I just had this happen last month. I have been on lantus for 4 years and last month I started going low every morning until the point I was in the ER in a coma. What the endo thinks has happened is my metabolism has sped up. This could be from getting in better shape, losing weight or toning up a bit. I had to lower the lantus by a third over the last month to keep it from happening again. I have been a D for 28 years and that was the first time since I was adult that I actually had to lower the insulin dose by that much.
I think you are the perfect candidate for research. Scientists like Dr. Faustman argue (see video) that patients exist where there is a balance between Beta cells regrow and destruction. She is working on a treatment to stop the destructive behaviour of the immune system. In mice they have the proof that by stopping the immune reaction the beta cells will recover to a certain degree. From what you describe it is possible that your body manages to grow beta cells at a faster rate than they are destroyed. Then after a while the immune system manages to kill them off and a new cycle starts. This is just a theory but I think you should contact the Faustman labs for helping their research.
I am a donor to Dr.Faustman’s research every year, Holger, (Thanks so much!!) and I was not aware of this take on her research, that beta cells can grow faster than they are destroyed. I am certainly aware of the fluctuations:. I am also going through a somewhat significant reduction in basals and correction factors. I just treating a rising from bed morning 45 , and I am 56 years old have been type one for 43 yearsand pumping for 8 years, I too have times where I cannot figure out the sudden lows. I ma grateful not to have to take so much insulin: that expensive Apidra lasts So much longer when I am only taking .50 units an hour… but I do not know WHEN I have to bump it back up to .70…The Cgm really helps with that… I will have to get back on my logging…Hang in there…
Chelly Belly… I will ask Dr. Faustman about her take on that in July, if she is in the office during my visit. She is engaing, informative and a genuis…
God Bless,
Brunetta
The female hormonal cycle can cause this. Also, as the weather warms up some people need less insulin. We turn my daughter’s pump down by 5 or 10% when she has days like this by setting a temporary basal.
Ah…man, this has been screwing me up for a decade and I can’t even get my doctor to agree it’s actually happening. I’ve had swings ranging from 11 units all the way up to nearly 30 units as a Type 1. I have hypothyroidism as well but these swings long preceded my diagnosis for that. I’ve had volatile swings for nearly 35 years years(diagnosed at 8 years old\43 now) now and always have had a terrible time controlling my AC1 with any sort of stability no matter what I’ve tried. Reading this nearly brings me to tears knowing others are going through this as well. I sometimes feel like I was misdiagnosed and have some beta cell activity but after all these years there is no way that is possible. I wish the best for you all and hope you’ve all found solutions.
This is an old topic, but I need to kick-start it today.
I’m 72, male, diabetic for ~25 years, on my sixth pump, a t:slim X2 on which I am using Control-IQI am currently using Humalog. In the last two weeks, I have been experiencing low BGs like crazy. The good news of that is that I’ve been able to enjoy some desserts - just kidding. The bad news is that I have now cut the basal rates for all time slots by 1/3 to 1/2, raised the correction factor by about 40%, and I’m still going low. This morning, I turned off insulin delivery in the pump two hour ago, and I’m just now getting to a BG of 114.
My biggest concern is whether this could be an indicator that Inam developing pancreatic cancer. Five relatives have died of that in my lifetime. I know that a sudden increase in insulin production is one sign of it, but I have absolutely no other symptoms of it. I did have gall bladder cancer in 2018.
I see my endo on May 5 and my oncologist in mid-July.
Any words of wisdom or advice? Since Spring is in the process of springing, could seasonal variation make that big a change in insulin needs?
The good news is that beta cell cancer is what causes high levels of insulin. It’s is not likely that a beta cell cancer could grow when your body had systematically been killing all beta cells.
I know that getting vaccines can allow beta cells to regrow and start producing g insulin.
There was a study done with T1 women taking large doses of a vaccine, those women showed an increase in c-peptide which means the vaccine slowed or stopped the attack on beta cells, allowing them to regrow at least somewhat.
There is no study that I know that suggests this with the covid vaccines, but with so many getting this vaccine at the same time, it could be happening.
We know that there have been cases of covid causing and innuendo response that could cause type 1 to start, so it’s not impossible that the vaccine might have an opposite effect
This has been happening to me too! I had a day a few weeks ago where I couldn’t keep my sugars up. Reduced my long acting then started running high until I was able to gradually increase back to my normal dose. I split Levemir and have had lows I. The night and have had to decrease my fast acting. Any ideas?