Quote:
Originally Posted by DCaplinger  ... according to my doc, if I am still producing any insulin at all, it's very very minimal. .... |
Darian,
The logic behind my suggestion that you are producing some insulin is simple but very compelling. You were mis-diagnosed T2 over a year ago, and that autoimmune attack has no doubt being going on for a number of years. But you only started injecting insulin 3 months ago. If you weren't producing a substantial amount of your own insulin before you started injecting it, your blood glucose would have gone much higher and you would have quickly gone into ketoacidosis. Your blood glucose was not dangerously high 3 months ago so you must have been producing a fair amount of insulin then. And it is unlikely that the supply would have suddenly dried up. Usually the opposite happens. Injecting insulin relieves pressure on the beta cells and they seem to regain some of their lost function.
In saying that your residual beta cell function is minimal, your doctor is no doubt trying to make sense of your substantial bolusing requirements. But lack of endogenous insulin production is not the only possible explanation for needing to inject so much to cover meals. In addition to the autoimmune attack, you could also be insulin resistant. Or you could be having absorption problems. You could also be one of the few people who simply don't respond well to the modern fast acting insulins. And then, of course, your problem could at lest partially be explained by inadequate basal insulin coverage. Any of these things would increase the apparent bolusing requirement.
For what it is worth, I also have great difficulty covering carbs, especially with the modern fast acting insulins. I find that Actrapid (Regular insulin) works much better for me, especially in the mornings. We are all a bit different in how we respond to insulin treatment, and figuring out what works best is an ongoing learning process. But until such time as you have got your basal requirements reasonably well covered, bolusing correctly is very difficult.
