Needing no insulin for meals?

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Hi, I was diagnosed around a month or so ago with T1 diabetes and I'm in a bit of a confusing situation.

I started at 1/10 with novorapid and 16 units/night for Lantus shortly after being submitted to hospital. That went up to 1/8 then slowly decreased to 1/16 as i did more physical activity.

I do (a lot) of mountain biking and got to the point where i am not needing to take nearly any insulin in the day to keep my levels fine.

Today I did a little test where i had breakfast and dinner with only 0.5 units of insulin and no activity per meal along with my basal; unsurprisingly my levels were 4.8 and 5.3 after both meals with that little insulin, however my basal rate(21 units) has not changed at all for the past few weeks and my first BS levels in the morning are usually perfect(5.3).

Is this a usual sign when in the honeymoon period? I really don't get how I have not had to decrease my basal rate but my bolus has been reduced to barely nothing. I bet i could get away with not having any at all with meals (i usually have none with my meal before activity and still need 500ml lucozade during)


Could anyone enlighten me on this? I'm not quite sure what to do as I've been instructed to never not take insulin.
 

June_C

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You do sound as though you could be in the honeymoon phase, but you should contact your DN or DN team and ask their advice before you make any changes.
 
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365

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sounds like what was happening to my son, we reached a stage where we went to missing off insulin for a lot of small meals/ snacks he was having (we were liasing with our d.n. regularly). but like she said you have to be aware that we don't know how long the phase is going to last.

and it didn't last. we now give novorapid insulin at ratio of 1:15 .
 

365

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the fact that you do allot of exercise will no doubt help and be playing a factor in the need for no insulin. ( as exercise uses allot of energy which is provided by glucose/ carbs.)
 
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Jaylee

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Hi @Suicidal_Tissue

I'm in agreement with June's comment above.

The key here even if you're told by the DN to drastically lower your insulin dose, or even stop for a while? Is to keep an eye on those great blood test results you've been getting with the meter..
 
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June_C

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@Suicidal_Tissue . I am actually going through the honeymoon phase at the moment and have been able to avoid both basal and bolus, but as @Jaylee has said, you must watch your levels. I'm constantly monitoring mine looking for the inevitable rise and my DN team know and agree with what I'm doing. Good luck and hope it lasts.:)
 
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pinewood

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I'm 10 months diagnosed and in the last week my carb ratio has shot up to 1 unit per 50g from 1 unit per 20g - so I'm taking less than half my usual NovoRapid. No idea what's going on. :-/
 

ElyDave

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Honeymoon period can be extended quite a bit with continued exercise. I' still taking less than 4 units basal a day 2 years in.
 
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52O342UOIF

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Sounds like your basal is covering all the carb intake as well as what your liver puts out. Give your nurse or doctor a call, you're going to have to lower you basal.
 

Erin85

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Hi Suicidal_Tissue! It sounds like a similar situation to mine. I'm nearly 9months diagnosed and thought my honeymoon was over (insulin needs slowly increased over a period of weeks/months), however, now getting by with no fast acting insulin and only 3units/night of background insulin. I started a thread on it a few weeks ago (entitled 'Frustrated', if you want to have a look at my responses) and a forum member mentioned that she was still honeymooning after 7yrs!! As advised above, I would touch base with your diabetic team, just to make sure they are happy with your current insulin regime. Even 9months in, I am still confused on how to figure out if my basal rate is right, and although there are plenty of links on the forum to advise you how to do this, I still check with my nurse who can reassure me whether my rate is right or not. Good luck and enjoy the honeymoon :)
 
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Thanks guys and gals :)

I've now gone over 24 hours without any bolus and reduced my basal to just 10 units. My BS levels are perfectly normal before & after meals if not on the lower sides of things,

I'll have a word with my DN and let them know whats working for me.
 
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Claire007

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I'm in a similar situation. Started off with a bolus of 1:10 and 12 units (I think!) of basal AM & PM.
I'm now on a ratio of 1:20 but always round down, and 3.5 units of levemir Pm and just 1.5 AM.
My DSN said not to go below 1:20 without adjusting my basal and that the thinking now is that if the diabetes is aggressively controlled from diagnosis that the pancreas will continue to produce its own insulin. They used to have a more softly softly approach with just putting patients on background initially before introducing carb counting & bolus injections weeks later, but have found the honeymoon is prolonged if patients get good control from the off.
She has had a few patients who have been recently diagnosed who have temporarily come off insulin altogether, and says its the first time in her career she's seen this happen.
I'm no expert of course! Just relaying the advice I was given myself
 

Diamattic

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Its great that you are adjusting your own levels to learn new things, thats the spirit!

Yes, it means you are in your honemoon. I found the same with mine, and that my basal did not adjust nearly as much as my bolus.

However, don't think of this as a green light to eat whatever you want, some theories out there think that if you start eating low carb right away, you can keep that honeymoon period around for a lot longer, if not years and years!
 

CART3RS

Newbie
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I was in, and still am at times, in exactly the same position as you. I do a lot of mountain biking too. You been to Revolution Bike Park? If not check it out it's awesome. I was diagnosed type 1 back in May this year and started on 18 units of Lantus. I'm now down to 8 units a day and sometimes I need no novo rapid at all for me. Best advice would be "do what your body tells you" if you don't go high off meals without insulin then don't take it. There's no exact science with type 1. You just do what's right for your own body. I started the 1 unit to 100 grams and it was so much for me that my levels dropped to 1.5 after meals. You eventually get used to what your body needs.
 
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Messages
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Type of diabetes
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I was in, and still am at times, in exactly the same position as you. I do a lot of mountain biking too. You been to Revolution Bike Park? If not check it out it's awesome. I was diagnosed type 1 back in May this year and started on 18 units of Lantus. I'm now down to 8 units a day and sometimes I need no novo rapid at all for me. Best advice would be "do what your body tells you" if you don't go high off meals without insulin then don't take it. There's no exact science with type 1. You just do what's right for your own body. I started the 1 unit to 100 grams and it was so much for me that my levels dropped to 1.5 after meals. You eventually get used to what your body needs.
Looks awesome! I mostly go to Llandegla, Cannock and a few other local trails + a bit of BMX here and there. I'll have to head over there and try not to ruin my hardtail on the downhills.

My bolus rates seem to be changing every couple days, I'm finding it easier to work with if I take a little less insulin than normal for breakfast, see my levels after and then adjust my ratio for that day by working out the difference with other days not needing any at all. Bit of a pain but I seem to be almost always within my target BS levels.
 

RuthW

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Take a look at the Diabetic Athlete's Handbook. If you don't want to buy it, ask your local library to buy it. There are tons of case studies of athlete's on tiny doses, and some of them, like you, seem to be able to cut their insulin altogether when training hard.

Apparently, your brain can run on lactate rather glucose when you are exercising, so you don't need insulin as an intermediary. That's not in the book, but you can google for tons of references.