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My Husband Stopped Taking His Insulin

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DelC1430

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I need answer/advice asap. This is regarding my husband who's been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes years ago, and is now being treated with insulin. He also has back problems and taking pain medications. He drinks beer (like about 15 cans) 3 times a week. He is a chain smoker and can consume about 2 packs a day. He's 58 and surprisingly in good shape, on the outside. He complains about his back constantly and can't function without his naproxen. A month ago, he stopped taking his insulin because it's making him weak and lethargic. Now, he is active and can get mobility. The thing is, since stopping his insulin, his binge drinking increased. I am tempted to call his doctor, but he gets mad if I tell him that I will call his doctor. He doesn't take me with him whenever he has an appointment. Lately, he's been complaining about shooting pain on his shoulder. Please give me some advice on what to do.
 
I guess all you can do is be there for him. He is the only one who can choose to change his ways
 
Hi @DelC1430
Is there anyway that you could enlist the help of family and friends to talk to him .. perhaps even a counsellor. Maybe he would take advice from a third party
 
I would doubt that your husbands insulin is responsible for making him feel "weak and lethargic" those symptoms are generally associated with high 'blood glucose' (bg) levels, I used insulin for a year after diagnosis and only ever felt lethargic at the very beginning when my bg levels were in double figures and pretty much as soon as I got them down into single figures my energy returned.

If your husband has stopped his insulin his bg levels are likely to rise further and he will then feel even more "weak and lethargic". It is important that your husband reduces his bg levels not only for his energy levels as it is prolonged high bg that are responsible for diabetic complications and the longer your husband can avoid those the better for you all.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to try to encourage your husband to join this forum and then he could learn how to effectively control his bg levels and lose weight at the same time, which are the most important aspects for T2 control.

I managed to lose 5 stone and have maintained that weight loss and had non diabetic bg levels now for over 7 years and many others here have had similar results so there is light at the end of the T2 tunnel

Good luck.
 

Do you know what his blood sugar is?

It's extremely unwise to stop any medication without checking with a doctor. His feelings of weakness could simply have been because his insulin dose needed adjusting.

You could call his doctor in confidence and see if they coukd call him in for a 'routine check up' (ie not say it's because you phoned them).
 


If you make the food then maybe you could change to only making low carb foods , and only sin when he is not around...so you´ll help him getting lower blood glucose from not eating high spiking foods...it is healthy for you too
maybe change to eating like mediteran food style... with salads and meats of all kinds (also fish ) and feta cheese and avoid potatoes and bread and all sweets and cakes..
and maybe changing to eat lidl protein rolls instead of normal bread... thsoe rolls are so high in proteins and fats and only have like 9-12 grams of carbs pro roll..

it is difficult to change a stubborn husbond, but you could also tell him you´ll need a divorce as you don´t want to become his nurse instead of his vife, as you see it as his mismanaging of his part of the responsibbillity when he do not take his insuline
 
His mom tried to no avail but I will talk to his oldest sister. Thank you for the suggestion.


AM1874 said:
Hi @DelC1430
Is there anyway that you could enlist the help of family and friends to talk to him .. perhaps even a counsellor. Maybe he would take advice from a third party[/
Click to expand...
 
Sid Bonkers..
You say you used insulin for a year after your diagnosis. What was the reason for stopping? Had you managed to get down to single figures and then stopped? I've only been o it for 6 weeks and I've had enough already. I'm a type 2 and have been for about 15 years. I don't want to take it anymore and just want to low carb, but the nurse won't l8sten t9 me. I've been rather stressed this past week and I think it's causing havoc with my levels
 
Shooting pain on shoulder... is it one shoulder or both? Left or right?

I think you should be persuading hubby to have a general check up at GP as some of what you are describing could be relating other things than diabetes.

As for coming off insulin, he should have made his medics aware of this and definitely needs a chat to by professionals.

