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C-peptide

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Doghouse

Doghouse

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All,
I?ve not been here for some time, so I may have missed a thread that covers this topic. Anyway, it?s probably worth airing again ..

I have done some reading around c-peptide, and concluded that I could do with some ? sorry about the non-medical parlance. I see that at least one company, Cebix, has a product made for injections on a ones a week basis. Is this now available? Are there other product, and is c-peptide administration sufficiently advances to be considered by NICE? For the benefits it may bring, I would accept another injection a week.

Diabetics UK are sponsoring a research project on c-peptide. I contributed a donation towards that work, but I have no idea as to what progress has been made.

Mike
 
Yes I'd like some too - haven't had any since 1995. (it used to be in animal insulin - it isn't now)

I have a bee in my bonnet about it protecting against complications which has always been the suggestion - and it's about time they definitely decided if it does!
 
I thought that it was a test & that it's a link chain thingy.

Sorry am curious now after trophywench's comment
 
Lauras87 said:
I thought that it was a test & that it's a link chain thingy.

Sorry am curious now after trophywench's comment
Click to expand...

The beta cells of the pancreas produce something called proinsulin. This is split into two parts: insulin and C-peptide. We all know what insulin does, but nobody knows exactly what c-peptide does so they left it out when making modern insulins. Now they think it might be useful! 🙄

The C-peptide test tells you how much natural insulin you're producing, because as one half of proinsulin it is produced in equal amounts. So even if you're injecting insulin, they can still tell how much natural stuff you're producing (if any!) 🙂
 
Northerner said:
The beta cells of the pancreas produce something called proinsulin. This is split into two parts: insulin and C-peptide. We all know what insulin does, but nobody knows exactly what c-peptide does so they left it out when making modern insulins. Now they think it might be useful! 🙄

The C-peptide test tells you how much natural insulin you're producing, because as one half of proinsulin it is produced in equal amounts. So even if you're injecting insulin, they can still tell how much natural stuff you're producing (if any!) 🙂
Click to expand...

Thank you!
I was looking on google & it's all a bit jumbled.

I didn't think T1's could produce insulin after the honeymoon period ended.
 
Lauras87 said:
Thank you!
I was looking on google & it's all a bit jumbled.

I didn't think T1's could produce insulin after the honeymoon period ended.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. Some T1s are still producing small amounts decades after being diagnosed - and it is these people who they think are being protected from some complications because they still have a little bit of C-peptide knocking about.

I've been diagnosed 5 years nearly, but I stopped taking my lantus last April, so I'm still producing some of my own insulin 🙂
 
Northerner said:
You'd be surprised. Some T1s are still producing small amounts decades after being diagnosed - and it is these people who they think are being protected from some complications because they still have a little bit of C-peptide knocking about.

I've been diagnosed 5 years nearly, but I stopped taking my lantus last April, so I'm still producing some of my own insulin 🙂
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't know that at all. is it worth asking for a test to see if I'm producing any?
Just wondering with all the hypos & night drops if that could be it? I was told once my control went from really good to bad (bad being bloods of 8/9 after 4-6 weeks of being diagnosed) that my pancreas had packed in
 
Lauras87 said:
Oh, I didn't know that at all. is it worth asking for a test to see if I'm producing any?
Just wondering with all the hypos & night drops if that could be it? I was told once my control went from really good to bad (bad being bloods of 8/9 after 4-6 weeks of being diagnosed) that my pancreas had packed in
Click to expand...

They're reluctant to do the test unless really essential due to cost - usually it is done to determine whether someone is LADA/Type 1.5 or Type 2. My consultant said he would like me to have the test but the PCT wouldn't pay for it since it wouldn't really affect my treatment. Don't take me as an example of anything - I'm a freak! 😱 :D
 
Ohhhh - you'll be amazed Laura!

