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Honeymoon phase?

Ktnotkatie

Ktnotkatie

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Insulin
I've recently been diagnosed with type 1. I'm on 18 units of humilin I and novorapid for meals.

The past few days I've been going really low, I woke up this morning 3.5 and haven't gone over 5.7 all day, Ive mostly only been injecting with my dinner as I don't tend to eat carbs with breakfast or lunch.

Do you think I'm maybe starting a honeymoon phase? Because the 18 units has been fine for a good few weeks and I wasn't really going under 6. But since Monday I've been low all day.

Do you think I should start reducing it gradually or drop it right down?

Thanks
Katie
 
Hi. I gather this can sometimes happen when you start insulin i.e. your body may produce a bit more insulin for a while. You may want to reduce the Humulin by just 1 unit and then see how it goes a for a few days before making any further adjustment. Seek the guidance of you DN/clinic where you can as we don't know your full medical condition and as usual use the meter as needed.
 
Hi @Ktnotkatie - we are having a mini heatwave and insulin is affected by heat so we can become more sensitive to insulin and so need less of it, this is a probable cause. It’s likely you need to reduce your basal as your need to avoid going low during the night though.
 
I've been struggling to keep my levels up too - even just on background insulin. For me it's definitely the heat.
 
Thankyou all for your replies.

I didn't realise that about the heat so thanks! I've reduced it a wee bit tonight. Luckily I have the DN on Monday so I will say to her about it.
 
Could also be
- getting your head around your diagnosis so less stressed
- any more exercise over last couple of days?
- any alcohol over the last couple of days?
 
I’ve had a similar experience - I was diagnosed 2 months ago, started on 20 units of Lantus and a 1:10 Novorapid:carb ratio. Now I’ve already progressively dropped down to 11 Lantus and a 1:18 ratio in a bid to eliminate hypos. Doctor reckons it is honeymoon phase. She said it is not unheard of to completely come off insulin for a while in the first few months after diagnosis.
 
Last edited:
helensaramay said:
Could also be
- getting your head around your diagnosis so less stressed
- any more exercise over last couple of days?
- any alcohol over the last couple of days?
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Hi Helen, could defo be the less stressed thing, feel like I'm coping a bit better now than I was. No exercise or alcohol though.
 
Richard Fuller said:
I’ve had a similar experience - I was diagnosed 2 months ago, started on 20 units of Lantus and a 1:10 Novorapid:carb ratio. Now I’ve already progressively dropped down to 11 Lantus and a 1:18 ratio in a bid to eliminate hypos. Doctor reckons it is honeymoon phase. She said it is not unheard of to completely come off insulin for a while in the first few months after diagnosis.
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You must have been diagnosed around a similar time as I was. I was feb 14th.

Im going to drop it again tonight as I've been 6.1, 4.1, 4.2 today.

How have you been getting on since diagnosis?
 
I was diagnosed on the 15th of feb. I’m currently only on 5 lantus and not injecting any novorapid as it’s taking care of itself for now. Seem to be staying under 10. Usually around 6-7. I am trying to eat low carb meals too to help it. I was taking glucose tablets as when was walking around it was falling to 5ish and didn’t want it going lower but my nurse said stop taking those as makes blood spike and fall rapidly. So now I eat a cereal bar if walking around a lot.

Good luck! I’d try the low carb meals and no insulin except if need to correct it to come down over 13 at meal times maybe?
 
boboblck said:
I was diagnosed on the 15th of feb. I’m currently only on 5 lantus and not injecting any novorapid as it’s taking care of itself for now. Seem to be staying under 10. Usually around 6-7. I am trying to eat low carb meals too to help it. I was taking glucose tablets as when was walking around it was falling to 5ish and didn’t want it going lower but my nurse said stop taking those as makes blood spike and fall rapidly. So now I eat a cereal bar if walking around a lot.

Good luck! I’d try the low carb meals and no insulin except if need to correct it to come down over 13 at meal times maybe?
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Thanks for your reply!

That's good advice actually, i hadnt thought of doing a correction. I will try that. Would u test 2 hrs after the evening meal then correct?
 
My nurse told me to correct before I eat a meal by injecting 2 units if 13 or above then eat meal but I did what you suggested. I normally didn’t have to inject anything all day, but I check frequently and if it’s over 13 two hours after a meal I just inject 1 or just inject one before a meal to help me along if it’s like 20-30g of carbs in meal.

God knows. It’s just trail and error but you get to know what works for you quickly. Atm I’m just happy it’s between 7-10 most of the day.
 
boboblck said:
My nurse told me to correct before I eat a meal by injecting 2 units if 13 or above then eat meal but I did what you suggested. I normally didn’t have to inject anything all day, but I check frequently and if it’s over 13 two hours after a meal I just inject 1 or just inject one before a meal to help me along if it’s like 20-30g of carbs in meal.

