How long after T2 diagnosis did you start insulin

hankjam said:

Agreed.
At my last review with the DB I asked how many T2 covered by the practise were in remission. Not many came the reply. She then looked up my history and noted that I have only once been in the diabetir range for my HbA1c, when I was diagnosed.

No interest in how I managed this....

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And that lack of interest (which I also get) is part of the reason why they don’t see it more often, and people end up on insulin where it could have been avoided. Sigh

I was about 18 months before I was prescribed Insulin. Initially I was put on Metformin then Gliclazide. My initial basal dose being 4 units of Levemir daily some 12 years ago. I'm now on 80u of Toujeo of and up to 50u of Novorapid daily. I also inject 1u of Ozempic weekly. Coupled with careful (but boring) food intake, my average mmol reading is 10.

Jung the foreman said:

I was about 18 months before I was prescribed Insulin. Initially I was put on Metformin then Gliclazide. My initial basal dose being 4 units of Levemir daily some 12 years ago. I'm now on 80u of Toujeo of and up to 50u of Novorapid daily. I also inject 1u of Ozempic weekly. Coupled with careful (but boring) food intake, my average mmol reading is 10.

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Have you insulin levels ever been tested ?
C-peptide, Antibodies ?

Geordie_P said:

My dad does, yes. Exclusively in fact. Of course, when he was diagnosed in the 1990's I would imagine the NHS advice was even more carb based than it is now, and he will have followed doctors' advice strictly. Possibly the fact that he's very physically active kept him from complications- I don't know. I can say he's very fit and strong in his mid 70's though.

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Wow he sounds an amazingly resilient man!

Tannith said:

There have been discussions on another thread about how long it takes for a T2 to need insulin. Obviously it must vary between individuals but I wondered if the stories are right about it taking around 10 years? (I'm not on it myself) So I thought we might get answers straight from the horse's mouth as it were.

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T2's need insulin all the time. Their pancreas produces it
In fact most true T2's ( I'm tempted to say all) overproduce it.
So to answer your question directly they have needed it since birth.

This horse is T2D for over 30 years now. I have never used exogenous insulin except on rare occasions while in hospital and on intravenous drips.

6 years ago I reached a stage where my oral meds were maxed out, and I had an HbA1c of 106. I was being referred to an endocrinologist to start insulin therapy.

Then I discovered this site while researching insulin therapy and my life changed course. I refused the insulin and started to embrace LCHF (reluctantly at first, but full-on when I saw what it did to my sugar levels). Three months later my follow on HbA1v was 52 and me and my GP shook hands. He supports me and I try to be a good boy.

I have never counted a calorie in my life (except in the school physics lab) and I rarely count carbs. I do not portion weigh either._ I do not use any app to estimate my macro's. I just live.

My HbA1c for the last 4 years has been below 48, and even when in hospital on Eatwell and with my diabetic meds withdrawn I stayed below 48. This last session and my Hba1c was 45 and I am still off most of my diabetes meds,

I am still low carbing, and I know that if I need to I can drop even lower without too much trouble. My weight has dropped from about 110 kg five years ago to 61.3kg today.

My breakfast used to be bacon and eggs. Now it is bacon eggs sausage, toast, tomatoes, cucumber, radish, and beetroot slices. A large plateful and my sugars 4 hours later are back to 'normal' for me, So I am no longer needing to go keto. It is simple just how I like it first thing in the morning. I am certainly not starving myself

So 30 years to get to insulin, 6 years for it to not be necessary as previously thought. Thank you DCUK/

Pipp said:

Or in utero?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1648191/?page=1

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Indeed..

Hi all,

This thread has had a whopping 46 posts deleted for going off topic.

May I remind you to post about how long it took you (or a loved one) to start insulin.

Further off topic discussions will be deleted again, which may lead to thread bans or warnings.

Update on my brother: after about 6 weeks starting on insulin, his mental health improved so much he has finally listened to my results and is improving his figures a lot, leading to lower insulin needs already

Sometimes insulin for type 2 diabetics can be a lifeline in unexpected ways.

Tannith said:

There have been discussions on another thread about how long it takes for a T2 to need insulin. Obviously it must vary between individuals but I wondered if the stories are right about it taking around 10 years? (I'm not on it myself) So I thought we might get answers straight from the horse's mouth as it were.

