Insulin does not help

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Annie06

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Pronouns
She/Her
Thank you very much for letting me be part of this forum. I joined you because of my son. He was diagnosed at the age of 10 with type1. Put on Novorapid and Tresiba which worked only the first few months. After that everything went down the spiral and HBa 1C gets worse constantly. The diabetes team increase the insulin doses very often but there is no much effect and my son is in range only 17% of the time. He is a very fussy eater and does not eat much. His ratio is 1:1,which seems ridiculous to me. It was 1:15 when he was diagnosed. He takes about 50 units daily. He also has dark patches on his neck,an indicator for insulin resistance. Our diabetes team refuse to put him on oral medication together with the insulin.Anyone else with the same issues?
 
Do his team think puberty is causing the resistance? Has he tried a different basal insulin? How much out of range is he? Is he, say 11 or 12, or is he up in the late teens? Silly question - but are you sure he’s injecting all his insulin as he should?

Sorry for all the questions. It helps to build a picture. Insulin resistance can increase quite dramatically at puberty. I also wonder if his ‘not eating much’ is indirectly contributing too by making his body pump out extra glucose to compensate.
 
Last edited:
One answer that occurs to me is an insulin pump. People can usually reduce the amount of insulin they use when they go on a pump (because the basal is precisely targeted). Pumps also make it easy to increase the basal rate by X % if he’s having a particularly bad day.
 
He injects,refuses to have a pump in case it will malfunction. We have never tried a different basal insulin. He always injects as he should.
 
Fear of pumps is natural. It took me a while to feel I could trust one because I had fears about it malfunctioning too. However, my pump trainer put my mind at rest, telling me about the chip checking the other chip; the alerts and the alarms. I’ve now had a pump for more than 20 years. It’s made a big difference and it also helps socially as I can control my pump from my phone, so it just looks like I’m texting when I’m actually bolusing for a meal.

I know that occasionally they do give teens with Type 1 Metformin because I remember a parent here saying about it, but that was very short term (days). I think @Bronco Billy has an older son with Type 1 so he might have some tips or reassurance for you. It must be very stressful.
 
Hi @Annie06. I have two children with type 1, they were diagnosed a few months apart about 14 years ago. They were put on pumps at an early stage and only once in the combined 28 years of use has a pump failed, so hopefully that will help your son be re-assured about how unlikely pump failure is. The big advantage to pumps is the flexibility to use a variety of background insulin rates (basal). This should lead to fewer highs, so your son will feel better as highs will make him feel rubbish. This is especially true now with the introduction of closed-loop technology. Pumps aren't for everyone, but it is well worth your son trying one. If he doesn't like it, he can go back to MDI.
 
Teenage hormones mess with insulin resistance but will ease as he gets older. Until then he needs the amount of insulin he needs. You quote time in range so I’m guessing he has a sensor. What sorts of numbers does he have?
 
Although you say your son doesn't eat much, what is his weight? Does he have any insulin resistance thru excess weight?
 
Could you change from the current Tresiba? I didn't react well at all. I gave it 2 weeks and then changed to Levemir, and found that better.
Does he not eat because of the diabetes?
What are the main issues? I understand this is a huge wide question, but is it lows and highs, certain events, or times of the day?
I find personally when it all goes wrong if I stop looking at overall and solve one part I make improvements better.
The pump for me was lifechanging both in my levels but also my quality of life and how I feel physically and mentally.
 
Sorry to hear about the struggles your son is having.

Could you explain a little more what the sides of his ratio refer to?

What the 1 and 1 are, and what the 1 and 15 were when he started. Usually one side would be 1unit of insulin and the other would be grams of carbs.

Does the 50u daily include the tresiba dose? Or is that extra on top?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top