honeymoon has anyones lasted years?.

[michita]

I thought I was still in the honeymoon period + 7 years after diagnosis , but how wrong I was ! I normally commute to work everyday by bicycle and on weekends , weather permitting, do some longish rides. I had 3 weeks off over Xmas and decided to give my bike a rest , only doing some daily running. It took me a while to work out whats going on when I was getting biazzare BS spikes and my fasting BS was going crazy. In the end I had to increase my basal by almost 8 units.

I'm back at work , cycling regularly again and my BS is behaving. So i'm definately not in my honeymoon anymore !

That's interesting. I am too seeing higher numbers in the morning lately and think that's related to not going to gym.

 

[tomrose]

I thought I was still in the honeymoon period + 7 years after diagnosis , but how wrong I was ! I normally commute to work everyday by bicycle and on weekends , weather permitting, do some longish rides. I had 3 weeks off over Xmas and decided to give my bike a rest , only doing some daily running. It took me a while to work out whats going on when I was getting biazzare BS spikes and my fasting BS was going crazy. In the end I had to increase my basal by almost 8 units.

I'm back at work , cycling regularly again and my BS is behaving. So i'm definately not in my honeymoon anymore !

Hi Wurst -
That's very very interesting. I had a similar experience this Christmas time. I also cycle to work and do probably 3 sessions of exercise per week in addition. I found over Christmas my levels were on average 1mmol higher (from 6.5 to 7.5 average on my meter) and my morning reading was 1-2mmol higher! Now i'm back in my normal routine everything is back to normal... Just shows me how important the regular exercise is for me.

 

[Wurst]

Hi Wurst -
That's very very interesting. I had a similar experience this Christmas time. I also cycle to work and do probably 3 sessions of exercise per week in addition. I found over Christmas my levels were on average 1mmol higher (from 6.5 to 7.5 average on my meter) and my morning reading was 1-2mmol higher! Now i'm back in my normal routine everything is back to normal... Just shows me how important the regular exercise is for me

Couldn't agree more ! I was even running daily so hadn't stopped exercise completely. Seems like i'm totally dependant on cycling

 

[fionaclare]

Gosh Fiona, that is interesting. Not even basal insulin? I find that I rarely need bolus for meals (I am quite low carb) but I do need to take 8 units of basal to keep my numbers within range in between meals. How is your A1c?

It has never been higher than 34. So always in non-diabetic range.

 

[ert]

Does anyone know - can you get a C-peptide test for the honeymoon period? Could this be symptomatic of LADA or another type of diabetes?

I'm T1DM and not on insulin. My specialist monitors my c-peptide and fasting glucose every 3 months, to calculate the percentage of islet cells I have remaining. I've been in the honeymoon period for two years with 30-32% islet cells. On diagnosis I switched immediately to Dr Bernstein's low carbohydrate diet and have taken my blood sugars every day, to avoid high sugars and preserve my remaining islet cells.

 

[ert]

The most I’ve heard of is 11 years.

I’m at 2.5 years. Have eaten low carb since the beginning and have never needed insulin.

This is really encouraging. I'm at 2 years. Some days are hard.

 

[Benny G]

The most I’ve heard of is 11 years.

I’m at 2.5 years. Have eaten low carb since the beginning and have never needed insulin.

Diet and exercise. Sounds more like type 2.

 

[Benny G]

Honeymoon lasted about 18 months for me. I used to do too much cycling and running and required small amounts of insulin while consuming high amounts of carbs, due to exercise induced insulin sensitivity.
Now, normal amounts of insulin required.
Good luck

 

[ert]

Diet and exercise. Sounds more like type 2.

If on diagnosis you have extremely low insulin levels and normal BMI, whether or not you have IA2 and GAD antibodies, you're classified as type 1. It takes an uncontrolled T2DM person 30 years to reach the same low insulin levels. So it's a clear difference.
My BMI was 21 when I was diagnosed. Overnight, after a stomach flu, my blood sugars were averaging over 30 mmol/L a day. This is again not type 2. I control my diabetes with diet and exercise following Dr K Bernstein. It's relentless and strict, but it means I'm not on insulin. My T1DM Specialist says I'm in a honeymoon period.