God knows. It’s just trail and error but you get to know what works for you quickly. Atm I’m just happy it’s between 7-10 most of the day.
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It such a guessing game, I think thats why I don't like it ha Ha! I like to know exactly what I'm doing.

Thanks for your help. Will do this tonight and see what happens.
 
I know, it’s a nightmare. Just enjoy the honeymoon phase while you in it. You can actually kind of eat what you like for a while and your body will sort it out for you. As long as not going above 13 I’m not worrying to much. I find walking and cleaning house are great at keeping it down. Only problem is checking it doesn’t go too low. I always panic when around 5 and eat and now feel like I’m gaining weight. Can’t catch a break lol nurse said to choose fruit or something healthy though. I was using the gulches tablets but won’t anymore.
 
I know how u feel, I've lost 5 stone and have one to go, don't know if it's because it's the last stone or because everything is all over the place but it's not budging.
 
5 stone! Amazing! Well done. I’m just reading about keto diet here. Don’t know how strict I can be but I think lots of veg, lean meat and fish is way forwards. Try and avoid the carbs so don’t have to inject apart from the lantus. Good luck!!
 
boboblck said:
5 stone! Amazing! Well done. I’m just reading about keto diet here. Don’t know how strict I can be but I think lots of veg, lean meat and fish is way forwards. Try and avoid the carbs so don’t have to inject apart from the lantus. Good luck!!
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Aw thanks, can't quite believe I've done it myself! That's over a year right enough.

That's what i do aswell, anything to avoid needles lol. It's a good incentive.
 
@Ktnotkatie , and @boboblck , it's good to see recently dx'd like you being willing to experiment with corrections!

There's a bit of a step-change going on at the moment in diabetes management. With strips alone, the official line has always been quite conservative: don't test between meals unless you feel hypo, save corrections till meals.

All well and good if on strips alone, but now that libre is ever so sloooowly starting to become available on the NHS, the emphasis is changing. The hospital I go to publishes a leaflet about cgm and endorses Stephen Ponder's Sugar Surfing book - see pdf link at foot of this page: http://www.edinburghdiabetes.com/cgms/

The difference in approach is that, with cgm and libre, because you're getting to see bg levels changing in more or less real time, there's no reason at all why you shouldn't just fire in a small correction of 1 or 2 u when you start to see levels trending up towards, say, 8, to pin it, instead of doing a massive correction at the next meal when you're already out of range at 13.

And, at the other end of the scale, gives you a heads up on whether 5g carbs would be good to tail off a slide towards 4.

Have a google to see what your health area's policy is on libre. It makes an extraordinary difference to managing our unpredictable little friend. I think it's only a matter of time before CCGs ask themselves why didn't we prescribe it earlier?
 
Scott-C said:
@Ktnotkatie , and @boboblck , it's good to see recently dx'd like you being willing to experiment with corrections!

There's a bit of a step-change going on at the moment in diabetes management. With strips alone, the official line has always been quite conservative: don't test between meals unless you feel hypo, save corrections till meals.

All well and good if on strips alone, but now that libre is ever so sloooowly starting to become available on the NHS, the emphasis is changing. The hospital I go to publishes a leaflet about cgm and endorses Stephen Ponder's Sugar Surfing book - see pdf link at foot of this page: http://www.edinburghdiabetes.com/cgms/

The difference in approach is that, with cgm and libre, because you're getting to see bg levels changing in more or less real time, there's no reason at all why you shouldn't just fire in a small correction of 1 or 2 u when you start to see levels trending up towards, say, 8, to pin it, instead of doing a massive correction at the next meal when you're already out of range at 13.

And, at the other end of the scale, gives you a heads up on whether 5g carbs would be good to tail off a slide towards 4.

Have a google to see what your health area's policy is on libre. It makes an extraordinary difference to managing our unpredictable little friend. I think it's only a matter of time before CCGs ask themselves why didn't we prescribe it earlier?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply!

I actually have an app 2moro with the nurse so was going to ask about it when I was there! It sounds amazing!
 
Ktnotkatie said:
Thanks for the reply!

I actually have an app 2moro with the nurse so was going to ask about it when I was there! It sounds amazing!
Click to expand...

Go for it, kid, T1 isn't an easy gig by any means, but it's a lot easier now than it used to be.

Even though some random hypos will mess your head up from time to time, there's a lot of room for optimism.

The big test will be the first time you go on a foreign holiday. There'll be lots of worries about how to get insulin abroad (take it on hand luggage), how do you deal with a hypo abroad (pretty much the same as you deal with it here, some sugar).

It's a manageable thing, it'll take you a bit of time to learn it, but it's totally do-able.
 
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