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I was diagnosed in February with type 2 and put straight on insulin (novorapid and lantus) after about 2 months they added metformin. I managed to get a review of my medication and am now on metformin, levemir (long range insulin) and ozempic. It is likely to change again.

Not been 10 years, but as I got into remission within weeks of diagnosis I don't expect to end up on insulin unless I start eating loads of carbs again.

About a year after diagnosis. I had been on Gliclazide but couldn’t get my glucose levels down no matter what I ate. Have been on insulin for about 6 years now. Although we’re not sure what type. Was thought it may have been steroid induced due to another medical condition but have been off steroids for nearly 2 years now and still need insulin. GP just automatically put me as Type 2 as was diagnosed when I was 40. Under the care of the diabetes nurses at the hospital. On Fiasp and Tresiba. I’ve felt much better since in insulin. I don’t seem to have any insulin resistance.

Lou73 said:

About a year after diagnosis. I had been on Gliclazide but couldn’t get my glucose levels down no matter what I ate. Have been on insulin for about 6 years now. Although we’re not sure what type. Was thought it may have been steroid induced due to another medical condition but have been off steroids for nearly 2 years now and still need insulin. GP just automatically put me as Type 2 as was diagnosed when I was 40. Under the care of the diabetes nurses at the hospital. On Fiasp and Tresiba. I’ve felt much better since in insulin. I don’t seem to have any insulin resistance.

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Thing is if you are in fact type 1 the nhs makes you eligible for certain tech that a type 2 can’t get. Like pumps and cgm. A cpeptide test even now will show how much insulin you actually make. Antibodies tests might help, might not. It should have been done when you were moved to insulin so soon after diagnosis.

It would drive me crazy not knowing what type I was.

Official diagnosis was in 2009 and started insulin because of pregnancy in 2015, so 6 years. Had I not gotten pregnant it would have been longer without any meds.

I've recently been changed over to insulin, 11 years after being diagnosed

I was diagnosed with T2 in my early 70s 8 years ago, but ended up pre-diabetic within a few months by cutting right down on carbs. I'm currently back to running on "pancreas power" alone, having stopped taking metformin nearly 5 years ago. I'm fairly sure my diabetes was mainly due to my higher carb diet after my husband took over shopping and cooking. Now my current low carb/keto diet keeps me safe and my elderly pancreas happy.

I've been very fortunate in that I've always had the support of my GP (who said try Atkins) and my previous - sadly now retired - DN.

Hotpepper20000 said:

I have no reason to go on insulin. My body produces way too much as it is. I’m very insulin resistant so. My goal for the last ten years has been to to become more insulin sensitive by going very low carb and shortening my eating window.

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Hi, how do you know if you produce too much insulin and are insulin resistant? Any help very much appreciated.

Lizzeeee said:

Hi, how do you know if you produce too much insulin and are insulin resistant? Any help very much appreciated.

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There is a special test called a C-peptide test which is a blood test used to measure serum insulin levels. It seems that GP's do not provide this test, which has to be Consultant led. It is given as part of the process of diagnosing T1D, but is generally not available for T2D. There are indepenant labs who offer this as a private service but you need to arrange a blood draw by a phlebotomist or HCP at the GP practice.

As a long term T2D, I have come to assume I have IR a plenty, This is based on personal experience of knowing that my blood sugars do drop over time, without injecting insulin, ergo I am producing insulin. I am on a sulfonyl medication that improves insulin output, and this does drop my blood quicker than when I stop it, so I know my pancreas is still capable of producing sufficient insulin. But I do not know for certain if I am IR. But it goes with the territory. I also know that on the occasions I got blue lighted to hospital for non diabetic reasons, they put me on an insulin pump and it did nothing for my sugar levels at the time.

Tannith said:

There have been discussions on another thread about how long it takes for a T2 to need insulin. Obviously it must vary between individuals but I wondered if the stories are right about it taking around 10 years? (I'm not on it myself) So I thought we might get answers straight from the horse's mouth as it were.

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It took me about ten years to get on basal/Lantus and then another seven before I started bolus/Humalog.