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Insulin dosage massively Dropping

H

Hayley.Brimble

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After some advice. I’ve been a type 1 diabetic for 32 years. For the past 10 years I have been very insulin resistant and had to take steps to control the amount of insulin I have been putting in to my body to prevent huge weight gain. Over the past 3 months though I have had to massively reduce my insulin for no apparent reason. My ratio of insulin is 1:10 now it used to be 3:10 and my background insulin has halved. Any ideas why this might be happening it’s very strange
 
Hi. Normally weight gain when a T1 on insulin is caused by eating too many carbs. Insulin itself doesn't cause weight gain - it's the carbs it metabolises. It's possible your insulin resistance has been dropping which would mean needing less insulin. How many carbs do you have per day?
 
I barely eat carbs - haven’t for about 4 years because I’m so insulin resistant.

I would say on average I eat between 100-150 carbs a day some days it will be more or less
 
I had to smile at the description 'barely eat carbs' as to control my weight and type two without medication I eat 40 gm of carbs a day, maximum, and with not going out I have put on a few Kg even on that.
Yes, breakfast today was a blob of mozzarella and two sticks of celery, then a mug of coffee with cream, but I'd eat frogspawn rather than go back to high blood glucose and being so much heavier. Last night I knelt down to reach the very bottom of the fridge - I could not do that for years. My waist and my liver have shrunk so much I have had to replace a lot of clothes, and my feet have shrunk!! The weightloss was absolutely accidental as I stopped weighing months before diagnosis, as it seemed that I could not stop gaining whilst eating a 'healthy' diet.
 
Hayley.Brimble said:
Smile away! At the end of the day the average person should eat around 225g of carbs per day so I eat less than half. I’m type 1 so it’s completely different
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Sounds like you may be quoting calorie intake figures that the 'expert's put out and that are completely irrelevant and one reason why obesity is so prevalent. Although T1 is different from T2 I seen many posts where T1s express surprise they are gaining weight and blame the insulin rather than the carbs. Insulin is a hormone that can't itself raise weight. So, I can only suggest you further reduce carb intake for a while to see the effect and take it from there.
 
Hayley.Brimble said:
Humalog
Levermir
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Hi,

Thanks for your response. It helps members know the relevance with regards to imparting the experince.

Hayley.Brimble said:
I barely eat carbs - haven’t for about 4 years because I’m so insulin resistant.

I would say on average I eat between 100-150 carbs a day some days it will be more or less
Click to expand...

Has nothing changed weight wise?
Have you noticed less frequency & less severity in hypos, thus changing how much used & how often carbwise to treat?

In the the last 3 months, have you changed injection site choices from your usual?
Which may have improved effectiveness of & changed your insulin to carb ratio?

Just sharing ideas, from someone else who's carb intake is lower than the recomended. :)

But of course, & empathised. not all metabolisms are the same... ;)
 
Hayley.Brimble said:
Any ideas why this might be happening it’s very strange
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Like you. I'm very insulin resistant. My mother was T1, my father is T2, so I've definitely got T2 family history going on. The only way for me to reduce/control my weight (borderline between overweight and obese) is for me to restrict my carbs.

More exercise plus lower carbs definitely improves my insulin resistance (lantus down by about 25% since 2 years ago). Sounds to me that you may have been in prediabetic or T2 mode (if you weren't already a T1) and lower carb has reduced your insulin resistance and improved your metabolism. Out of interest, do you/did you suffer from dawn phenomena and has that abated since your insulin rsistance went down?

I'm on lantus and humalog by the way, 50 years T1. Probably about 80g of carb (or less) per day, though I'm not afraid to have and inject for more carbs if I want them. Honestly, the less carbs I eat the easier I find my levels to control.

I'd say that a reduction in insulin resistance is a good sign, though.
 
EllieM said:
I'd say that a reduction in insulin resistance is a good sign, though.
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Having said all that, that is quite a dramatic reduction, and probably worth mentioning to your team in case there is some weird possibly non benign reason that they know about and we don't. But honestly, my best guess is that eating less carbs agrees with you.
 
Did you change anything at all in the way you take your insulin, sites or the amount you inject at once?
Any more exercising or changes in the diet?
 
Hayley.Brimble said:
Smile away! At the end of the day the average person should eat around 225g of carbs per day so I eat less than half. I’m type 1 so it’s completely different
Click to expand...
I've never been able to cope with more than 50 gm of carb a day right from my early 20s - but GPs and dieticians thought they knew better. I have had to fight them and my weight for decades except when I can get away with eating properly. My GP is sulking - not wanted to see me for three and a half years.
I do find that avoiding such things as legumes - all those so healthy peas and beans - results in lower levels. They seem to be able to punch above their weight - I wondered if you'd perhaps had to alter the sources of your carbs and so discovered a similar over active food.
 
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