Honeymoon period

[Joann]

Hi,
I have a lot of questions going round in my head about the honeymoon period at the moment so would be grateful if people that have experienced the end of the honeymoon period could share their experiences of it.
My 11 year old son was diagnosed 7 months ago and at the moment shows no signs of coming out of his honeymoon period but I just wondered if this is always a gradual process or if it can happen more suddenly? Also does it make good control much harder? How long is the longest honeymoon period? I know it varies from person to person but wondered what was the longest anyone had been in honeymoon for. Does it make the nighttime hypo risk higher or more likely? A lot of questions but any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Joann

 

[novorapidboi26]

Hey Joann,

I have been diagnosed for a long time so cant recall any personal experiences...........

I was told that in some cases the honeymoon period can last up to 4 years, but I dont know how common that is to be honest..........

I would expect the transition to be gradual as the pancreas beta cells fight, or at least try and fight for survival......

the risk of hypo I would say is greater as there as still very small amounts of insulin still being secreted and I suppose there can be short bursts of extra production..........so I would think controlling sugars may be a wee bit trickier, more so keeping levels up than down........

just need to take each day as it comes, test as much you can in order to build as good a picture as you can.........

 

[Northerner]

Hi Joann, I probably don't compare very well with your son as I was diagnosed aged 49. I'm nearly at my third anniversary now and to be honest I don't think I have ever had a honeymoon period, although it is possible that I'm still producing some of my own insulin as my basal requirements are very low. From my understanding, the honeymoon period often (but not always) means that a person may need very small amounts of insulin, and sometimes none at all. This can make things difficult, especially in a growing child where there are many other factors involved, as it is very unpredictable. I think the end of the honeymoon period is generally marked by a steep increase in sinulin requirements and from there things can become more stable.

The parents of T1 children will be much better placed than me to help though, so hopefully they will see this! 🙂

 

[bev]

Hi Joann,

How long is a piece of string.🙂It varies from person to person and no-one really knows when it is going to happen. The only way to know is to be guided by the levels - once they start to creep up it means that insulin requirements are greater and you and your team will be able to work out a different regime to suit your son.🙂Bev

 

[gewatts]

We never noticed Katie coming out of her honeymoon period - she was diagnosed nearly 5 years ago!

 

[Joann]

Thanks for the replies. I suppose it is just a matter of monitoring and taking each day as it comes! I'm probably over thinking it a bit.

Thanks again
Joann

 

[Ruth Goode]

Carly was dx last June, still no sign of coming out of it either!!

 

[CALSHOT]

I've not heard the term of honeymoon period before 🙂

I was diagnosed age 6 and my control and alertness was v.good into my mid twenties, being able to tell within a few percent my sugar levels. It started to become trickier when i took an office job, did less exercise and also finding it harder to tell how high or low I was without testing. I used to do 1-3 blood tests a day and now a lot more!

Strangely, I had better control with mixtard than with novorapid/Lantus!

So as mentioned before it'll depend on the person.

 

[margie]

I was told that it can end suddenly - but in those cases it is normally a severe illness that precedes it.

If you have software for your son's meter you could keep an eye on the graphs to see if you can spot any changes.