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How is "Insulin Resistance" developed?

HuNTeR124

Member
Messages
11
Location
Australia, Victoria, Melbourne.
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
There's no world peace. Crime, Misogynist and Misandrist.
Hello everyone. I am a 21 year old, Type 1 Diabetic with a high dose of long and short acting. I currently am still not doing carb counting with my meals due to a lot going on at the moment. But I am settled in with the current units I'm using. I have short acting with every meal and long acting an hour before I go to bed. (11:30PM) Though over the 16 years of having diabetes, I've realised that I gradually go higher in the dose of insulin I take. I switched to Lantus from Levemir in 2017 due to having to inject 47 units in the morning and 34 units in the evening.

Is this resistance due to the same use of insulin? Do I need to change my short acting like I did with my long acting? I am doing sight rotation so it's not that it's not spreading. But I'm still a little confused to as why I'm constantly having to increase my doses

Current units
(NovoRapid - 15 units).
(Lantus - 26 units).
 
Last edited:
As a T2 there isn't a direct comparison, but IR is reinforced (as I understand it) by over production of insulin, often a result of eating too many carbohydrates.

However I'm not sure how it first starts. A very good question.

The main lesson for T2s is that one way to reduce insulin resistance is to cut back on carbohydrate so that your body needs less insulin so the stress on your pancreas is reduced.

I assume that if you significantly reduce the carbohydrates that you eat then you will not only need less insulin over the day to keep your BG under control, but that the reduced dose of insulin can also lead to a reduction in insulin resistance.

However, as I say, this is a T2 perspective.
 
Insulin Resistance is not the only possible explanation for your increase in insulin between the ages of 5 and 21. It may also be due to growing up: getting bigger, eating more, running around less, hormones, ...

There are many things which dictate how much insulin we need and as explained on another thread, the right amount of insulin for someone with type 1 diabetes is the amount you need to manage your BG.
 
Hello @HuNTeR124 Welcome to the forum.

Insulin restance?

Well there could be any number of reasons why for example:
You might be ill, cold, flu or something.
You may have gain weight
You may have been on the same insulin for a number of years, I found that Nova and Lantus did not work as well, for me after being on it for 18+ years.
As you get older the body changes so you may need to change the amount of insulin you take.
Plus I am sure there are a few more that I can't think of.

Saying that when I first started on Lantus/Nova regime I was on more than that, but after a while it slowly got reduced, and the amount you take is not a large dose by any means.

From the above info on the amount you take, is it just one injection of each insulin type per day or do you inject multiple time with the Novarapid?

Normally the Lantus is a long acting insulin so one one shot is needed where as the Nova is usually injected before each meal, sometimes anything up to 10-15 minutes before.

Carb counting can certainly help in the management of Type 1 and if your wanting and idea about doing it then look up "Bertie Online" which can be a start.

Take care.
 
Thank you everyone for replying. I am struggling with gaining weight as of unknown reasons (as my GP and I are working on it), but to level me out on trying to gain weight and keep my levels at bay is definitely a big struggle.
I weigh 50kg and trying to manage each meal with the right proportion to gain weight, is an issue to how I change my insulin intake. I'm not sure if I have to ration my food out or my insulin.

Maybe I need to exercise more to balance out the intake of insulin as I am trying to gain weight and not lose it.

Growing up I think definitely does contribute to the fluctuation in the intake of insulin.

I'll definitely look into different apps I can use to help me carb count.
 
If you are struggling to gain weight then that would suggest you don't have classic insulin resistance such as many T2s have. So the carb counting and other tips from @Knikki and @helensaramay will be most relevant to you.
 
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