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Metformin

Banktramp

Active Member
Messages
30
Location
Rowley Regis. England
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi

Struggling with my BG level at the moment, currently went to see a DS at my local hospital and they altered my treatment. They said as my HBA1C levels where so good I should stop taking fast acting and just carry on using Metformin and lantus, I disagreed with this and said how was I supposed to treat spikes to which he replied with a better diet.

So to cut a long story short they said I should stay on background and fast acting but stop the MF - that was almost a week now but finding my levels are erratic since I stopped the MF and now taking more FA to try to manage my BG levels.

I have slowly been increasing my background from 10 to 16 units per day but struggling to manage the change. and wondered if it might be worth asking to go back on the MF.

Lee
 
I never heard of a Type 1 taking metformin. Not in this country.
 
They are researching metformin for both type 1 and for anti-aging now. (also anti-parkinsons which some call Type 3 diabetes)

Have they checked your c-peptides? If you don't take enough insulin for the food you eat eventually you will wind up with DKA which is life-threatening. Don't cut out insulin entirely, it will result in death unless you are producing enough insulin naturally (yes, it's possible, even for type 1s, to start producing insulin again. I have -- and yes, I have proof).
 
Myself and several others have shared our c-peptide test results over at our blog, CureType1.

I have two non-zero c-peptide results, 0.17 nmol / L and 0.107 nmol / L, but other type 1s there have reached much higher values, like 3X my amount (peak insulin production during OGTT roughly as good as the fasting levels non-diabetic person).

The only reason I don't have more data points is because it's next to impossible to convince endos or GPs here in Canada to run a c-peptide test as someone who has had type 1 diabetes for 24 years. They look at you like you're crazy to even suggest tracking it, even though I've proven, twice, that I am producing insulin again. And this isn't big news, many type 1 people are in fact producing small-ish amounts of insulin, it's just far from good enough to make it to the news. However it is my belief that tracking it closely, or perhaps tracking HOMA values (using blood serum glucose values combined with endogenous insulin values one can estimate beta cell function, it's an alternative to a c-peptide test, and something that researchers are working on a home beta cell function test -- a few years off still, as of yesterday's conversation I had with the scientist involved).
 
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