My insulin requirements have slowly increased as I’ve gotten older. Type 1 for 37 years. And it’s bothered me a lot lately so I changed my diet which helps but not as much as I want.
At diagnosis I was taking about 40 units a day. Total insulin dose. On a pump I went to 50 but there is a lot of waste in a pump so I didn’t mind.
But over the past 5 years I jumped to 60 units a day and to me it was alarming.
I switched to Mastering Diabetes diet for over a year and a half now and at first I was down to 45 units a day but is creeping back up.
I talked to my doctor and she was cool with me using metformin in addition to my pump.
So it’s been 4 weeks and it has done nothing to my insulin usage but it does cause my sugars to respond faster to insulin. So when I make a dosing error or I ate too much, it doesn’t hang in the high range for as long.
I’m not sure if there is a real benefit or not but I have no side effects so I’m going to stay in it for a while longer and see.
I would love to hear from other type 1s who have tried it or if you have tips to get better results.
My doctor told me I’m not reducing insulin, because I have no appreciable insulin resistance, but I don’t understand why my insulin usage is going up year after year
Thanks that explains some of it for me. However they don’t talk about type 1 at all and I’m not concerned with my weight either. Som I’m reading more about it to try to understand the way it’s working in me
I am type 1 for 38 years. I have watched my insulin needs triple over the years. I tried Metformin at two separate times. It did absolutely nothing for me. I didn’t have any better numbers. I didn’t lose weight. I didn’t take less insulin. Nothing!
So that’s my experience. Clearly it wasn’t made for me.
I’ve had to take it twice now, as part of the “step therapy” guidelines to other T2 meds. We’ve been trying to get me coverage for anything possible to help lower my TDD now that we know I’m kinda allergic to insulin.
There’s a surprising number of mechanisns of action for Metformin, most of which should be beneficial to T1s, too. Stuff like helping to move glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells without insulin by triggering GLUT4 trasporter, increasing cellular permeability and glucose uptake via the usual insulin route, reducing the amount of glycogen the liver cranks out, and inhibiting the absorption of glucose from the intestinal tract…
But I sure never saw any of that. I got nothing from the Metformin other than the expected, and thankfully temporary, Herx reaction (GI upset from drugs that alter your gut microbiome). The nausea may have obfuscated some of the post-prandial benefit, though.
I would assume most the benefit you’re seeing is from the increased glucose permeability.
I started on it waaaaay back when I was still doing MDI. I think it was shortly after I’d switched from R/N to Lantus/Novolog. I was struggling a lot with DP, to the point of taking a bit of a bolus at bedtime to keep things down. Highly disrecommended, but hey. My Endo said “Cut that out, you’ll hurt yourself,” and started me on Metformin at bed time. 500milligrams at first, later bumped it up to 1000. Didn’t really work all that well for the DP but did have some affect on my TDD. Real answer to DP came when I got a pump and was able to schedule a basal for it. Asked if I should drop the Metformin and Doc said, “Nah, it’s not hurting anything and we think there are other benefits. Everybody should take it!”
Much more recently I’ve added off-label Jardiance, which has made a very noticeable difference in attenuating my spikes and drops. Costs a bunch when I drop into the donut hole, but I’ve found it very helpful.
This is not specifically metformin related but I did want to share the name of a few books I read and documentaries I watched that lead me down a rabbit whole of information and ultimately to a plant based diet lifestyle. Before I found this information I was on large insulin doses, took metformin, high cholesterol meds, and continued gaining weight every year due to all the insulin I was taking. Since I changed my diet and lifestyle it was like having a second chance at a healthy life and would love to share what I found for myself with anyone that could benefit from it. Here are the names of a few books and documentaries that helped me.
Books: The End of Diabetes by Joel Fuhrman MD, How not to die by Michael Gregger MD, The China Study by T Collin Campbell PHD and Thomas M Campbell II
Documentary: Forks over Knives, What the Health, Food Matters, Food, Inc
I’m already in a plant based diet 95% anyway. The metformin has made a difference in TDD but I think it’s because I am eating less. I don’t have any nausea but I get full a lot faster. I was 100% in range for the past 3 days, then today I went a little low because I switched from T2 to mobi. It is crazy small. So far half a day and I’m loving it.
I taped it to my body using double sided wig tape and I can pull it off and put back easy, unlike the weird patches that tandem sells.
I don’t know how you can know the medication. I get it at the pharmacy. They don’t give me any options. I use an extended release metformin. I have no side effects besides getting full faster. It flattens out my glucose peaks. I’m happy with it so far. I’ve cut mt daily dose by 10 percent. I lowered my correction factor but I needed to change my carb ratio from 1:15 to 1:12 because boluses were acting faster but didn’t lower me enough
I’m starting Mobi next week and I’m curious about the pulling off and putting back with wig tape (a product I’d never heard of before.) Does the adhesive leave any residue on the pump? If you’re using the tape somewhere where you have hair, like on the arm, would you have to shave a patch before applying the tape?
Apologies for being a little off topic.
So I researched this. I first found the tape that some women use to tape their clothes to their bodies in order to wear skimpier things and not show too much. It didn’t hold well tho, and someone suggested wig tape which are the perfect size. I bought at a hair salon near me. Basically it is a double sided tape and the wig tapes are made for skin so it holds well.
When I pull off the pump, the tape usually stays on my skin and I can reattach it but by pushing on it.
The tapes do leave a residu on the pump but I don’t care because I just add more tape anyway. I only tape on the back of the pump.
This is exactly the same stuff that is used on the implanted cgm that has and external transmitter.
I find it so much nicer than clipping it to my belt or pocket.
The whole thing is nicer because the refil procedure is awesome and you can do it manually if you like which is a whole other topic that I might make a video of. If someone is interested.
I have been wearing it on my hips and it feels like I’m not wearing a pump anymore. The only issue is using my phone at night is kinda irritating but not a big deal.
I will make a video of my taping and post here.
I’m also very interested in this wig tape thing. I looked at Amazon when I first saw your post and there are a LOT of different types of tapes. Not just brand, but function. Could you please add a pic of the packaging?
I have never tried metformin but did start Victoza back in 2016 for these reasons.
I wanted to lose a few pounds.
I wanted help with post meal spikes.
I wanted to take less insulin.
8 years later, still taking it and it helped with all 3 problems. I have lost some weight and have leveled out at a good weight. Post meal spikes are pretty but always a battle. And I am taking less insulin now than I have since my diagnosis 54 years ago.
My doctor was very open to trying this off label back then. And I have thought about trying one of the many new type 2 medications out there but I figure it’s working fine for me. But there are many out there if your doctor is comfortable with doing off label drugs. Some won’t do it and some are willing to try it.
Good luck with whatever treatment works for you. But just from talking with many, many people who have been doing diabetes for a long time, many do have an increase in TDD. But everyone has a different path traveled.
