post prandial spike down since proteins and fats slow down the carb absorption so I find myself eating 4 oz yogurts for snacks and having a 1 oz piece of cheese ( swiss/ parmesan/ padano) along with my meals or making french toast with one egg to two pieces of soft whole wheat bread for breakfast.
I try to eat dinner leftovers for lunch the next day to get a good dose of protein at lunch. I eat alot of vegetable soup since it is pretty nutritionally dense without alot of simple carbs ( read labels, I like Progresso: fresh taste, low salt) I don’t use artificial sweeteners ( they cause me stomach problems and I think they will be shown to be harmful in the long run) and I only use olive oil for any saute since it reduces cholesteral levels naturally. I eat a lot of unsalted nuts ( peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans) since they are monunaturated fats and have protein for midday snacks as well.
I have been lucky that my husband has been on a weight watchers diet for the last 7 months and is more inclined to lots of vegetables and fruits than he had been before and that works well with my carb counting and results in MORE food with less resultant carbs: my BG stays in a good range and he has lost 30+ lbs!!!
This is not to say that I do not “fall off the wagon” on occasion and succumb to temptation and eat all the wrong stuff. I have a weakness for chocolate and cold chocolate frosting ( you know, like to eat it with a spoon) so I have substituted cold peanut butter ( keep it in the fridge) (4 tablespoons is only 14 gm of carb) with a spoon instead and drink a glass of fairly dilute chocolate Ovaltine in skim milk and skip the bread carbs entirely: it feels decadent and forbidden but is really not too bad for my BG. Early this summer I actually ate a small hot fudge sundae with bananas and nuts at Dairy Queen as part of a family outing and then went home to cope with a 270 BG and the resultant nausea, etc. I got the craving out of my system and haven’t been tempted since…
Good luck to your daughter and you, I hope the progression is slow and steady without too much drama.
Marie
The Halle Berry issue is a greatly debated and officially debunked situation wherein she misspoke and angered the entire diabetic community. Halle Berry’s diabetes was a misdiagnosis. She was not ever actually a Type 1. If you are legitimately Type 1, it is impossible that it be controlled with diet and exercise. Type 1.5 and Type MODY do have a honeymoon period wherein what is described here is all true, and likely, your daughter’s diagnosis should have been one of those two forms and not Type 1 (I do not claim to be a doctor, but I do claim a degree of certainty on this issue). If your daughter is not on an insulin regimen for her diabetes control and she is a Type 1, she will very soon need insulin therapy or her diagnosis was incorrect.
Sorry. Still really really mad at Halle Berry. blushes
How long can someone with diabetes survive without insulin? I’ve been without it for almost 2 yrs, how long can I keep going?
lovejoey,
How long you can go without insulin depends entirely on what kind of diabetes you have and how much insulin your body is still making.
Type 2s who cut down on carbohydrates s and keep their blood sugars under the levels that kill beta cells can go for decades without it.
Type 1s need it all their lives.
There are forms of MODY where people can go without insulin completely if they take certain oral drugs that stimulate insulin secretion.
It sounds like you need to read up a bit about diabetes to find out more about the kind you have and the various things you can do to stay healthy.
You probably have Type 2 since you are not using insulin at all. I’d suggest reading Gretchen Becker’s book, “The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes” as she will explain a lot of things that will help you understand what is going on.
Your pancreas makes insulin or you inject insulin. Your body needs insulin to turn food into energy that your cells can use. So if you have not been injecting insulin, your body must still be making some insulin or you would be dead. Your doctor can order a c-peptide test to determine how much insulin you are producing and what the trend in your production is: getting worse or staying the same. I am still making insulin at about 75% of normal, but just with big delays in when it gets released in reponse to a meal, I have a “time delay” while my BG climbs higher than it should and then my pancreas says, "OH ,you want this stuff NOW??? Oh, sure why didn’t you tell me earlier???
Eating controlled levels of complex carbs keeps the post prandial spike from going to high before the insulin catches up the BG, so I stay on a more even keel. Eating controlled levels of carbs spares my pancreas from having to work too hard and thereby prolonging its useful life and keeping me off of meds or injected insulin until absolutely necessary.
What is your diagnosis Type 1, 2, 1.5 MODY?