Honeymoon Period

[pm133]

Hi everyone.
I was diagnosed type 1 in September last year and have just hit my 6 months mark.
Recently I have been experiencing some hypos and following my 3 month HBa1c result of 46 down from 142 at diagnosis my GP and Diabetes Nurse advised me to use less insulin to avoid losing hypo awareness and to reduce my hypo occurrences. No matter how much I reduced my insulin by, I still had blood glucose readings which were in the 5s and 6s.
I then took the decision to do a bit of experimenting and stopped bolussing to see what would happen and my readings were recovering to normal before every meal. I then started reducing the basal and have stopped that as well.

So right now, I've been insulin free for about 5 days and I'm basically eating anything I want - cereal, bread, chocolate. And my body recovers within about 4-5 hours back to normal readings.

So I'm presuming this is just the Honeymoon Period. The questions I have are:-

1) Is it normal for the Honeymoon Period to require no insulin at all?

2) Is it normal for it to kick in after about 6 months of absolutely needing insulin to get my sugars under control?

3) Does anyone know of any way to prolong the period? Or is there any way of sure-fire killing it overnight (because I'd like to avoid that)?

Thanks in advance for any advice or any stories from others who have experienced this.

 

[searley]

OK.. Every one is different.. But yes it's possible

My dad is type 1.. (So am I). In the early days he had the same... He once went about 3 months without insulin.. He decided he wasn't diabetic any more.. Stopped testing etc.. Then bang one day collapsed and hospitalised sky high bg and dka..

So.. The recommendation would be you need your insulin... If you stop that's a choice you need to make yourself.. But if you've been classed t1 then as some point you WILL need the insulin again.. So keep a close eye on your bg levels.

Keep a close eye for unexpected weight loss as this is a sign your body is not getting the nutrition it needs

Moreover.. You should talk to your care team I doubt the would be too happy that you've stopped without being advised to.

As for extending honeymoon.. My care team reckon that starting insulin early can in cases extend it as your body needs to do less work to control your levels.. So by stopping your insulin you could be speeding up your need for it

 

[pm133]

Thanks searley,

I am testing continuously and will be getting a Libre in the next week or so to avoid DKA so that won't be an issue for me. The diabetes has not gone away and my insulin stuff goes with me and is primed to pounce back into action the minute my levels start to go up a bit.

Will be in touch with my DN and GP next week so will talk to them at that point. Stopping is a double-edged sword. I need to avoid hypos by avoiding taking insulin I don't need but also want to extend the period where I don't need to take any and this might require me to take perhaps a bare minimum amount.

 

[searley]

Just have to deal with what comes

It's literally as the saying goes "in the hands of the gods"

As you say keep an eye on it and do what you need to stay healthy

 

[Rhys.]

Hello pm133,

This is great news, but staggering, how many of us have come off insulin completely, during alot of recent type 1 diagnosis's. I have some responses to your questions and also similar experiences.

1) Is it normal for the Honeymoon Period to require no insulin at all?

Yes. Many of us recent Type 1's on this forum, have been running with no insulin for months / weeks now. Some will use novorapid for certain meals, but most I have read ( Including Myself ), are off everything for now.

2) Is it normal for it to kick in after about 6 months of absolutely needing insulin to get my sugars under control?

100% possible. I came off my Insulin second week of August and I started on April 20th 2020. My experience was around 3 - 4 months of Insulin, where like yourself, I started to Hypo EVERDAY. Some here, have started around 3 months in and some around 6 months in. 3 - 6 month scale, tends to be the timeline a Honeymoon will kick in.

3) Does anyone know of any way to prolong the period? Or is there any way of sure-fire killing it overnight (because I'd like to avoid that)?

This, I don't know. There are theories about Zinc, Vit D supplements etc, but they are only theories. Logic would tell me, if I eat clean and try not to burn out the remaining BETA CELLS, we have left, that it will last as long as possible. But, our immune system could attack at any point, so regardless of these " Theories ", our body will make the final decision for us.

What you may notice when coming off insulin entirely, is some nerves tingling and some body parts / organs, giving maybe negative sensations. This is normal for most of us, as this is our bodies way of trying it's best to return to normal. The dangerous part of this, is the mindset. We may convince ourselves, that there is other issues with our health, when it's more than likely just Diabetes. Diabetes, tends to get the blame for so much, when really, it's doing very little. Enjoy this brief period and avoid the negative research. Mental Health, is just as important as Diabetes.

The most dangerous part, are keytones and bad blood sugar levels. My Keytones are rarely above 0.2. But everyone is different. Please monitor these closely, as this is without doubt, the most important part of our Type 1 Honeymoon and of course Blood Sugar Levels.

I have sent over a graph chart from my Libre, to showcase the increases of blood sugars ( From Destruction of BETA CELL MASS ) and how they are working back down. I have done 2, just to show a clean eating day and a eat whatever I want type of day. This is completely off insulin.

Any questions, please ask this forum. It's got some great members here, with vast amount of experience and knowledge!

All the best
Rhys