Any type 1 people gone without insulin long term?

[Ravenshead]

I found out I was diabetic about 3 1/2 years ago while on holiday.
I eventually found out that I was type one after many visits to the doctors.
I suspected that I might have been misdiagnosed but took my medication (Insulin injections) until about 3 weeks ago. I stopped taking it completely and in the 3 weeks I have been off it have kept a close watch on the sugar levels. In that time, the levels have basically stayed the same at about 7.2 (evening) 10.0 (morning).
Has anyone else any experience of this; and are there any consequences in staying off them full time?
Trying to get an answer from the doctors is virtually impossible, so thought I would ask here.

 

[ConradJ]

Jeez...

If you really are T1, then your pancreas should no longer be producing insulin, in which case continuing to live without the injections is likely to result in severe complications in the longer term, if not Ketoacidosis / death in the short term.

I went through a period of denial in my teens (around 8 years after diagnosis), but saw my BG's rise through the stratosphere within 24 hours, so I can't help you with your amazingly low BG's without meds... perhaps you have some unusual characteristics that mean you body is still producing insulin or that you're on a false honeymoon from the leftovers of insulin still sitting in pockets within your body???

What were your BGs doing before you stopped? What meds were you on? Do you exercise hard?

Whatever you're doing, do make sure you always have your insulin handy - just in case.

Also, do consider this: non-diabetic BG's should be around 5-6mmol, so you are running high: a BG of 10.0 in the morning means that you are short of insulin or have some resistance to it. If you continue to live with these levels you are likely to succumb to retinopathy, etc... believe me, you really don't want to go down that road. :thumbdown:

 

[Ravenshead]

i am 62 and was diognosed when i was 59
having had heat stroke sun stroke and de hydration
while on holiday
when i returned back to england i had no injections for 6 weeks
as my then wife kept the insulin and did not tell me anything
it was only when i was as the doctors she produced the insulin pen
my sugar levels have been normal for months
in fact getting lower when i injected,
i was eating chocolate biscuits to keep my levels up,
as i was going too low with the injections

 

[phoenix]

You may have been misdiagnosed and be T2, or you may have T1, whatever the case, your glucose levels are those of someone with uncontrolled diabetes,
If you were correctly diagnosed you may not be doing yourself any favours in stopping your insulin.
It's been known for many years that people with T1 don't always lose their total insulin production. Recently measurements taken on people who have had the condition for more than 50 years has demonstrated that some still produce a little.
This graph from recent research by Dr Faustman shows that beta cell loss is also far more gradual than originally thought.

Many people who are older have a variety of T1 (LADA) which means that they lose their beta cells even more gradually.
Your levels at diagnosis were presumably very high, perhaps you had DKA. These high glucose levels and the fats in your blood from the DKA would have been toxic to beta cells . You would require higher levels of insulin to reduce them. Once you went on insulin, the toxicity would have been reduced and you may have been left with enough function to cope with smaller doses or even no insulin at all but only for a while
However, your levels at the moment are far from normal. Levels of 7mmol/l for a fastng glucose is and above is considered to be diagnostic of diabetes. They are 10mmol/l in the morning . What are they after meals?

It maybe that you need far lower doses of insulin than you were given, it maybe that you are T2 and can control your diabetes with drugs or even diet and exercise. What you shouldn't do is leave the position as it is because your blood glucose levels at the moment will be causing unseen damage.

Go to your doctor,(if possible get a referral to a specialist for appropriate tests of insulin production and autoimmune anti bodies) but don't leave things to drift upwards.