Remission of type 1 diabetes during the honeymoon period

[Jantype1]

Hi I'm back again to ask if anyone has experienced remission during the honeymoon period. By remission I mean stablizing to the point of coming off all meds.
It happened to me very briefly six weeks after being diagnosed. I was on a low carb diet and taking regular exercise. I'd had 6 injections of trulicity, and I was on 20 units of abasaglar every morning. My readings were normal and I had reduced my insulin to 4 units a day at which point the nurse said may as well stop and see what happens. After two weeks my readings started to creep back up despite being on a low carb diet, and exercising. However I had stopped the trulicity injections as I'd had a major digestive issue which scared the **** out of me. Literally.
So I was put back onto abasaglar which I increased until things stabalised at around 14 units per day.
Then I started to have hypers and hypos. Hypos have always been an issue even before I was diagnosed and I know that I wasn't diabetic due to annual blood checks. My endo told me to increase the carbs....
Then the hypers started to last longer, probably due to the increased carbs! and my endo suggested fast insulin before meals, 4 units. I already posted about this, it was a pretty drastic solution to a smallish problem. It certainly took care of the hypers but I started having hypos every day and my energy levels were 0. So I stopped the rapid insulin and carried on with abasalglar increasing to 18 units a day. Things stabilized after a while and now I find myself having to reduce my basal as I am having hypos again, or just lows as I take care of it before it becomes a nuisance.
I've been watching my reaction to carbs and the insulin response since I tried the fast insulin. It depends greatly on what type of carbs and of course my glucose reading before I eat. I can't seem to get it under any kind of control and hypers make me feel so tired I'm thinking of going totally carbless! However despite that I am now on 15 units a day I'm having night hypos again. I am at a loss what to do now.
My endo and my GP have both agreed that overall I am doing pretty good being within my target range around 70% of the time. So that is reassuring. However I struggle to sleep, have little energy and seem to be developing diabetes fatigue.
I asked my endo if she thought that with the right diet and some different medication I might be able to reverse the diabetes and she just laughed at me and said that I am no longer in the honeymoon period but in the full moon diabetes.....how do you know?
So I just wanted to ask if anyone out there has managed to reverse type 1 diabetes. Immunotherapy? I'm ready to give it a try!

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @Jantype1

Sorry but absolutely no chance of reversing type 1 - sorry to be blunt but that's the truth.

At the point of diagnosis your body is under incredible stress so once the insulin regime commences the pancreas becomes less stressed and will then splutter back into life again, this gives temporary respite from insulin injections but can play havoc with control, so yes it's possible to reduce insulin to the point of remission but it's a very temporary phase and is only a matter of time before insulin injections resume and increase. Honeymoon to me was a nightmare so although taking really low doses of insulin it was like dodging bullets with control.

The most important thing is to just check your levels, remain vigilant, do basal fasting tests to check background dose is right. If I was having night time hypos I would look to reduce my background, you will need to speak to your team to do this - if you need help with basal fasting tests let me know and i'll find the link, but taking insulin early on does change alot over time, once out of honeymoon for me, became alot easier.

In regards to diabetes burnout - it can easily happen you are dealing with a new condition which can drain you, I found meditation helped relax me and keeping my levels as stable as possible, hypos and hypers can cause fatigue in themselves due to how they affect the body, focus on one day at a time and try to engage with a hobby/pastime you enjoy doing to take your mind off your T1D and help relax you, best wishes J

 

[Jantype1]

Hello @Jantype1

Sorry but absolutely no chance of reversing type 1 - sorry to be blunt but that's the truth.

At the point of diagnosis your body is under incredible stress so once the insulin regime commences the pancreas becomes less stressed and will then splutter back into life again, this gives temporary respite from insulin injections but can play havoc with control, so yes it's possible to reduce insulin to the point of remission but it's a very temporary phase and is only a matter of time before insulin injections resume and increase. Honeymoon to me was a nightmare so although taking really low doses of insulin it was like dodging bullets with control.

The most important thing is to just check your levels, remain vigilant, do basal fasting tests to check background dose is right. If I was having night time hypos I would look to reduce my background, you will need to speak to your team to do this - if you need help with basal fasting tests let me know and i'll find the link, but taking insulin early on does change alot over time, once out of honeymoon for me, became alot easier.

In regards to diabetes burnout - it can easily happen you are dealing with a new condition which can drain you, I found meditation helped relax me and keeping my levels as stable as possible, hypos and hypers can cause fatigue in themselves due to how they affect the body, focus on one day at a time and try to engage with a hobby/pastime you enjoy doing to take your mind off your T1D and help relax you, best wishes J

Thank you for a very useful reply. I will take your advice and do basal fasting checks, and just deal with the rest.

 

[oldgreymare]

To my knowledge, the only thing that can temporarily reverse T1 is a pancreatic transplant or possibility an Islet cell transplant. Both require the usual transplant immuno-supression therapy and I believe the transplants can still fail several years down the line due to the original autoimmune reactions that triggered T1 also taking out the transplanted beta cells.

That said, I think there is some hope down the line that stem cell therapies (using your own cells) might help with regenerating pancreatic beta cells without the need for aggressive immuno-supression. However, don't hold your breath - not sure if this has been tested yet in humans, so 15-20 years down the line to mainstream treatment? In the meantime great advice from @Juicyj.