Weird...?

User4

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I was diagnosed in November last year and my honeymoon phase is slowly but gradually coming to an end (feel like I have a few months left of it).
However, I was without insulin last week for over 24 hours but I ate normally because I'm greedy. I noticed my blood sugars were lower without insulin (levemir & novorapid)..!
I've tested this theory a couple of times now with consistently lower sugars when not taking insulin (I wouldn't have tried this if I wasn't honeymooning).
It's almost as if my pancreas takes a back seat when I inject & when I don't inject it takes over with whatever it has left.

What's going on? I'm quite confused.
 

noblehead

Guru
Retired Moderator
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23,618
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It looks like your honeymoon period is far from over, but you should continue to take your insulin as instructed by your HCP's.
 
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User4

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
It looks like your honeymoon period is far from over, but you should continue to take your insulin as instructed by your HCP's.

Oh, I just assumed that it was coming to an end as my sugars have been generally higher lately. Does that explain why my sugars where lower when I didn't take my insulin because that still seems strange to me.
 

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I was diagnosed in November last year and my honeymoon phase is slowly but gradually coming to an end (feel like I have a few months left of it).
However, I was without insulin last week for over 24 hours but I ate normally because I'm greedy. I noticed my blood sugars were lower without insulin (levemir & novorapid)..!
I've tested this theory a couple of times now with consistently lower sugars when not taking insulin (I wouldn't have tried this if I wasn't honeymooning).
It's almost as if my pancreas takes a back seat when I inject & when I don't inject it takes over with whatever it has left.

What's going on? I'm quite confused.
There is some evidence that by starting external insulin earlier, this can effectively give the pancreas a helping hand, and a bit of a rest so to speak adn that this can effectively prolong the honeymoon period where the pancreas still has some activity of its own.

I'm 14months in and still in the honeymoon whcih I think is also helped by conssitent exercise leading to better insulin sensitivity. My average dosage in the last month has been only 13 units total for both basal and bolus, which is a lot lower than many long-term diabetics.
 

Topher

Well-Known Member
Messages
200
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Oh, I just assumed that it was coming to an end as my sugars have been generally higher lately. Does that explain why my sugars where lower when I didn't take my insulin because that still seems strange to me.

User 4 and elydave, how many units basal and bolus are you taking now, as I am also trying to see if my honeymoon is over, I take 8 units levemir in the evening and 3 in the morning, and my bolus ratio is 14:1
 

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My basal at the moment, with the weather heading more autumnal is 3.5 units morning, 4.5 evening. I reduce those for very hot weather.

Bolus is at 15:1, I'm usually on less than 100g carbs a day.
 

hale710

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,903
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've been diagnosed 18 months now. Like you, I find my BG can be quite low, even taking me to what I now consider hypo (below 4) if I have no insulin on board and do not eat much. If I do eat then it will go up but gradually sort itself, I imagine much like it would for a type 2.

The warm weather and general increased activity in the summer I believe helped with this, as it gets cooler my TDD has gone up by 1 or 2 units.

Like Dave mentioned, it has been suggested that by injecting insulin we alleviate the strain in the pancreas. I was diagnosed early on and so I think this is exactly what has happened to me.

Continue to take your insulin, if you find yourself going hypo then either reduce the dose, or if you're not confident with doing that yourself then speak to your DSN or doctor about it :)