Stop taking insulin

[muzzygirl]

Does anyone know if a Type 1 Diabetic can by eating right and exercising, stop monitoring and stop taking insulin, after being isulin dependent for many years?

[duck]

No, you cannot. There are many "urban legends" and tall-tales (and home remedies) that claim this can be done, but when you consider the reason you are a Type 1 (ie, your body is NOT manufacturing a hormone critical to survival), then none of these 'remedies' offer any relief.

If you took a blood sugar reading right now, and say it was 100 mg/DL, and you didn't eat for another 24 hours, exercised, etc...in 24 hours your sugars would be sky high, maybe high enough to land you in a hospital because your body naturally makes blood glucose as a by-product of different functions. So you cannot come off the insulin without some type of intervention.

[HeatherP]

Duck's got the right of it. You cannot live without insulin. You will end up literally starving to death with out it.

Unfortunate, but true
HeatherP

Welcome, by the way!

[David]

Duck and Heather are correct and exercise will do no good unless you have insulin to enable your body to use the glucose.
David

[am1977]

Please do not try this! :eek: If you do, you are asking for trouble, you could land in the hospital or worse! :( Being type 1, we need insulin to live, w/o it we will go into DKA and eventually die.

It's ok to try and reduce the insulin you take, little by little, if you eat less and require less, but it's not possible to stop all together. If you do decide to decrease your insulin, it's a good idea to work with Diabetes team...your Endo., CDE, dietician, etc.

Insulin isn't so bad. I know it can be a pain taking injections, but it would be a lot worse for many people if insulin wasn't available.

Hang in there. :)

[gettingby]

When I was diagnosed, the doc I had(not a good one) started me out on oral diabetes medication. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!! I ended up in a coma with DKA one year after diagnosis. I've been on shots ever since. It's not that bad. I look at it like this: You may have to take shots but at least you are alive and fighting!!!!!!!
Cin
BTW, I was 14 at time of diagnosis. I'm 33 now.

[rzrbks]

duck

No, you cannot. There are many "urban legends" and tall-tales (and home remedies) that claim this can be done, but when you consider the reason you are a Type 1 (ie, your body is NOT manufacturing a hormone critical to survival), then none of these 'remedies' offer any relief.

The people who present these ideas are the kind of pond scum who used to be in the "Patent Medicine" business and killed millions of people before the days of the Food and Drug Administration.

[muzzygirl]

In response to an answer in this thread, the replyer stated that if you stopped taking insulin, you could go into "DKA" and eventually die...Can someone tell me what DKA is ? What symptoms would someone have that would cause DPA?

[HeatherP]

DKA = Diabetic Keto-Acidosis. This means because your sugars are so high you body cannot use the food you are eating. After your body chews thru the fat it has stored it will start eating up muscle tissue. Ketones are a by-product of muscle/protein deterioration. They show up in the urine. If you let your sugars go you will end up in a coma. It will cause brain (and other organ) damage. If you let your sugars go high and do not treat, you will starve to death.

[Shalyndria]

I think you're thinking of creatine Heather, which is an amino acid produced by the liver and kidneys and used by the muscles for short bursts of energy?

DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis, as Heather explained) occurs when the body is not receiving sufficient insulin to metabolize consumed carbohydrates. This causes a transition from glucose metabolism to lipid oxidation - the body uses stored fat for energy. The byproduct of the catabolism of that stored fat is Ketones, which are strong organic acids and toxic to cells and organs, and also causes marked loss of potassium and sodium. Quick medical lesson lol - there are two major ketone bodies, acetoacetic acid and B-hydroxybutyric acid, and results from the loss of insulin's normal modulating effect on free fatty acid (FFA) released from adipose tissue and on hepatic (P/T liver) FFA oxidation and ketogenesis. Once the amount of ketones in the blood passes the renal threshold they are spilled into the urine.

The initial symptoms of DKA are polyuria (excessive urination), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. A small percentage of Pt's present in a coma, those being left untreated. Dehydration is usually present, and some ppl are hypotensive (low B/P). Acetone can also be detected on the breath.

Hope that cleared things up :)
Shy

[HeatherP]

:o

oops! So many details to keep track of.....I was headed in the right direction though, lol!

[muzzygirl]

If someone did not take insulin, would that cause a person to black out and fall down?

[HeatherP]

From hyperglycemia, yes, it's possible.

Why are you asking these questions Muzzygirl?

