insulin resistence/double diabetes?????!!!!!!

[megan]

hi,

does anyone have a knowledge or experience of insulin resistence or double diabetes.

I have had a lot of trouble controlling my blood sugars. I have gained weight over the past few years. always thought it was an odd thing. have been told before I am insulin resistent but did not know what to do about it.

am making some insulin changes at the moment, but its very complicated and difficult to find any pattern.
years ago when I tried to find a pattern, my nurse told me not to bother as I would not find one and diabetes was unpredictable and to just live with it and do less blood tests.

well I didn't find that very helpful and I don't see that I have to continue to live with elevated blood sugars and hypos.

I am struggling but still trying. have good and bad hours! not even days!..... last night bs got to 25, had to correct!!!

any tips and experiences? :shock: :?:

 

[martinbuchan]

40-50% types 2s will go onto insulin. A lot of type 1s will develop some insulin resistance with time. There is this convergance.There may be a possibility to add in some of the oral drugs to cope with the insulin resistance (eg metformin). It should be upto your diabetologist. It is hard to lose weight sometimes but that is crucial in the old insulin resistance game. I assume you are going low carb as well.

 

[timo2]

hello megan,

The phenomenon that is 'double diabetes' has be linked to rising levels of obesity.
Doctors are increasingly seeing people with mixed symptoms that could be attributed
to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, making it harder for them to be diagnosed
with a specific type of diabetes and to be given the appropriate treatment for the condition.

Excess weight is thought to be a common cause of insulin resistance, but it may also be
caused by an inherited genetic factor which leaves certain people more
predisposed to the problem.
Insulin resistance has also be linked to a high-carbohydrate diet.
Weight loss and regular physical execise have been shown to help with insulin resistance.
Some of the drugs used to treat T2 diabetes help with insulin resistance(i.e.Metformin).

As for your nurse telling you to do less testing because diabetes was unpredictable :shock:
The less testing you do, then the less predictable your diabetes will become.
Particularly in the case of insulin users, testing and how you react to the results is the
key to good control.
Your nurse is basically telling you to stumble around in the dark and "be lucky".
This advice may have worked for Tony Blair, but it's not good advice for a diabetic.

all the best,
timo.

 

[Fuggsy]

Hi,
You're not alone. I've got horrendous resistance. I've had bgs constantly over 30 for the last 2 years. I'm off to Addenbrookes to see if they can help.
I'm blonde which may explain why I don't undestand how the weight isn't falling off you and how you have hypos.
As Marty says ask for some oral medication and if all else fails ask about trying a pump.
What's your hba1c?

 

[fergus]

Hi Megan,

If memory serves, there are 5 causes of insulin resistance: inheritance, dehydration, infection, obesity and high blood sugars.

From experience, I know that the higher my bs gets, the more insulin is required to lower it by 1 mmol/l. What's undeniable is that the more insulin we have floating about, the more resistant we will become to its effects. A totally viscious cycle. So, the first line of attack has to be to reduce the amount of insulin required to keep blood sugars in a normal range.

That's why timo's right, low-carb diets are the most effective means of reducing insulin, blood sugars and, in time obesity too.

All the best,

fergus

 

[megan]

thanks for the thoughts and ideas

my last Hba1c was 8.6.

my specialist would say that that is ok and not to stress and toddle off home.
not good enough for me. that result is born of blood sugars ranging from hypo to hyper!!!

now since the swap to levemir and splitting the dose and being told to back off how much novorapid I take, as in don't correct for a while....my sugars have been consistently high in the 15 mark mainly......NOT GOOD!!!!!

so today have increased the breakfast levemir to 18. my night is still 16. my novo is mostly 2u/10g and now this morning I have done my first correctional for a few days. sick of this...

lets see how today goes.....have just started the trial on a pc programme for logging my results.took a while to set the first few days up but I think it would make things a lot easier if I had a hand held gizmo to load all the info into.....lets see how it goes and start saving the pennies!!

any thoughts on my insulin regime :cry:

 

[Tinkerbelly]

Hi Megan

What might make huge difference to your BG levels is to ask your consultant to change yr insulin from Novorapid to Humalog or Apidra. I have never used Novorapid myself but from reading messages left in other forums, it tends to works slowly, so Im not really surprised to learn that you're having problems with your control.

I have been using Apidra insulin now for 1.5 years due to the amount of hypos that I was getting through using Humalog. The benefit has been that Apidra has a fairly fast onset of action so as long as you bolus the correct amount, it will prevent the high BG levels that you are experiencing at the moment with Novorapid. The other benefit to using Apidra is that it tends to fade away a bit quicker than Humalog in its action and so I dont tend to get the disabling hypos that sometimes needed third party help quite so often. I still do get some hypos now and again but at least now, my hypo awareness is a lot better thanks to Apidra.

I use Apidra x 3 per day and Lantus x 1 at bedtime.

Type 1- 42 years, MDI - 4 years

 

[megan]

thanks for the advice.

when I manage to get a medic to help me or refer me on to someone who can help me I shall certainly ask about this.