Amount of Insulin in a day.

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Sylkwood

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Type 1
I am having weird unexplained feelings that I cannot nail down what is causing them, I am now thinking is it the insulin,
I have pretty good readings throughout the day but to get these I need to have 74 units of basal insulin once per day, and 5 injections of bolus (Novo-Rapid) per day which totals approx 70 units per day. So does this sound a lot to you or is this a pretty average amount?
Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply to me.
Cheers, Carl
 
Hi @Sylkwood - we're all different and the question is not so much how many units, as whether you're increasing the units and why. Insulin resistance is a common issue driving up the units with age but also other causes.

About 2 months ago I was 24 basal and 15 fast acting over 5 shots. After 2 months on statins this is now 42 basal and 40 fast-acting and my average BG has gone from 5.4 to 7.3. So my problem is massive insulin resistance caused by statins and I haven't found the right compensation dose.

Not saying this is your problem but consider whether your need has changed recently and what you might have changed in meds, diet, lifestyle if anything.
 
Although we are all different, 144 units total daily insulin is quite a lot for a Type 1.
I take anywhere from 30-45u a day total and I consider the top end to be an indication that I need to do more exercise and lose weight. I am female and 5ft 5 and muscular build.

Are you carrying excess weight and/or are you gaining weight?
Are you physically active?
If you are overweight then you may be developing some insulin resistance. Doing more exercise can improve insulin sensitivity, which means you need less insulin.

I very much doubt the insulin is responsible for "weird feelings". Can you be more specific about them and how they make you feel?
 
It does seem like a lot. We are all different. I am about 8 stone 3 and quite active even at my advanced age. I'm not going to admit how short I am! BMI about 21.5. My usual is about 20 units per day - half basal and half bolus. As I have aged, I have lost muscle - that's probably not unusual and I eat less - again, that's probably not unusual.
 
You need what you need @Sylkwood However, that amount is probably in the higher range for Type 1s. I take 15 or so units a day in total, depending on what I eat. Are you on any medication that could cause insulin resistance? Is your weight in the normal range?

Edited to add - I see you’ve had Type 1 many years. Is it possibly your injection sites? Sometimes they feel ok but can develop areas of poor absorption where you inject but it seems like the insulin isn’t working properly.
 
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I am too heavy at 102kg and 6 feet tall. Nearly blind thanks to Retinopathy and also have Neuropathy. The feelings are hard to describe but it happens every 3 - 5 weeks and lasts around 3 days. It is like a nervous feeling in my chest which builds like a pressure and then releases causing a hot . cold wave that travels down my arms, abdomen and legs. I have stopped drinking alcohol and still get it, I am on a fair bit of medication including Gabapentin for the neuropathy, anti depressants, and blood pressure meds. I have blamed everything that I put in my body and cut each one out for so long but still it happens.
This all seemed to start 6 years ago after suffering a severe hypo when I was out cold for over 3 hours. But GP's and DSN can not answer what it is.
Could it be more nerve damage ??
 
Sylkwood said:
I am too heavy at 102kg and 6 feet tall. Nearly blind thanks to Retinopathy and also have Neuropathy. The feelings are hard to describe but it happens every 3 - 5 weeks and lasts around 3 days. It is like a nervous feeling in my chest which builds like a pressure and then releases causing a hot . cold wave that travels down my arms, abdomen and legs. I have stopped drinking alcohol and still get it, I am on a fair bit of medication including Gabapentin for the neuropathy, anti depressants, and blood pressure meds. I have blamed everything that I put in my body and cut each one out for so long but still it happens.
This all seemed to start 6 years ago after suffering a severe hypo when I was out cold for over 3 hours. But GP's and DSN can not answer what it is.
Could it be more nerve damage ??
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if you are male or female but if female could it be associated with the menopause or change in hormones.
 
It sounds like it could be an autonomic nervous system reaction @Sylkwood That wave of hot and cold is what one of my children gets when they have a seizure. The consultant said it was the autonomic nervous system. I presume neuropathy can affect that too?

It’s the fact it lasts 3 days that’s strange though.
 
What investigations have you done regarding it? Have you had your thyroid checked recently, for example?
 
Inka said:
What investigations have you done regarding it? Have you had your thyroid checked recently, for example?
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Hi, All tests come back as normal or as best they can expect for someone who has had T1 for 40 years. They cannot give me an answer other than it is your Diabetes. In the last 12 months I have had had a Gall Bladder attack and they found Gall Stones but again they cannot see that it is this either. I am looking into the Autonomic nerves myself now. I can't see that it is the medication either because if it was, why does it go away for4-5 weeks and I feel ok and then it attacks me again, if it was the meds then it would be there all the time unless I stopped the meds. I am running out of things to blame it on and do not get a great deal of help medically because they don't know what it is either.
 
Could it be a gastric ulcer that gets irritated for a few days and that gives you the anxious/throbbing/fluttery feeling in your stomach. Don't know what the hot/cold wave would be possibly thyroid, as mentioned, as I believe it governs temp. regulation. Can you correlate the incidents to any particular food or maybe a particularly large meal. What are your BG levels like during these phases. Just wondering if it could be gastroparesis.
 
Sylkwood said:
I am too heavy at 102kg and 6 feet tall.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the extra weight you are carrying might be introducing some resistance @Sylkwood

This conference slide I snapped a few years ago was from a piece of research tracking doses at various weights. It seems to suggest your TDD (total daily dose) is at the upper edge of the usual range for people over 100kg?

1712264103491.jpeg
 
Hi. It looks like you may have some insulin resistance? How many carbs do you have per day on average? Do they need to be reduced?
 
Many thanks to all of you have taken the time to reply to me. It seems that none of you think the insulin can be triggering these episodes, so it has got to be my Neuropathy or my medication, or one is aggravating the other.
 
Rule out the obvious things first @Sylkwood , eg neuropathy, meds, thyroid, etc etc, and if there’s no culprit found, you could then look at changing your insulin maybe.
 
That sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I, for example, really didn't like toujeo.
 
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