TL;DR
I am coming up to 3 years since diagnosis of T1D, every couple of months I have a bad hypo and need to reduce my basal insulin from about 4 units per night to 0.5 units. Why do I become sensitive to insulin all the time?
Hi all,
I just wanted to share my curious story to see if anyone has experienced anything similar.
I was diagnosed as a T1D in December 2017 at age 25, I then blissfully managed the disease for about a year until December 2018 when I started playing 5 a side football every Thursday with workmates. I was naive and didn't adjust my insulin ratios to accommodate the exercise. In February 2019 I became quite ill and suffered a hurrendous hypo, my heart sank, my body felt heavy, I couldn't feel my pulse, I had a feeling of utter dread, I fell at the top of the stairs and thankfully my girlfriend was there to give me some glucose to get me out of it.
However the following week after this I had noticed my basal insulin requirements had decreased drastically. I went from 25 units of basal insulin to around 5 units per night. In the following days I had dizzy spells, constant nausea, confusion and I would go in and out of lucidity. I ended up going into hospital as these symptoms persisted and I became really unwell, before I got to hospital I had all the hallmarks of a panic attack, breathing erratically, pins and needles in lips and fingers tachycardia etc.
I was admitted to hospital for a few days and the doctors ran bloods and everything was normal apart from I had raised liver enzymes and slightly raised calcium (only very slightly). My symptoms improved over the few days and I was released from hospital. The diabetic consultant at the time suggested I had potentially been overdosing on insulin which may have caused the symptoms.
Over the next two months I lost a lot of weight going from 103kg to 95kg (16 stone 5 lbs to 15 stone) due to not eating very much as I'd largely lost my appetite, I think I was totalling around 1000kcal per day at the time. Over these two months I got gradually better but had waves of being unwell in the days; my insulin requirements were very low and some days I didn't need to bolus before eating and bloods would stay in range, I have also had chronic loose stools ever since the hospital admission. By around Mid-April 2019 I began to feel somewhat normal again and I was no longer having waves of sickness in the day times.
I thankfully had a few months of normality until August 2019 when I had a very stressful situation at work that triggered gastritis like symptoms and a big reduction in basal insulin from 6 units per night to 0.5 units per night. It was at this time that I realised how much of an effect stress has on my insulin requirements, for some reason I become very sensitive to insulin when I am stressed.
My basal requirements slowly recovered over the next few months and I was taking 4 units of basal per night by November 2019.
Since then the pattern has continued, in March 2020 my basal insulin requirements went from 4 units per night to 0.5 and again in June 2020 after another really bad hypo. Interestingly, I had been working from home between March and August and admittedly did not get enough exercise and put on a bit of weight but still became hypersensitivite to insulin.
And here I am today in September 2020, currently taking 1 unit of basal per night and I'm thinking of reducing it to 0.5 units tomorrow due to another sudden increase in sensitivity to insulin.
So I am coming up on 3 years since diagnosis (Dec, 2017) and I am wondering if this pattern of increased insulin sensitivity is normal? Has anyone experienced anything like this before? Also, my basal to bolus ratio is highly skewed in favour in bolus. I can take about 9 units of bolus in a day but only need 0.5 units of basal once a day.
My consultant is putting it down to an extended honeymoon period but no investigation has been done it's just guessing.
I am currently using Lantus and Humalog and just as an FYI, I have also been diagnosed with erosive gastritis and a hiatal hernia.
I am coming up to 3 years since diagnosis of T1D, every couple of months I have a bad hypo and need to reduce my basal insulin from about 4 units per night to 0.5 units. Why do I become sensitive to insulin all the time?
Hi all,
I just wanted to share my curious story to see if anyone has experienced anything similar.
I was diagnosed as a T1D in December 2017 at age 25, I then blissfully managed the disease for about a year until December 2018 when I started playing 5 a side football every Thursday with workmates. I was naive and didn't adjust my insulin ratios to accommodate the exercise. In February 2019 I became quite ill and suffered a hurrendous hypo, my heart sank, my body felt heavy, I couldn't feel my pulse, I had a feeling of utter dread, I fell at the top of the stairs and thankfully my girlfriend was there to give me some glucose to get me out of it.
However the following week after this I had noticed my basal insulin requirements had decreased drastically. I went from 25 units of basal insulin to around 5 units per night. In the following days I had dizzy spells, constant nausea, confusion and I would go in and out of lucidity. I ended up going into hospital as these symptoms persisted and I became really unwell, before I got to hospital I had all the hallmarks of a panic attack, breathing erratically, pins and needles in lips and fingers tachycardia etc.
I was admitted to hospital for a few days and the doctors ran bloods and everything was normal apart from I had raised liver enzymes and slightly raised calcium (only very slightly). My symptoms improved over the few days and I was released from hospital. The diabetic consultant at the time suggested I had potentially been overdosing on insulin which may have caused the symptoms.
Over the next two months I lost a lot of weight going from 103kg to 95kg (16 stone 5 lbs to 15 stone) due to not eating very much as I'd largely lost my appetite, I think I was totalling around 1000kcal per day at the time. Over these two months I got gradually better but had waves of being unwell in the days; my insulin requirements were very low and some days I didn't need to bolus before eating and bloods would stay in range, I have also had chronic loose stools ever since the hospital admission. By around Mid-April 2019 I began to feel somewhat normal again and I was no longer having waves of sickness in the day times.
I thankfully had a few months of normality until August 2019 when I had a very stressful situation at work that triggered gastritis like symptoms and a big reduction in basal insulin from 6 units per night to 0.5 units per night. It was at this time that I realised how much of an effect stress has on my insulin requirements, for some reason I become very sensitive to insulin when I am stressed.
My basal requirements slowly recovered over the next few months and I was taking 4 units of basal per night by November 2019.
Since then the pattern has continued, in March 2020 my basal insulin requirements went from 4 units per night to 0.5 and again in June 2020 after another really bad hypo. Interestingly, I had been working from home between March and August and admittedly did not get enough exercise and put on a bit of weight but still became hypersensitivite to insulin.
And here I am today in September 2020, currently taking 1 unit of basal per night and I'm thinking of reducing it to 0.5 units tomorrow due to another sudden increase in sensitivity to insulin.
So I am coming up on 3 years since diagnosis (Dec, 2017) and I am wondering if this pattern of increased insulin sensitivity is normal? Has anyone experienced anything like this before? Also, my basal to bolus ratio is highly skewed in favour in bolus. I can take about 9 units of bolus in a day but only need 0.5 units of basal once a day.
My consultant is putting it down to an extended honeymoon period but no investigation has been done it's just guessing.
I am currently using Lantus and Humalog and just as an FYI, I have also been diagnosed with erosive gastritis and a hiatal hernia.