The Joslin Institute in Boston USA - named after Dr Elliott Joslin who was around when Banting and Best did what they did, and was big mates with RD Lawrence in England - who are HUGE in diabetes research and treatment hand out certificates to long-term diabetics after 25 years. After 50 you get a medal. After 75 you get a better medal LOL

Anyway they've been following these guys and gals for a good many years and they've got a longstanding research programme on em because a LOT of em don't have any complications and they want to know why. So do the rest of us! One thing they started to measure was C-peptide and an awful lot of them - some of em after 60 years or longer - still had some endogenous insulin production.

One of the medallists, Richard Vaughn (Richard 157 as he is known all over the internet and who has written a book) has posted info on this a number of times over the years. He doesn't have any of his own insulin, but he still has no complications. Ruddy marvellous.

I so want to be like him. Well in his 70's, diagnosed when he was about 9? I think - and no bad stuff.

People like this have been known about for a very long time. My old consultant was really hacked off in the mid 1990s when I got background retinopathy in one eye cos he desperately wanted me to be what he called a 'Golden Oldie'. I told him he had a damn cheek, if he was hacked off - how did he think I felt? Except I most certainly didn't put it as politely as that.

Anyway, up to just now, the background R had spread to both eyes. As of 3 weeks ago, the technician said we were back down to the original minute spot in just the one eye. Which is potty and I reckon it's probably just a scar where someone poked me with a blunt stick without me noticing sometime - cos why has it never proliferated otherwise? LOL
 
Richard was 6 when he was diagnosed. You can read his story for free starting here He's very well known and respected across the internet.

FWIW It took me 8 years to get a CPeptide test to prove I was actually T1 and not T2 as diagnosed with a wild guess by a GP's nurse cos I was 57 at the time of diagnosis, therefore I must be T2 right? Sorry, wrong.... anyway it certainly DID make a huge difference to my treatment, but if you've already been diagnosed T1 there's not a real point in having a CPeptide test and yes, they are expensive.
 
I am surprised as from what I was told your pancreas just packed in after the honeymoon period.

The hospital still have the argument of am I a T1 or T2, which is why they've taken me off insulin & wondered why I got rushed to a&e with bloods of 44.

I think ill read what you've said as I'm a bit like wow
 
An clever Indian Dr decided that about me on Monday 12th November 1973.

When I managed to ring her in between throwing up (pee testing then so no idea how close to complete DKA I was) on the Weds morning she 'suggested' I went straight back on insulin cos I must be T1 after all ......

So I got to see Princess Anne's wedding to Mark Phillips on telly after all - even though we didn't get the day off for it !
 
The thing that got me fired up about c-peptide this time, was that I have suffered badly from cold feet and fingers this winter. I am not particularly tolerant of cold at the best of time ? I was probably something left behind by the Romans ? but this winter has been particularly bad. I was wondering if capillaries had taken a bit of a hit, despite my glucose control being described as excellent, and my DSN saying that I have good pulses in my feet.
I mentioned cold feet to my Dr last year. He suggested it was because I was long and thin, and went on the describe a radiator. I doubt that that is the reason anyway!
Mike
 
Doghouse

Sounds like you might have thyroid issues. Have you been tested for that? Until my treatment for underactive thyroid was properly titrated I battled with feeling cold. On the other hand it could be Reynaud's syndrome if it's just your hands and feet
 
I doubt it is Reynaud's syndrome. I think that is a problem mainly caused by prolonged vibration. Thyroid is something I can get checked. I think the reason is that I died some time ago, and my Dr has not got the heart to tell me. Mike
 
Has rigor mortis not set in and complete loss of control of all bodily functions?

Cos both of those normally follow clinical death, I think. Nobody pre-warns you about the latter.

Probably as long as that hasn't happened you are OK.

However we are an inclusive forum and a lot of us like Terry Prtachett's offerings, so no matter if you are a zombie or a werewolf etc, you are welcome here.

Trolls, we do try and avoid where possible however ....
 
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