Once-Weekly Insulins For Type 1 Diabetes?

[helli]

I've just been reading this article about recent studies into a weekly basal: https://diatribe.org/once-weekly-insulins-type-1-diabetes-latest-research-update

I wonder if the researchers (or authors of the article) have any idea what it is like living with Type 1.

• this is not one injection per week. It is one basal injection per week. So not a reduction from 365 to 52 injections in a year but a reduction from 1460 injections (assuming you eat 3 times a day and do no correction doses) to 1147 injections per year.
• many of find they need to regularly change their basal dose due to exercise, illness, hormones, etc. If Tresiba takes 3 to 4 days for a change to take affect, how long would this take? Do you need to plan a cold 10 days in the future?
• back to assuming we need the same amount of insulin 24 hours a day. Many people prefer the extra injection of Levemir to allow for the different basal needs day and night. And the biggest benefit for me of having a pump is that I can adjust my basal needs every 30 minutes.
• how many people have forgotten to take their once daily basal? For me, remembering weekly would be even harder.

This is clearly not the insulin for me.
But are there others who would love to only have to think about basal every week?

 

[rebrascora]

Definitely not for me!
I have changed my evening Levemir dose 3 times the last three nights from 3.5 units down to 1 unit and all 3 nights I managed a nice horizontal line in the 5s thanks to those adjustments otherwise I would have been hypoing. I absolutely love my Levemir for it's flexibility and can't imagine how I would manage with Tresiba let alone something longer acting still. It seems crazy but maybe there are some people who could get away with it.

 

[Inka]

No way! I’d hate that. Yet again, people misunderstanding the strain of having Type 1 and what wears you down. It’s not the injections! The idea that a small reduction in injections is going to be great when there are a million other things worse than that, is daft.

Not only that, it could actually mean you need more correction injections when you’re ill because your weekly basal won’t be high enough to cope with increased sugars from illness, and that you’re more prone to hypos when you exercise.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I can actually see my endo going for this. (He’s an anti split doser.) “it’s another injection innit.” (To quote the guy.)
For me? It would be a burden, not unlike the early days on porcine. It hasn’t been designed for my lifestyle.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

But are there others who would love to only have to think about basal every week?

I'm sure there are. Many use longer basals than Levemir, after all, so I'm sure a once a week basal would be popular. While we may constantly be thinking about tweaking our doses, I'm sure we're atypical.

 

[Tdm]

It would be good for me, as am on 2 units basal abasaglar so no flexibility there anyway, unless i want to half my basal or increase by 50%. I think i am fairly unusual there, though.
Fewer injections is good, but like people have said its not my major focus

 

[nonethewiser]

Only when you move over to a pump do you see how your basal needs change multiple times a day, so can't see any basal injection replicating a pump if honest but who knows.

 

[Tdm]

Yes, i would value flexibility over long lastingness...i can only see this being useful for people whos basal requirements are flat or for people who have real issues with injections..

 

[Leadinglights]

I was reading about pancreas transplants and wonder just how realistic that is even though it is possible.
Nice idea BUT ????

 

[helli]

I was reading about pancreas transplants and wonder just how realistic that is even though it is possible.
Nice idea BUT ????

But Type 1 is an auto immune disease so what is there to stop the body killing off the "new" beta cells?
At the moment, this has been achieved for some but the injected insulin has been replaced by a cocktail of anti-rejection meds.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I was reading about pancreas transplants and wonder just how realistic that is even though it is possible.
Nice idea BUT ????

My wife’s hair dresser years back told her of a pancreas transplant on the stylist’s T1 husband? My wife came home upbeat on the news looking fantastic after the session and told me all about it. (I hated to burst her bubble on the news. After further investigation on the transplant.) It was all part of a “job lot.” There were quite a few organs donated for this. (As there were other complications?) Plus a bunch of anti rejection pills. I’ll stick with “thinking like a pancreas.”

 

[Inka]

I was reading about pancreas transplants and wonder just how realistic that is even though it is possible.
Nice idea BUT ????

They’re quite uncommon and usually done with kidney transplants as the person would need to take anti-rejection drugs for the kidney anyway. Because of the side effects from the anti-rejection drugs, it’s better to avoid unless absolutely necessary.