 

[Benny G]

If on diagnosis you have extremely low insulin levels and normal BMI, whether or not you have IA2 and GAD antibodies, you're classified as type 1. It takes an uncontrolled T2DM person 30 years to reach the same low insulin levels. So it's a clear difference.
My BMI was 21 when I was diagnosed. Overnight, after a stomach flu, my blood sugars were averaging over 30 mmol/L a day. This is again not type 2. I control my diabetes with diet and exercise following Dr K Bernstein. It's relentless and strict, but it means I'm not on insulin. My T1DM Specialist says I'm in a honeymoon period.

Time will tell.

 

[ert]

Time will tell.

What will time tell?

 

[KK123]

What will time tell?

Whether you end up on insulin I guess. ALL type 1s end up on it eventually.

 

[Benny G]

Type 1 is quite straight forward. All type 1 must inject insulin.
Type 2 is much more complicated. Diet and exercise, pills, weight gain, weight loss, and maybe eventually injecting insulin.

 

[michita]

Type 1 is quite straight forward. All type 1 must inject insulin.
Type 2 is much more complicated. Diet and exercise, pills, weight gain, weight loss, and maybe eventually injecting insulin.

Yes all type 1s eventually need insulin injections. I wanted to keep the insulin level as low as possible as long as possible while maintaining good BS level. I think I had it undiagnosed for almost 10 years. Started with 4 units levemir a day and low carbing. 3 years after diagnosis now and still low carbing my levemir has gradually increasing. I’ve recently increased my levemir dosage to around 10 -11 units per day. It seems my low carbing diet (no bread rice pasta potatoes usually) is not winning over the power of my autoimmune destruction

 

[ert]

Has anyone tried intermittent fasting while in the honeymoon period and not using insulin? I have dabbled for the last 3 weeks in IF and found my blood sugars ridiculously high and I haven't had any luck getting them down this week even though I've abandoned IF. Cortisol dysregulation would be my best guess at the cause. I'm trying my usual interval running and low carbohydrate, low protein and high fat eating plan reserved for difficult days with no affect.

 

[Daibell]

Are you adult onset and are you on low carb diet ? I started with 2 units of basal a day and increased to 4 units and now 8. I wonder if I had started low carb diet earlier my beta cells would be in a better condition now.. But now after 2.5 years I also feel maybe the amount doesn't matter so much I have to inject anyway.

I was diagnosed as 'T2' at age 50 (now 74) and was having a fairly normal diet at the time but thin and had lost weight unexpectedly. I then started a low-carb diet. My c-peptide done privately showed a low'ish result. Over the 5 years on insulin my Basal has increased from 10 units to 18 implying a continued honeymoon but I'm sure the honeymoon must tail off soon as my beta cells must be knackered. My Bolus ratio has also changed. 7 years or so on Gliclazide and much of that time on 320mg max dose probably didn't do the beta cells much good

 

[michita]

I was diagnosed as 'T2' at age 50 (now 74) and was having a fairly normal diet at the time but thin and had lost weight unexpectedly. I then started a low-carb diet. My c-peptide done privately showed a low'ish result. Over the 5 years on insulin my Basal has increased from 10 units to 18 implying a continued honeymoon but I'm sure the honeymoon must tail off soon as my beta cells must be knackered. My Bolus ratio has also changed. 7 years or so on Gliclazide and much of that time on 320mg max dose probably didn't do the beta cells much good

Misdiagnosis seems quite common and must be frustrating. It also seems it’s not always so straightforward to decide type 1 or 2. In my case by the time I was diagnosed I could smell ketones on my body, I was wondering what the strange smell was for a while. By testing positive for ketones all medical stuff told me right away they suspect I most likely have type 1 and their reaction was quite dramatic ....

 

[fionaclare]

Diet and exercise. Sounds more like type 2.

I’m definitely T1, the anti-GAD test proved that. But the difference was that I was never dka on diagnosis and had six weeks to change my diet before I got the original diagnosis. I’d had gestational diabetes while pregnant 5 years prior. But my GP was suspicious that T2 wasn’t the right diagnosis so referred me to an Endo.

It is unusual to be able to do what I’ve done (now 3 years since diagnosis), but I’ve done it.

In the last 3 months my metformin dose has been upped as I was struggling with dawn phenomenon, has worked great and I now have normal levels on waking.

I also have the odd low, Endo assumes that I am very sensitive to the insulin I do make, so I’ve had to slightly up the carbs I eat, particularly at night, so I have some berries before bed or include root vegetables with dinner.

It’s an ongoing journey and I’m very fortunate I have a great GP, the Endo I’ve seen recently is lovely and supportive (charming Irish accent to boot), and I have a great head nurse at my GP practice who is up with the play.