Week 2 No insulin

[Jimmy2202]

Hi guys.

Just a check in really, not been on here for a while.

In a nutshell I got sick of Novarapid and how lethal it is…

Finding even 1 unit with a meal of 50g carbs was sending me low after a couple hours.

Literally had enough of trying to get levels back up in my evenings! And I’ve already lowered background down to 10 units.

So basically when I’m at work, if I eat without injecting I will come back down within an hour so I’m happy with that, and evening meals I’ve found that rice and pasta don’t spike my levels hardly at all! Strange.

So I’m on about day 10 I think without using fast acting insulin.

My question is am I good doing this? My Libre tells me in averaging 70/80% in range

 

[42istheanswer]

That sounds like your pancreas is maybe rallying a bit and producing some insulin itself at present then, which would put you still in "honeymoon" phase

 

[Inka]

Have you done a basal test @Jimmy2202 ?

 

[Jimmy2202]

Have you done a basal test @Jimmy2202 ?

Not a for a while. I do know however without food my levels are perfect (for example 7am - 11am which happens every day for me. Think that’s a good indicator

 

[Inka]

Not a for a while. I do know however without food my levels are perfect (for example 7am - 11am which happens every day for me. Think that’s a good indicator

If you get a chance, I’d test the rest of the day too. It’s possible it’s your honeymoon but it’s also possible your basal needs another reduction.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Were you checked for MODY when you were diagnosed @Jimmy2202?

It’s likely that you weren’t as it’s quite a rare and glamorous form of diabetes, but it may be that you don’t have vanilla T1?

Our former admin @Northerner has been happily pottering along with mealtime insulin-only, and no basal insulin for a few years, and you have been keeping a close eye on things both when eating and when skipping meals - so it looks like you are being careful and reacting to the results you are seeing.

Diabetes does like to be unpredictable after all!

 

[Jimmy2202]

Were you checked for MODY when you were diagnosed @Jimmy2202?

It’s likely that you weren’t as it’s quite a rare and glamorous form of diabetes, but it may be that you don’t have vanilla T1?

Our former admin @Northerner has been happily pottering along with mealtime insulin-only, and no basal insulin for a few years, and you have been keeping a close eye on things both when eating and when skipping meals - so it looks like you are being careful and reacting to the results you are seeing.

Diabetes does like to be unpredictable after all!

No I’ve never heard of MODY?

Yes I am very careful… I think 🙂

 

[Jimmy2202]

This is a typical day. Eating 20g to 50g meals without bolus on a working day.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

This is a typical day. Eating 20g to 50g meals without bolus on a working day.

Looks like you are getting some pretty rapid peaks in BG, followed by a swift drop - so I can understand how difficult things are for you. And it seems possible that there are other factors in play - perhaps your own remaining beta cells ‘helping out’ when your levels peak?

As an observation (not advice) if those were my levels I’d be interested in the steep drop in BG overnight - when only basal insulin is active. John Walsh (American diabetes author) used to suggest that the ideal overnight response was a rise or fall of no more than 1.7mmol/L

Which would make me wonder whether a completely different balance between basal and bolus would be worth trying… eg splitting your total daily dose in 10u half and half between background and meals. It may not end up there (my split is usually 40% basal and 60% meals), but I think there’s some evidence that non-Ds often have a roughly 50:50 split.

 

[Inka]

This is a typical day. Eating 20g to 50g meals without bolus on a working day.

I can’t remember if you said in an earlier thread, but do you have a half-unit bolus pen? When I was first diagnosed, I could miss insulin and my blood sugar would spike then come down, but, apart from a few experiments, I had my insulin and just had a small snack if I was dropping too much. My basal insulin was only 1 or 2 units then, but it had initially been 8 units. So, do keep in mind you might need less basal and tiny amounts of bolus for larger meals.