I went on a 10wk trip abroad and my TDD went from 20-30 units/day to 0, to 10. I had a home routine of eating <20g carbs per meal and ~10hrs seated, 2hrs weights/cardio, 4hrs light activity/day to ~30-50g carbs per meal, 4hrs seated, 12hrs light activity/day. After the first week, my insulin needs were so low that I took my omnipod off and switched back to MDI. Even 3 units of basal was forcing me to eat WAY more carbs than I would naturally to keep from going low, so I decided to just bolus at meals and see how that worked. Just giving a single unit for 50 carbs became too much! And that's with NO basal! I'd end up in the 60's every time I tested 2hrs after eating. So I decided to just test on every hour (when awake) and give a unit once I hit 140 (except during digestion). I stayed between 85-115 for 15 days with ZERO insulin.
After the 15 days, I did start to rise again and resumed shots at a cautious dosage. Since then, I've maintained the same control with ~10 unit TDD, even since I've been back home and my normal routine.
What in the world happened? Did I start producing insulin again for that time? Is that possible? How can increasing carbs, nixing hard exercise, and increasing walking equal less/no insulin needed? Have any of you had this happen, or heard of this happening? My Dr has no idea.
The only other variables I can think of are my lack of stress (no work!), increase in alcohol (none to 3-6 serving/wk), and that I got a bunch of vaccines before leaving (have seen studies about that making a difference in type 1's). Any theories? This is so weird!
Was one of your vaccines for tuberculosis? I’ve read about a study using a common TB vaccine as a possible cure. It theoretically jump starts the islets while simultaneously killing off the bad cells causing the autoimmune disorder.
I think that if you were diagnosed as an adult and just over a year ago, it's highly likely that you're still producing some insulin. Maybe the combination of circumstances made you so insulin sensitive that the insulin your body is producing was enough to maintain control during that time.
Yes, Renee; It is the Faustman Lab at Massachusetts Gemeral hopspital that is studying Bacillus Calumet-Guerin ( BGG), a decades old tuberculosis vaccine, to determine if it can be uses to increasether tumor necrosis factor(TNF). TNFw has been shown to destroy the fogue t-cells that kill off insulin producing beta cells in Type one and LADA diabetes, Thus the process is stopped and in a diabetic rat study and a small Type 1 human trial to test the safety of this application,, the beta cells started to grow again.Dr Denise faustman is finding that this may be a treatment for type 1 diabetes,even in those of us well-past the honeymoon stageThat was as suucintct as I could out it. check out her website http://www.faustmanlab.org
Fascinating, if just one injection of BCG could do it?
Snarkymonkey I read your long initial post and parts of the thread. It seemed obvious that your "honeymoon" had ended?...Hmmm. Snarkymonkey,if you got the BCG vaccine, Do let us know .
God Bless, Brunetta
Ps. I had been a blood donor with the Faustman study on a regular basis, but due to family deaths and concerns, have not been for 2 years.
I speak typo-ese I meant" BCG", "increase the", "rogue"."succinct" "put out" Sorry, tired 'cause I watched a late NBA game last night. My Grizzlies lost. Again.
Brunetta- I have no idea about the honeymoon stage. As soon as I was dx'ed, I blew up with fat gain and water retention and was seemingly insulin resistant, and spent the first 6months+ needing well over 100 units/day. It didn't feel like I got any honeymoon then!
*I also have a pituitary tumor that makes my cortisol production wonky, and that seems to sporadically affect my insulin needs as well. I forgot about that variable.
It would be awesome if it was a late honeymoon! I love being able to get by with so little insulin. I feel so much better over all. Not sure if it all is relate to insulin/diabetes, but I have way more energy, less pain, sleep better, and am getting back in shape at a much faster pace!
Jen- That's one of the things I was wondering about. I had a c-peptide done last fall and it showed almost no insulin production. Can those be wrong, or can our bodies have times where insulin production fluctuates?
What do you think could've made me switch to being so insulin sensitive? Does anyone know of any studies that recommend lots of low intensity activity only for insulin sensitivity? My change in exercise routine seems like the most likely cause, so now I'm considering cutting down the intense workouts and increasing the puttering around!
