Insulin resistance?

[josie38]

Hi,

I have been a T1 for 15 yrs and have tried all sorts of insulin and different regimes. In Aug 2010 i was put on a pump because i wasn't getting hypo symptoms ( which has always been a problem) and being a bit out of control. Last week I went to a hosp appt and saw a different doctor, the one i normally see had left. He put me on metformin because " It will help with weight issues" as he put it. When i looked at my notes I found that i had put on 2lb since February!!!!!!! I was in and out in 5 mins with no explanation apart from that "I had weight issues". I then requested to see a DSN to see if they could shed some light on the matter. She then explained that i had become "desensitised" to insulin and that the metformin wuld help my body be sensitive to the insulin again.

Since then I have had about 7 hypos, with no warning.

I don't eat a lot of carbs......I have some toast for breakfast, fruit for lunch and carb free meals for dinner. I do 3 40mins walking a day and walking at work( i work in a school) so not sure where my weight issues come from.

Never mind..............


Josie

 

[ljwilson]

I get confused with the different medications people take. I have always understood that Metoformin is only for Type 2?

 

[jopar]

Josie

Have they ever tried you on Animal Insulin?

When Analouge/human insulin came in, and established animal insulin users were swapped onto the Analouge/Human insulins there were a lot of complaints about either losing or changes in their hypo warnings...

I know when my husband swapped over from Animal to human insulin, that his hypo warnings changed from sweating as his hypo started to the sweats not kicking in until he hit the 2mmol/l's and took time for him to adjust to picking up the more subtle warning he got..

You can use Animal Insulin in a pump, just got to remember the different lag time it has of 30minutes when setting basal rates and giving time between bolusing and actually eating..

 

[noblehead]

Jose,

I would go along with what Jo has said about animal insulin, there have been members in the past who have had similar problems with human/analogue insulin's and made the change to porcine/beef insulin and had a successful outcome, the Insulin Dependent Diabtic Trust (IDDT) are the people you should speak to about this or you could pm Janebelle who is a member of this forum.

I have noticed that metformin is now being offered to type 1's who have insulin resistance and weight issues, if I'm not mistaken Dillinger is one of these people who has recently been taking metformin and writing about it here. Losing weight and increasing exercise does increase insulin sensitivity, I'm using a lot less insulin now than I was say 2-3 years ago despite the fact that I've upped my carb intake slightly.

 

[josie38]

Thanks noble and jopar........I got a bit annoyed about the weight issue thing cuz i have been 10st since i had my youngest 5 yrs ago and cuz i put on a couple of pounds i have weight issues. I am not overweight as the dr implied and i do 3 40min walks a day. I used to be on pork insulin until glargine became popular. I have a pump clinic appt in june so i will ask about changing insulin then. I will see what the Metformin does to my BS......

Josie

 

[hanadr]

Sometimes they call the reduced sensitivity to insulin in T1 Double diabetes. Metformin ismeant to help with that
As to gaining 2lb in several months, I can gain that much overnight. ) .
Sensibly though, if you increase your insulin use, it can become a problem as insulin is the fat storing hormone.
By giving you Metformin, your care team are probably trying to avoid that. Other teams might simply adjust the insulin dose upwards.this happened regularly over the last 30years or so to my T1 husband, whi is now very overweight Mind you since he's now on MDI, he's adjusted his carbs and insulin downwards and is hoping the weight will do the same.
Hana

 

[noblehead]

Thanks noble and jopar........I got a bit annoyed about the weight issue thing cuz i have been 10st since i had my youngest 5 yrs ago and cuz i put on a couple of pounds i have weight issues. I am not overweight as the dr implied and i do 3 40min walks a day. I used to be on pork insulin until glargine became popular. I have a pump clinic appt in june so i will ask about changing insulin then. I will see what the Metformin does to my BS......

Josie

At just over 10st isn't hardly cause for concern so surprised the consultant mention it :? Out of interest was your hypo awareness fine when you were on the pork insulin?

 

[josie38]

noble............yes i had good warnings when on the pork insulin but lost them when i went on to humalog and lantus/mdi. Because everyone believed it was the best thing in the world the drs never questioned it...they just said the usual of "run high for a couple of weeks and your symptoms should come back" but by having to do that every 6 months my Hba always came back a bit hi and then it was my fault...........They said I wasn't looking after myself!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm on the verge of giving up now

Josie

 

[noblehead]

Josie,

If you look at the lantus threads on the forum you will see that some members have been in a similar position since changing onto analogue insulin's, the IDDT which I mentioned earlier are good at advising people about switching to animal insulin's and it might be worth your while getting in touch with them.