Question about insulin?

[barbieguy]

I have a question about insulin.
I was just diagnosed T2 on 1/08/07. Doc put me on metformin.
Do T2s ever have to take insulin? I guess I need more knowledge on this disease now that I have it.
Thank you,
Barb

[KickStart101]

Hi. Type 2's usually start out on exercise and diet. Then
oral meds., exercise and diet if they are having trouble
controlling their sugars. If they are still having trouble then
Yes, Type 2's do go on Insulin to help them. If I was a Type 2
and my sugars were usually high, hard as I tried, I would be
Happy to take shots(or a pump)to get this disease under control.
It could take many yrs. between each treatment though.YW :)

[ladytaz]

Yep, some sure do!

I was dx'ed Aug '05. I'll probably be starting on insulin next month, as my Metformin and Glipizide aren't quite doing the trick ... and was even on Actos as well, for a time. For this month he's trying something out, splitting my glipizide out to two times a day rather than once, but I know it's not gonna work, as I've tried this on my own before, and it didn't work then.

I don't know much about insulin taking, but imma fixin to learn more than I ever wanted to know! LOL :wink:

Up until a couple months ago, I was doing pretty good, except for my morning numbers, those have never been below a 130 average :( But in the past couple of months, i've been having my numbers all over the place, not eating many carbs and going too high, eating a normal amount or even higher amount and going too low. My morning numbers are rising as well :( I'm doing everything right, doing all I possibly can. *shrugs*

It's said that most Type 2's eventually end up on insulin, as it's the natural progression of Diabetes. Those beta cells give out after a time. But there's no way to determine how long it will be for each individual.

Took me about 1-1/2 years, but in reality, I've been Diabetic since a few years before I was actually diagnosed. At least since 2002!

[Rustam]

All oral medicines have side effects.While Insulin is actually harmons and does not cast any bad affect on eyes etc.

[liz32]

as has been said, some T2's are able to stay with just diet and excersize, while others go on insulin right away. It all depends on the state of your pancrease. I was at a confrence once and the speaker said that at the moment you are diagnosed you pancrease is down to 60% function. I tried some on the oral meds (the ones I wasn't allergic to) but they weren't able to bring my sugars below 10 (180) so they asked to put me on lantus. Up here they call it early insuin intervention. Anyways, it's all what you make it to be. If you can control it with diet and excersize go for it, put it is a progressive disease and you may just end up on insulin but it's not the end of the world...just a different phase of it
Liz

[dgrilli]

From what I have been reading the best of the best Dr's,GP's Endo's (Very Few) will ask there patients and even plead with them to go on insulin immediately for awhile at least.

I have read many reasons for this. They all sound plausible to me.

I would have give these Best of the Best a thumbs up for their dedication to their patients.

Heck it might be a very short while but could be the ticket for a long and healthy life injecting.

My case I started out injecting (then stopped bad move for my personal experience) I could have foregone a lot of complications. This Endo should have received an award.

[slipperyelm]

Barbieguy, there are many Type 2s who have been diabetic for years and have not needed insulin!

I, for example, have been diagnosed 14 years and am not on insulin. My last HbA1c was 5.4 despite at diagnosis being 13.2. I tried oral glipizide for a year. Glipizide stimulates increased insulin production in a still functioning pancreas. So it is a way of getting more insulin from your own system without having to inject. In my case, it was too much. The smallest formulated dosage of glipizide caused hypoglycemia many times.

But at least now I know, for the future, that injecting insulin probably will greatly help me should I need to go to that. In fact, I think it would be much better than using glipizide since I could match insulin volume to carbohydrate consumption. With glipizide there was no way of telling the pancreas to produce a little less for this meal, a little more for that meal.

So I have 14 years since diagnosis, plus, I think, at least two years of diabetes before I was diagnosed. And I don't think I am anywhere near needing insulin. I feel even more sure of this since I stated eating low-carb. But should the need come, I will just be so grateful for insulin. I am so glad insulin is there for us when we need it.:smile:

[cheryl]

I have some type 2's experimenting with one or two doses of fast acting insulin just so they can enjoy some carbs again......I know i used to think oh god i'd rather take a pill but really understanding both now i am kind of glad i am on insulin......so if i want something i can dose for it and such.....i know some type 2's can eat moderately whatever they want and have really good A1c's though so it all depends on the person really and how your diabetes is affecting you and what is best for you action plan and your health.

Cheryl

[sydneya]

Yep, insulin might be necessary for a type II. I fought it like mad. I just didn't want to do that injection. But I gave in about 5 years after being diagnosed. It was the smartest things I did. The stupidest was fighting it for so long. It was wonderful to start feeling good again. I didn't even realize how tired I was all the time until I wasn't tired all the time. The interesting thing about diabetes is we are all different and there is nothing so constant as change (of treatment). Maybe you won't ever need insulin, maybe you will, just be grateful it's available.

[labob]

I started using insulin (Humalog and Lantus) immediately upon diagnosis in December 2005. Over the course of the next three to four weeks, I gradually decreased the dosage until I stopped taking insulin entirely -- for the moment, anyway. It's been over a year since I've been on only oral meds. I'm currently (since April 2006) taking 15 mg of Actos daily. Still, I'm glad I had that initial experience with insulin because it taught me that insulin is not so scary, and is actually quite marvelous. I'd still be taking it except that I seem to be in a honeymoon period (that may or may not be coming to an end, based on my morning fasting readings).

[Rustam]

I started using insulin (Humalog and Lantus) immediately upon diagnosis in December 2005. Over the course of the next three to four weeks, I gradually decreased the dosage until I stopped taking insulin entirely -- for the moment, anyway. It's been over a year since I've been on only oral meds. I'm currently (since April 2006) taking 15 mg of Actos daily. Still, I'm glad I had that initial experience with insulin because it taught me that insulin is not so scary, and is actually quite marvelous. I'd still be taking it except that I seem to be in a honeymoon period (that may or may not be coming to an end, based on my morning fasting readings).
Why do u base on morning fasting numbers?Why u do not consider BG after 2 hrs of meal?