End of honeymoon? Producing own insulin?

[Misty1]

Hi, my son aged 16 was diagnosed T1 last May. He's been a star and maintained his levels between 4-7 with one Glargine injection a day plus Novorapid before meals according to carb count. This past week he has needed virtually no Novorapid to maintain the 4-7 level. We are thinking that his own pancreas must have sprung back into action, but it's a little concerning that he is experiencing occasional lows down at 2.5/2.8 even without the Novorapid. Has anyone else experienced this? Apart from increasing the frequency of testing, anything we can do? Thanks for any comments

 

[pumppimp]

Hi, my son aged 16 was diagnosed T1 last May. He's been a star and maintained his levels between 4-7 with one Glargine injection a day plus Novorapid before meals according to carb count. This past week he has needed virtually no Novorapid to maintain the 4-7 level. We are thinking that his own pancreas must have sprung back into action, but it's a little concerning that he is experiencing occasional lows down at 2.5/2.8 even without the Novorapid. Has anyone else experienced this? Apart from increasing the frequency of testing, anything we can do? Thanks for any comments

Hi Misty, It would seem to me that his background insulin is maybe too high (Lantus Glargine). Has he ever done any fasting blood tests? This would tell you if his background is set to the right level or not. Also people find that if this is something they do regularly (every time they see changes in there readings for a few days) They can keep their background level set to the correct amount as it can change quite a bit depending on loads of stuff, especially when newly diagnosed. There are quite a few people only on very low amounts of background a couple of years after diagnosis, as sometimes the pancreas does like to spring back into action, hopefully this should settle down in a few years. Also another thing to consider is as he's 16 maybe something to do with hormones and growth spurts etc can sometimes lower BG as well as increase them.
Hope that helps,
Laura

 

[hale710]

I would agree with the above.

I'm in the honeymoon period also and have had periods of a few weeks at a time where I've not taken my Novorapid.

I would speak to the DSN about the lows and they will advise an appropriate course of actiob


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[Kelsie]

I am going through the same thing at mo (I was only diagnosed July 2013, am 20) and my background insulin has been reduced from 14 units daily to just 8 (I split my doses by taking 4 units in am and 4 units 12 hours later). I also reduce it again when having an active day or exercising in the evening as exercise can reduce your sugar levels up to 8 hours after. So I often have to adjust my background insulin dependant on what I'm doing that day. I quite often currently don't have to have any nova rapid with breakfast because of this honeymoon period-enjoy it while it lasts I say because it's one less injection a day! Ha. I just test more regularly to ensure it's all ok. Hope this helps


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[Misty1]

Thank you all for your replies, it's reassuring to hear from others experiencing the same challenges! We've never done a fasting test so I will look into this and reduce basal a little. Thanks again and best wishes t you all!

 

[G2ADY]

I"m also in a honeymoon period. If I'm lucky I can have three stable weeks, The first sign of a change is usually an unexplained hype ( circa 2.9 - 3.2 mmol/l) I usually start with adjust my basal. I take mine at 11pm so normally I'll fast from 7pm. Take my basal at 11pm, record bloods at midnight and aim for less than 1mmol/l change between midnight and 8am. Ideally you'd want to check in the night also. I usually find that whatever percentage i've increased or decreased my Basal by I'll usually do the same percentage change with my bolus. I used to be on 26 units of Basal per night however for the past few weeks I'm down to just 8 units. I was also on 2 units of bolus per 10g of carbs but I'm currently down to 1 unit per 12g. Just to be on the safe side, ensure that he has glucose tablets with him at all times just to combat any lows.

Good luck
Steve