Is it safe to stop insulin without medical guidance?

[Annb]

After years of trying, I am finally managing to get my BG down to the 5's and 6's by having a very low carb diet. I don't know if this is a long term improvement but I have reached the stage of taking very little insulin before meals and still my BG is dropping towards hypo levels, if I'm not careful. I have a Libre 2 and it gives me warnings, so it doesn't get to the hypo stage. I am doing this without the support of local healthcare professionals, who do not approve of low carb diets. One doctor did not disapprove, but just told me to get on with it without offering any guidance.

My question now is, is it safe just to stop taking insulin, at least for breakfast which is when I am taking the least at present? My Humalog Quickpen isn't really equipped to deliver the tiny dose I now need .

I am 77 and seem to have had T2 for something over 54 years, although it was only diagnosed about 14 years ago, since when I have been struggling with huge quantities of insulin and failing to keep BG down to any kind of reasonable level (usually in mid to upper teens).

 

[Resurgam]

After years of trying, I am finally managing to get my BG down to the 5's and 6's by having a very low carb diet. I don't know if this is a long term improvement but I have reached the stage of taking very little insulin before meals and still my BG is dropping towards hypo levels, if I'm not careful. I have a Libre 2 and it gives me warnings, so it doesn't get to the hypo stage. I am doing this without the support of local healthcare professionals, who do not approve of low carb diets. One doctor did not disapprove, but just told me to get on with it without offering any guidance.

My question now is, is it safe just to stop taking insulin, at least for breakfast which is when I am taking the least at present? My Humalog Quickpen isn't really equipped to deliver the tiny dose I now need .

I am 77 and seem to have had T2 for something over 54 years, although it was only diagnosed about 14 years ago, since when I have been struggling with huge quantities of insulin and failing to keep BG down to any kind of reasonable level (usually in mid to upper teens).

I have always eaten a low carb diet except when being pushed to eat a 'healthy' diet by a GP - but I always went back to low carb as that made me feel so much better.
I think it is almost diagnostic of a classic type 2 (I think there are other sorts) for low carb to bring about a return to normal numbers like nothing else.
You should see an alteration in all your numbers and get advice from your GP or nurse but these days there can be very long waiting times. If you do not need insulin, it would be dangerous to continue to inject it.

The best man at my sister's wedding was misdiagnosed as type 1 and over the years had dreadful hypos and lost his job, his home, his family. and hope itself. When a new consultant took over his treatment he got an urgent call from the hospital to tell him to stop using insulin as he was misdiagnosed, but the poor man was wrecked. He came to see my brother in law, talked for several hours, then left and they have not seen him since, nor heard anything from or about him.

 

[Antje77]

The amoun of insulin you need depends on your meal.
So if your Libre tells you you don't need insulin for some meals you don't need it.
You're already adjusting your mealtime doses depending on what you eat, adjusting from a low dose to nothing is just another adjustment.

I regularly eat meals that don't need insulin. But on some days I still need a little for the same meal, not every day is the same for me. If I see a rise after a meal I usually take some insulin then, if I wasn't sure if I needed any before eating.

Keep in mind that your basal may need to be adjusted as well.

You're doing amazing,I'm very happy for you!

 

[Annb]

The amoun of insulin you need depends on your meal.
So if your Libre tells you you don't need insulin for some meals you don't need it.
You're already adjusting your mealtime doses depending on what you eat, adjusting from a low dose to nothing is just another adjustment.

I regularly eat meals that don't need insulin. But on some days I still need a little for the same meal, not every day is the same for me. If I see a rise after a meal I usually take some insulin then, if I wasn't sure if I needed any before eating.

Keep in mind that your basal may need to be adjusted as well.

You're doing amazing,I'm very happy for you!

Thanks for your reply.

Knowing me, Antje, it may not last but at present I am going to have to reduce at least the breakfast dose to almost zero. If I keep going like this, and that's quite an IF, I would be dosing for no reason. There's all the talk around about not doing this without advice from a medic and this is what I am concerned about. On my own here I feel a bit insecure about what I am doing, even though it seems to work, at present. But, if you can do it, so can I. Smallest possible dose tomorrow morning and, if still OK, nothing before breakfast on Tuesday.

Just had my N African style stew and took 15 units Humalog before and will see what that does.

I'm dealing with the bolus dose first and then, if all's well, will start reducing the basal one. Keeping going with the Metformin at present anyway.

 

[Annb]

I have always eaten a low carb diet except when being pushed to eat a 'healthy' diet by a GP - but I always went back to low carb as that made me feel so much better.
I think it is almost diagnostic of a classic type 2 (I think there are other sorts) for low carb to bring about a return to normal numbers like nothing else.
You should see an alteration in all your numbers and get advice from your GP or nurse but these days there can be very long waiting times. If you do not need insulin, it would be dangerous to continue to inject it.

The best man at my sister's wedding was misdiagnosed as type 1 and over the years had dreadful hypos and lost his job, his home, his family. and hope itself. When a new consultant took over his treatment he got an urgent call from the hospital to tell him to stop using insulin as he was misdiagnosed, but the poor man was wrecked. He came to see my brother in law, talked for several hours, then left and they have not seen him since, nor heard anything from or about him.

Thanks for your reply. I have always had a diet, fairly heavily dependent on carbs and have tried for the last year or so to eat a diet low in carbs but now I am only eating whatever carbs are in the vegetables I eat and the tea that I drink and absolutely nothing else so almost zero carbs. Breakfast is only protein and fat so no carbs at all. This is why BG is so low in the morning. It was what I wanted to achieve, but without guidance from a GP or nurse, I felt that I might be taking it too far.

 

[Antje77]

There's all the talk around about not doing this without advice from a medic and this is what I am concerned about.

But you're not stopping your insulin, you're just adjusting your doses. You still take your basal and bolus for meals that need it.
And you're keeping a very close eye on your numbers.
Good luck!