[muzzygirl]

I am asking these questions because my brother had Type 1 Diabetes. Last month he was found dead lying beside his camper in the mountains. My brother's wife is an abusive narcisstic and controlled every aspect of his life, including monitoring and administrating his insulin injections.
I hadn't talked with my brother for a while and when I called my nephews wife to find out what happened to my brother, she told me that my brother had been taking off on his own for the past couple of months on his own, and that since he had been eating right and exercing, his diabetes was non-existent and he no longer needed his insulin. She also told me that my brother had been depressed and kept saying that he felt that he might die any minute. My other nephew told me that my brother had been blacking out and falling down at home.
In that my brother was eyesight was real bad, and he believed everything his wife told him, and it would have caused a highly volatile situation that my brother would be able to go anywhere without her as she was extremely jealous, I am very suspicious that she cut off his insulin to to make him sick so he wouldn't leave.
They didn't find any insulin or insulin testing kit in his camper and no food, even though he was suppose to be camping. There were reports from others that he was acting strange, that he acted intoxicated, but no one saw him drinking..They are conducting investigation and autopsy.

[HeatherP]

I see. I'm so sorry, this must all be very painful for you. If indeed someone besides your brother is responsible for doing this to him, I hope they throw the book at them.

By the way, blacking out and falling down can also be caused by low blood sugar.

I hope that you and your family will be able to find some sort of peace and closure to this event. My condolences.

HeatherP

[JasonJayhawk]

Wow, muzzy -- this is a very bad situation.

Here's a simple breakdown of it:

1. A type-1 diabetic lacks the ability to produce insulin. Insulin does three things:
a. Keeps you alive.
b. Allows you to eat.
c. Allows you to correct high blood sugars.
Insulin opens up the "doors" to the cells in our body so that glucose (energy -- the fuel for our cells) can enter.

2. Diet and exercise are not the cause of type 1 diabetes and they will never lead to the cure (for type 2 diabetes, this is the case). A good analogy is like losing your arm. In type 1 arm loss, the best you can do is have a fake arm replace it. In type 2 arm loss, if you do the correct exercises, your arm will grow back. (Yeah, stupid analogy, but I'm making a point here.)

3. When a person has high blood sugars, the fluid in the eye also absorbs high concentrations of glucose through diffusion of the glucose into the eye membrane. This is what causes fuzziness when a diabetic's glucose control varies from one end to another end over the span of several days. The fogginess is caused by the diffusion of the sugar across the eye membrane.

4. What happens when no insulin is available? A person dies. This is caused by many factors:
a. The cells must get energy via an alternate route. They do this by breaking down fat.
- This fat break down creates ketones. Ketones smell like nail polish and come off making the person smell like an alcoholic. The person will also enter "blackouts" as the pH of the blood drops (it becomes very acidic). THe body attempts to clear out these strong ketones with fluids (hence the extreme thirst symptom). The urine will smell sickly-sweet, as will the smell on the person's breath and even coming from their skin!

People who are in diabetic ketoacidosis will often be thought of being DRUNKS! This is because they will stammer around, and usually hit-and-drop the floor. In the public, people might smell an alcohol-like scent, and think the person is an alcoholic and perhaps drunk. Trained paramedics will usually know that this scent is due to DKA and not necessarily alcohol.

Uncontrolled diabetes causes depression. Depression is not just defined as having negative thoughts -- but also having a lack of energy (the lack of energy is what ends up having negative thoughts after several months of lacking energy). High blood sugars can also cause a person to become extremely cranky and moody, instinctually. I think you'll find that many people in this forum will admit to being cranky when their blood sugars are over 200 mg/dL.

The fact that no glucometers or insulin were within accessable range indicates that a forensic detective should consider this as fishy. Unfortunately, I do think that someone who is adult age should also be responsible in knowing that they need insulin to survive. The fact that your brother did not have such might indicate that he may have been too depressed to care, or he may have been forced not to have one.

By the way, a type 1 diabetic cannot exercise without insulin. Stress hormones (such as cortisol) created by the body during the initial start-up of exercising will cause the liver to release glucose. Insulin is used to tell the muscle cells to "start using" that glucose. Without it, muscle cells will waste away (being broken down for survival) -- and therefore, any exercise that is done will actually lead to a break down in muscle tissue and damage the body, leaving it even less fit than before!

The brain and liver are among the very few organs (if I'm not mistaken, the ONLY) in the body that can operate without insulin! That's why diabetics don't croak for simply not having insulin... the brain uses a different transport mechanism for getting glucose in its cells that does not involve the insulin hormone.

By the way, the way I found out I had type 1 diabetes in March was that I kept feeling like I was blacking out. That's one of the entire laundry list of symptoms of diabetes... (with thirst being the most classical symptom).

[muzzygirl]

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to give me so much good information and for your kind words.