Tricky Diabetic or Honeymoon?

[kel4han]

I am taking just 8units of Levemir with dinner, and upon waking will be around 108-140. But when I eat my BS now stays up too long, about 4 hours it takes to come back down to 140 or lower. Sometimes wont go under 180. One unit of Novolog takes me down 280pts over 5 hours! I assume when I eat I am still producing some insulin, which is why I cannot take even one unit of Novolog. How can I start to split my dose of Levemir, or should I just add a few units in the morning? 10carbs in the morning is too low, 15-20 too high! What the heck are my options besides being hungry all day. I have also lost 7lbs the last 2months by simply not eating enough to keep under 180. ???Suggestions??

[Jazz]

I was diagnosed Type 1 a year ago and I have managed to keep my BG stable on very low doses of Levemir and Novorapid - I take 4 units of Levemir at bedtime and between 2 to 4 units at meals (I tend to work on a carb ratio of 20 carbs to 1 unit Novorapid). I do not give correction injections if my BG is high between meals as even 1 unit of Novorapid without food would cause too severe BG drop for me.

I wonder if you are eating enough carbohydrate at each meal - for breakfast I eat 60g carb, for lunch 40g and dinner between 60 - 100g carb. If I was on a low carb diet, I would be in the same position as you, in finding that even 1 unit Novorapid would be too strong for me, but because I am on insulin, I was told that 50% of each of my meals should be carbohydrate. If you raised the level of carbohydrate in each meal I think you might tolerate a small dose of Novorapid, your weight problem would resolve and you would not need to split Levemir (and could perhaps reduce the level of Levemir)? Just my thoughts from my own personal experience of being very sensitive to insulin - good luck in finding a solution to your problem.

[BlueSky]

I would suggest that you need to reduce carbs further if you want to avoid BG spikes, not increase them. But you need to replace the calories from carbs with calories from fat. So, for example, replace toast/cereal for breakfast with eggs/sausages. You won't lose calories but impact on BG will be minimised. :smile:

By doing this, you will also reduce the stress on your remaining beta cells. Because they aren't being forced to produce large amounts of insulin they will last longer and so will your honeymoon. Apparently the honeymoon can be extended indefinitely in this way. But it is a limited window of opportunity ....... :wink:

[dbc]

I would suggest that you need to reduce carbs further if you want to avoid BG spikes, not increase them. But you need to replace the calories from carbs with calories from fat. So, for example, replace toast/cereal for breakfast with eggs/sausages. You won't lose calories but impact on BG will be minimised.

Low carb & high fat/protein has worked for me, my honeymoon phase has been going 2 1/2 years so far, using metformin, no insulin yet......

Apparently the honeymoon can be extended indefinitely in this way. But it is a limited window of opportunity .......

Not sure about this - T1/1.5 is a progressive disease, right? The low carb approach seems to work for some, but unless you so something about the antibodies knocking out the pancreas, you can't stop the disease totally.

[Funnygrl]

I would recommend looking into a pump. Then you can give .05 units of novolog if you want.

[lilituc]

If you can figure out your insulin/carb ratio, you could probably take diluted Humalog (Novolog can't be diluted). Then you could match the insulin to the carbs you're eating.

[soso]

Get a Novolin Junior pediatric pen...they do half units.. and seem to leak a bit out after, so proly give a bit less even!
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