You need to persuade him to make the decision to phone GP... he is responsible for his actions and his health..... I would be suggesting that you persuade him by something like this...” I know you stopped insulin and you feel this is ok and you not necessarily wishing to listen to my advice, but as a baseline marker to see how it is actually working out for you, would you see the GP and doctor to get a check over?”
 
I feel sad for your situation. Each man (person) is the guardian of their own health. However when a relationship is involved then the partner inevitably shoulders the burden when the object person appears not to give a toss. Very tricky situation especially if there is a gender / power issue. Is there anyone you think he respects? Be careful though, many people become intransigent if they feel they are being nagged / ganged up on / bullied. To seemingly deliberately self harm may mean he has deeply buried historic issues he has not addressed. My advice is protect yourself, look for support for yourself...you may well need it. Look after yourself.
 


Hi both - The OP was over a year ago, with @joeynomates1969 waking it up tday, with his query to Sid.

@joeynomates1969 - Sid Bonkers has't logged in for a few weeks, so may not be too prompt in responding to yourr query. You didn't to anything wrong, just possibly managing your expectations for Sid popping in this evening necessarily.
 
DelC1430 said:
His mom tried to no avail but I will talk to his oldest sister. Thank you for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

You might want to stage an intervention where you are all present in a room as this would also have an impact. Some other key points would be to do it when he hasn't drunk anything and in a good mood. It is quite often that people get defensive and perhaps leave the room. From a personal experience with a family member this is exactly what they did but after all waiting there for him to return we were able to sit down and talk about how we feel towards the drinking and how they are caring for themselves.

Deliverly is key as you can imagine so try not to lay blame just let them know you're hear for them and if they are willing to go to a group or something similar advise you'd all be happy to go.

Though it is down to the person to change how they act, it is a family and friends that go through the journey with them start to end.

On a slightly different point as well, diet may help not only their diabetes but their back problems. There is some evidence to suggest that a lot of back pain is due to infection. With this in mind increasing whole foods would be key and further more cutting the alcohol would be best. Alcohol is a pro inflammatory when consumed in large quanties over a long period of time. While they won't see overnight cures, if kept to it they'll feel much better.
 

Sorry to hear you are on insulin and also sorry for the late reply but i dont get on here as much as i used to.

I was put on insulin at diagnosis as my levels were extremely high and I had been a long term steroid user (prednisolone) for a respiratory condition and steroids are known to raise BG and cause T2, I had also put on a fair bit of weight while using them which in turn increased my insulin resistance due to the visceral fat around my internal organs, pancreas, liver etc

I was terrified of injections at that time and it took me about an hour to actually inject myself the first time but I did become used to injecting myself after a while and because I was put on MDI (multiple daily injections) I had to inject myself before every meal and at night before bed.

I would definitely recommend a LC lifestyle or as I like to call it a reduced carb lifestyle but if you are on a mixed insulin regime rather than MDI you will need to talk to your nurse again as if you start to reduce the carbs in your diet you will need less insulin or at the very least a different mix of insulins, sorry I dont know more about mixed insulin but you dont want to risk regular hypos, it was easier for me on MDI as I had to test my levels before each meal and inject according to the carbs in that meal and my pre meal levels, sounds daunting but in practice it was not so bad once I got used to it, so it was easier as I just reduced my insulin as I reduced the carbs. Hope that makes sense...

So if you are on MDI simply reduce the carbs in your diet and adjust you fast acting insulin to the amount of carbs you are eating and if you are on a mixed insulin regime you will need to talk to your nurse and maybe ask to go on MDI, that way you can regulate your insulin as you reduce the carbs in your diet.

Good luck

ps just re-read your question and the reason I quit insulin was because I lost weight, especially the visceral fat which was causing my insulin resistance. As my insulin resistance reduced my need for insulin reduced with it and I was lucky that my pancreas had not been overworked for too long and I guess my 12 months on insulin had also given it a rest which must have helped too.
 
Thanks for the reply. I've since stoppedbinsulin as I was getting side effects that were rare but certainly affecting my life.
 
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