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'Waves' Hello fellow pump user of U500. I was told there weren't any others in the country.
OK, by the time they put you onto U500 you almost certainly have type 2 diabetes, simply because you are using that much insulin (I peaked at 1500u per day). Your pancreas will no longer be producing any 'home-grown' insulin. And this is the point, the doctors don't care if it isn't producing because a) an auto immune condition took it out, or b) over production of insulin wore it out.
It is possible you are type one, but to the doctors this is pretty irrelevant to your treatment. You are type two, and the drug regime is totally geared to that. I tend to describe myself as ' insulin dependent' rather than go into details. ( Type two with no natural insulin production, end stage type two via type one, slow immune reaction ending in severe insulin resistance - all a little complicated).
By this stage it may be impossible to prove whether you were/are type one at diagnosis unless antibody tests were done then, and they tend not to order these if you show up obviously heading for dka - that's an automatic type one assumption.
As an aside, are you aware that Eli Lilly are stopping the production of the vials of U500? If you talk to customer services they say they are unaware of anyone in the UK using U500 in a pump, and therefore they are ceasing production for safety reasons.
OK, by the time they put you onto U500 you almost certainly have type 2 diabetes, simply because you are using that much insulin (I peaked at 1500u per day). Your pancreas will no longer be producing any 'home-grown' insulin. And this is the point, the doctors don't care if it isn't producing because a) an auto immune condition took it out, or b) over production of insulin wore it out.
It is possible you are type one, but to the doctors this is pretty irrelevant to your treatment. You are type two, and the drug regime is totally geared to that. I tend to describe myself as ' insulin dependent' rather than go into details. ( Type two with no natural insulin production, end stage type two via type one, slow immune reaction ending in severe insulin resistance - all a little complicated).
By this stage it may be impossible to prove whether you were/are type one at diagnosis unless antibody tests were done then, and they tend not to order these if you show up obviously heading for dka - that's an automatic type one assumption.
As an aside, are you aware that Eli Lilly are stopping the production of the vials of U500? If you talk to customer services they say they are unaware of anyone in the UK using U500 in a pump, and therefore they are ceasing production for safety reasons.
They still do the pre-filled pens. I looked into using these to fill the pump reservoir, but it's really not recommended. That means having to go back to a U100 insulin to provide a basal and using pens for meals. Just as I got used to the convenience of a pump, Lilly decide to make taking insulin awkward again.
There is a U300 available in the USA, but I don't know anything about it.
Mr_Pot
Well-Known Member
Here is a question from someone who knows next to nothing about Insulin use: If there were 2 diabetics who did not produce their own Insulin, were the same weight and ate similar meals, would they need the same dose of Insulin? There seems to be a big variation on dosage mentioned on this forum and I wonder why that is.
Circuspony
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 976
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Not necessarily as insulin sensitivity can vary. I am extremely insulin sensitive so take tiny doses - it's possibly because I do a lot of exercise, but there could be a number of reasons.
