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Is it possible to be type 1 insulin free?

Vamppir8

Active Member
Messages
36
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Been low carbing with type 1 hba1c down from 68 last year to 40. Jab 1 unit long lasting morning night and maybe 2 to 3 fast acting during day. I could add some more exercise and reduce carbs a tiny bit more but was just wondering what effect no insulin would have. Max carbs per meal 30 at moment. Eliminated hypo almost completely except for walking weekend don't inject fast acting but have to munch on apricots just to keep blood up from slow acting insulin. Can I improve on the above? Switch to half unit pen for slow acting?
 
How long have you been diagnosed? Maybe in honeymoon period a T1 could manage with low carb and no insulin. But long term? Nope. You need insulin to function and as t1 you won't make it.

Although there was that one guy who appears to have come off insulin, they said he had a special gene that helped him recover. Not heard any more about that.
 
Hi @Vamppir8 . You appear to be taking a very small amount of insulin.
How long have you been diagnosed?
 

You can't live without insulin no matter how low carb you go. Your body will still convert protein to glucose and needs insulin to use it. Essentially they tried that (the "starvation diet") before the discovery of insulin to keep type 1s alive as long as possible until a cure came along. They all still died eventually until insulin became available.
 

If you are not long diagnosed and are prepared to continue your regime you can extend that honeymoon period to years. Background insulin will still be needed but you may have to adjust that rather than continue with correction carb doses. Depends on how determined you are I guess. You need to discuss this with an interested professional!
 
I am interested to understand why you would want to go insulin free.
Have you read about insulin being bad for you?
This is not something I am aware of.
 
I would crawl over hot coals to stop taking lantus, it turns me into a blob of gloop that can do nothing but lounge on a sofa. That said I like my toes and my eyesight so I'm not going to do anything crazy.

If I could stop taking lantus I would be at least 40% happier, I reckon.
 
Had it 4 years now and the mantra "fit diabetes round your life and not your life round diabetes" did not work for me. Injecting 1 to 10 carbs pizza night was like 18 unit. Then the hypos all the time and the highs just see sawing around all day took up too much time. I changed my diet to fit round the betus. Don't have to check between meals anymore because I know that I will be between 5 and 7. Lost 4 1/2 stone and feel better than I ever have. It's not that insulin is dangerous but if you can do without another drug then has to be good. Dr just waffled round when I asked don't think he knew much about it, do any of them. Thanks scotteric that's what I was wondering if you need it to convert protein as that is main energy source now.
 
@Vamppir8 if you had 4 and a half stone to loose, are you sure you're type 1? Ie have you had a confirmed antibody positive test? Have you had a cpeptide test to see what your endogenous insulin production is looking like?

Just like it is possible for type 1s to be misdiagnosed as type 2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42179359 - occasionally type 2 can be misdiagnosed as type 1.

If you didn't have clear type 1 symptoms on presentation - significant dramatic untried for weight loss pre diagnosis, blood sugar levels 30+, and high ketones on diagnosis - and you haven't had antibody testing (if you are GAD positive and diabetic you are definitely type 1, but if you are GAD negative it doesn't T mean you aren't type 1 as 25% of type 1s are GAD negative) you may wish to investigate.
 
Been there already catapila was treated for type 2 for two years before they bothered with antibody test as I was getting worse and worse. I was stocky not fat, bag of bones now thankfully bottomed out in weight loss 10st 8 fine according to him chart. I'm wondering if it is something to do with rivaroxaban I am on as well it's an anti coagulation drug, it takes the stick away from blood cells maybe it makes it easier for insulin? Something odd going on.
 
I hated my lantus, for various reasons. I switched to Tresiba. I'm not 40% happier I guess, but I don't mind taking my long-acting now, and it spares me a daily two hours of dread in anticipation There are other long-acting insulins as well, or have you already tried them?
 
I'm very interested in your situation. Maybe rivaroxaban is changing your fat cells. Less fat cells for me gives me greater insulin sensitivity. Is it not your weight loss which has made you more sensitive?
Is rivaroxaban known to have weight loss as a side effect?
 
I would contact one of the D research institutes near you. They will have an Endo whom will be very interested in you. Who knows what the outcome will be.
 
No , even when not eating we need insulin , type 1 is defined by not being able to produce insulin , this mean you would die if not getting insulin, initially a type 1 can have a pancreas that still do produce a bit insulin until it stops working totally .. before we could get insulin injections type 1 diabetes used to be a death sentence
 
Hallo Vamppir8, I am only 7 months into my T1 journey (previously gestational diabetic x2). I had classic symptoms plus anti-gad positive on diagnosis. It seems that genetic research is increasingly showing the multiplicity of autoimmune diabetes, or ‘strains’, and we all know everyone’s D is different, so that would account for your current management. Here’s my own anecdotes for you. Am not taking any basal currently— even 0.5 unit makes me hypo. I eat vlc for various reasons which I wont go into. I take 1-4 u Nov split bolus with meals and bg stays between 4-7 unless ill. However I have had persistent spaciness/weirdness/out of body experiences in the mornings. I had the chance to trial a libre and after basal testing tinkered around and ended up injecting 6 units Nov immediately on waking , no food for one hour (would not in a million years have tried this without libre). Bg was steady between 5-6 the entire morning and I had no spaciness. Repeated today with similar outcome. So what did I learn? That my body needs the added insulin in the morning to mimic insulin secretion in response to hepatic glycogen released as part of circadian rhythm. Even though my bg levels seemed ‘normal’ previously when I ate my low carb breakfast, I didn’t have enough insulin to function optimally. Im really grateful for injected insulin
. Be well!
 
Last edited:
HLC2017 said:
I had the chance to trial a libre and after basal testing tinkered around and ended up injecting 6 units Nov immediately on waking , no food for one hour (would not in a million years have tried this without libre)
Click to expand...

That's pretty much identical to what I found with libre - wake at 5, sudden stab up to 8 or 9 just by moving about a bit, learned to pin it with 2 or 3 units, so I'm walking into lunch without having to make out of range corrections after the event. This is a self treated condition, I don't think docs truly understand yet this idea of how cgm/libre allows adjustment on the fly before we go out of range.
 

Are you able to try Levemir or Tresiba? Both were developed after Lantus and might work better for you.
 
@Vamppir8 Very interesting. I would love to be able to reduce insulin needs. I've found that intermittent fasting helps with insulin sensitivity eg. a 19:5 regime. Also HIIT exercises help too like Dr Bernstein does. Thought you might find this article interesting. I know a guy who eats this way and he is on only two basal injections per day and no bolus (4 years type 1).

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/in-depth...-keto-diet-groundbreaking-diabetes-treatment/
 
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