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Honeymoon Period

J

jayjay

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,

been a while since I posted (diagnosis time last September) so I hope everyone is keeping well.

I have a question for type 1's;

Q: I was diagnosed last September and was initially put on a dose of 6,6,10 Novorapid and 12 Lantus. Over time this decreased to 1,1,1,2 until Xmas time when I saw my consultant who indicated that I may have been mis-diagnosed and they may look at taking me off insulin in 6 -12 months depending on how I go. Anyway, foolish as it probably sounds, I decided to take control of the situation and 'see what happened' without insulin with the result being that I have now been insulin free since Xmas eve with readings of between 4.3 and 8 in the main (I have had two occasions when I've been quite high (12) although both occasions were directly after consuming silly amounts of lager and haven't touched it since)... has anyone else experienced 'honeymoon period's' such as this? I can find no references to such occasions anywhere online and thought I'd speak to the real experts.

I would love to hear if anyone else has experienced such a journey and what the result was.

PM or reply to the post. Thanks in advance.

Justin
 
Hi Jayjay and welcome back. Well, it was a brave decision but what you have proved beyond any doubt is that you are not Type 1. With no medication for more than a month your blood sugars would be sky high by now if your pancreas wasn't producing insulin. And the fact that your own insulin is dealing very well with the sugar would indicate that there is no insulin resistance either, so there is a good possibility that you are not type 2 either!

8 is a little on the high side and if you are at 8 quite often, but with no medication, then that would put you into the 'diabetic but only just' bracket. It does make me wonder what tests they did when you were first diagnosed.
 
Wow. I am a little jealous! I would go back to your Dr ASAP, and tell them what you have done. Not becasue I think you have done the wrong thing...like Dennis says, it seems to have been a sucess. I would just say that if you tell them the results of your experience, they may be in a better position to advise you on what to expect going forward. I was diagnosed many years ago, so the honeymon period is but a dim memory...but I don't recall anyone on here or elsewhere stopping their insulin completely, and not having high blod sugar, although sometimes insulin requirements are low for a while.

Let us know!
 
Thanx both for taking the time to reply. My gut feeling pretty much follows yours that this almost certainly isn't type 1.

Tests wise I don't think they could've made any other diagnosis - i was riding at 20+ a couple of weeks after a heavy birthday session (lots of rum and little sleep) which my consultant said could have been a contributory factor. It could just be that I overdid somewhat and my body is giving me a stern warning.

I have an appt scheduled with my nurse in a couple of weeks and my consultant a few weeks after that so I was thinking that if I go in there with like 10 weeks without insulin and no other health issues then we should be able to talk about the possibilities. I've always eaten pretty well and play a lot of sport so hopefully that's helping also.

Anyway, enough rambling - thanks again for the messages and support.
 
Hi jayjay, I'm a type 1, diagnosed 6 yrs ago, was put onto insulin straightaway, have always monitored my bg very closely and noticed that I too had to keep decreasing my dose until it eventually came down to just 1 or 2 units, this was about 9mths after diagnosis- spoke to my consultant, (the diabetic nurse hadn't even heard of the honeymoon period!) he said that it was your pancreas having a last ditch attempt at normality before final burnout, and that just to make the most of it, it could last for weeks or months, and could possibly happen again. Stopped taking insulin but did the occasional monitoring and sure enough after about 4mths bg rose fairly quickly.
Look back at that time with fond memories and wish it would return!
Enjoy your honeymoon, but keep an eye on things!:)

loopyloo
 
Loo, thanks for the reply even if it probably wasn't what I wanted to hear!

When you say it 'rose quite quickly' - how quickly? Days? Weeks? Hours?!??!

Thanks in advance.

