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Type 1 Honeymoon period

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yorksherpud

Well-Known Member
Messages
57
Hi

Although I know no two diabetics are the same, I was just wanting to get a general overview of the honeymoon period of T1 Diabetics.

The reason I'm asking is that my 11 year old son was diagnosed as T1 three weeks ago and has had 3 injections a day up until Friday night. He came down with a bug in the early hours of Saturday and hasn't had any insulin since. We have spent three days in hospital so please don't think I have witheld insulin from him without medical guidance. They sent him home yesterday with the advice not to inject unless he has a bm of 12 or over, in which case to correct with novorapid 1u. This is day 4 with no insulin and his average bm has been 6.5 over the 4 days, which is better than the previous three weeks when his average was around 9.5.

Kindest regards

Pud x
 
Hello yorksherpud,
the following article sums it all up a bit better than the previous links i posted.
note in the second paragraph it mentions the importance of insulin treatment
being continued throughout the honeymoon period no matter how small the dose needed.


The honeymoon period usually refers to a period of decreased insulin requirements shortly after starting insulin therapy in most cases of Type 1 diabetes mellitus. In these cases there is some restoration of insulin production and the blood sugar levels improve to normal, or near-normal, levels. Unfortunately, like other honeymoons, there is a great variability in its duration and sometimes it doesn't seem to appear at all (as in small children) or it may lasts for weeks, months, or occasionally (particularly in older patients) even years. The variability is understandable if you consider how long it normally takes for the immunological process that destroy beta cells of the pancreas to reach the stage of clinical diabetes (so called pre-IDDM phase).

In the past, there were often pressures to discontinue insulin in some instances or to go on to tablets whilst nowadays we know it is important to keep on with insulin, however small the dose, both for immunological reasons as well as to prevent false hopes of a cure and to prevent the risk of triggering insulin allergy and/or resistance. Moreover, this approach can extend the honeymoon phase, thus increasing the chances of continued prolonged production of small amounts of endogenous insulin lasting perhaps for several years with small insulin dose requirements and better metabolic control.

original source:
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/dteam/1997-07/d_0d_1xe.htm
 
Thanks Tim,

I am in twice daily contact with the specialist nurses and there advice is to inject 1U Novorapid if his sugar reaches 12 and an additional 1u for every 5 thereafter. They have also given me Lantus for when they instruct us to use it, which will likely be when he has had to had several units of novorapid in a day.

They have told us it is very, very unusual for a diabetic to go without any insulin and that the consultant is being kept up to date. They have said that it could be down to the honeymoon period but it is more usual to drop insulin slowly rather than as happened over the weekend.

The original intention of the hospital was to monitor him in there over the weekend and start him up on insulin again as soon as possible after his bug had cleared but we were sent home on Monday evening with the above advice. We are also being asked to do his BM much more regularly than before and are averaging out at taking his readings every two hours and twice through the night.

Kind regards

Pud x
 
Hi

My feelings of the honeymoon period were of thinking I had it all sussed out not long after diagnoses and then having the rug pulled out from under me and losing control for no obvious reason. The reason of course being the honeymoon effect. You are at sea for a while, it isn't a pleaseant time. I never stopped taking insulin though; my daibetic nurse was very clear on this. Maybe it's different for children, I don't know as I was 30. Keep testing a lot, and after a few months things should settle down for him.

Tough time for you and your son, but it will get easier. Good luck.
 
hello im 17 and type 1 now for around a month and a half ! & i am currently on my honeymoon period..
i am just on 6 units of Lantus of a night and my bs is around 5-8. Jus thought id say :D


xx
 
Thanks Young. Matthew has now gone for 10 days without insulin but we do have novorapid on standby with lantus as a back up for when his sugars go up, currently he's sustaining them at 6 - 7.

Kindest regards

Pud x
 
Well Matthew's bm started to creep up today, until it got to the magic number we had been told to watch for 12. He had to have 1u of novorapid and the nurse has advised us to give him 4u of Lantus as well. This means even more rigorous blood testing, he'd been doing it 8 times a day over the last 11 days but the nurse has asked for an additional reading at midnight as well as the 3am one.

I thought he might have been upset that he had to inject again but he isn't, he is bothered that he won't be in the guiness book of records now for the longest for a diabetic to go without insulin, but then he is only 11 so I'm sure he will have time to get in there for something else!

Pud x
 
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