Justin
 
Jayjay, you did the right thing and I hope it continues. I was diagnosed August '04 with a stupidly high glucose level but I don't remember how high my insulin intake was, however, in the middle of '06 I spent a couple of days taking very low insulin (down to 0 for breakfast) but it crept back up settled on about 4,4,4,16. I suppose I should say I'm a triathlete and was doing about 6 hours a week training but this year I have pushed it up to just over 10 hours a week and my insulin is 3,2,4,12 but sometimes I hypo on these readings despite eating exactly the same breakfast and lunch everyday, go figure? It might not help you but just to say that it is possible to be type 1 diabetic and take very little insulin but you are living the dream and long may it continue.
 
Sorry, didnt mean to frighten you!
When I say it rose quite quickly - It was over a few wks, very gradual, nothing scary.
Now I'm back to pretty much where I started with the insulin, maybe takin a slightly higher dose but things tend to be a bit more predictable now - or maybe I'm just starting to get the hang of it.:)
As I said, make the most of it! I'm very envious![:p]
 
I don't think you can be type 1!

I couldn't get to the hospital for 2 weeks when I was diagnosed because there were no appointments free and I had a holiday booked...so they just sent me home with a glucose meter to record what was happening.

I was eating very very healthily and exercising about seven hours a week...and the lowest am reading I got was about 15!

They must have misdiagnosed you....lucky you to get off insulin! :)
 
I think I am going through this at the moment. I am on humulin S and humulin I and about to stop taking the insulin with breakfast (I have been having to gradually reduce it) and am also reducing lunch and evening meal doses as I don't make it to the next meal without going hypo. I am a bit concerned with it as I am supposed to be going snowboarding next week but with the hypos I am not sure its a good idea.
 
I'm already sorry for what i'm gonna tell you but your blood glucose level may start again to rise in a few months or even a year or two. I was diagnosed 1 year and two months ago and like you i had to decrease my amount of insulin dramatically through xmas time last year. I was having lots of hypo (and could stuff myself with yummy chocolate :D).

At the time i thought...well diabetes is not THAT bad, i can still live like b4. My diabetic nurse told me about the honeymoon period and even that some people may stop completely their insulin intake for a while. She also told me that it was a sort of rebound of the pancreas activity when you started being treated. And sadly it wouldn't last. Last november i had a nasty cold and my evil :twisted: little beta cells definately died. It's a very cruel process. I really didn't want to increase my doses again but i finally had to accept it.
So...sorry if that makes you depressed :( but i think they didn't misdiagnosed you. You may just be in this honeymoon period by now. Take good care of yourself so that you avoid disease that usually trigger the definite end of the pancreas cells activity.
You have all my support!
 
I really cant remember much about my honeymoon period. I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old and I think I was on 1 injection back then and then it went up to 2 injections and I was on very little insulin I am now 18 and I take Humalog with meals and 28 units of Lantus at night
 
Hi there

I agree that I don't think Type 1 was the right diagnosis for you as Type your pancreas does not work at all, I very stupidly tried to survive without insulin many many years ago and control with just diet and exercise, within 48 hours I was admitted hospital suffering ketoasitosis and contined to suffer being extremely ill for several years after that, I would never be so stupid to do that again, dont really know what I was thinking at the time - thought I knew better!!! very very stupid of me!


Hannah
 
Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom...

I have to say I think I'm pretty much where I was before I posted ;)

let me explain... I'm hoping that it might not be diabetes but kind of at the back of my mind thinking 'it must be' and to enjoy it while it lasts as some of you suggest.

The thing that gives me most hope I think is the fact that my consultant mentioned it 'may' be mis-diagnosis - I wouldn't imagine they would be saying that kind of thing to someone unless there was a reasonable chance... apparently his boss (one of the UK's leading Diabetes specialists apparently) had a case where someone was admitted with bs readings in the high 50's and it turned out not to be diabetes... the body does some odd things sometimes :)

re: the comments about the diabetic nurses - I don't really knwo what to make of them to be honest; in my experience they haven't appeared over knowledgeable; still I'm probably wrong on that one! Off to see them this Wednesday for first time since i came off insulin so i'll let you know if they tell me off!! :)

take care everyone. Night.

J
 
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