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Original poster

Insulin dependant diabetes

38 replies

Bonkerz · 18/03/2014 16:47

I'm after some advice as I'm a little worried and concerned about my DH.
He was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago and started taking insulin. He usually injects twice a day and controls his levels well. He has never been high or low and never had any other symptoms etc even when his diet is rubbish! He eats chocolate and drinks milkshakes and is the worst diabetic ever. He is checked 6 monthly by the nurse and yearly he has his feet and eyes looked at. All fine and no issues.
Recently he started 'dieting' I use this term loosely because he basically just stopped eating. I was away for a weekend and when I came back he confessed he was fasting only drinking water. He then told me he had not had any insulin for 5 days!
Obviously I freaked out and went mental at him and told him he was selfish and demanded he went to drs immediately! After a huge row and talks about insurance and driving implications he agreed to start taking his insulin. He has also ended the fast and started eating fish, veg and fruit. He has been doing his levels 4 times a day and has had to reduce his insulin from a dose of 28 to a dose of just 8 (this is twice a day). He has an appointment in April with the diabetic nurse to discuss things but he is convinced he is no longer diabetic! This cannot be right surely????

Any help or stories or advice appreciated. TIA

OP posts:
Original poster
Bonkerz · 18/03/2014 17:04

Anyone? Wink

OP posts:
gamerchick · 18/03/2014 17:08

He's not going to need insulin if he's not eating.. there's nothing there to need it for.

He's playing with his health though. If he wants to diet then he needs to talk to his diabetic nurse.

His diet may mean he needs less insulin but no. If he's Insulin dependant, he always will be.

I nag my husband and his diabetes and he's type 2. They worry the hell out of you sometimes.

gamerchick · 18/03/2014 17:09

And total fasting us an idiotic thing to do for a type one.. can you go to his appointment with him maybe?

Original poster
Bonkerz · 18/03/2014 17:14

I actually rang the surgery and told the nurse what he had been doing and she saw him Friday afternoon. But according to him she has booked him in for bloods in April and just said he needed to eat more!

OP posts:
gamerchick · 18/03/2014 17:17

I actually felt it in my middle when I read the fasting part.. that would scare me a bit if it was my husband.

Well if the nurse isn't worried then I wouldn't know what to do.. They probably know more about it.

gamerchick · 18/03/2014 17:20

We have the opposite problem. Tablets aren't working properly and blood vessels in the eyes are popping. A whole round of hospital visits are great fun. I don't know what's worse, watching a hypo or worrying it's constantly too high.

paddyclampo · 18/03/2014 18:38

If he's not eating any carbs he'll only need backgroup insulin. Is he on lantus and novorapid?

Original poster
Bonkerz · 18/03/2014 18:56

He's on novo! In the last 10 years he's never had any issues with his diabetes but I think this is more fluke than good management.

OP posts:
paddyclampo · 18/03/2014 22:01

That should have said background insulin! It's weird that he went 5 days without any insulin and survived! Starving would have caused a build up of ketones which could have been very dangerous!

Original poster
Bonkerz · 19/03/2014 06:41

That's what I find bizarre. He says his levels remained between 4.6 and 7.2 but then he only ate satsumas and tinned fish! Currently he has lost over 2 stone in a month but I'm so worried about him.

OP posts:
FabULouse · 19/03/2014 11:01

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TheFuzz · 19/03/2014 13:03

He is type 1. As had been said, he won't need too much insulin if his carb intake is low, but that's not healthy.

If he's starving his body then he will need urine tests for ketones as this is very dangerous.

FabULouse · 19/03/2014 14:46

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paddyclampo · 19/03/2014 16:56

The OP said he has insulin DD which is the old name for type 1 :)

Original poster
Bonkerz · 19/03/2014 17:01

Sorry YES he is type one and injects twice a day and has done for over 10 years now. When he was diagnosed he had been displaying symptoms for a few weeks and felt really poorly then his eyesight went blurry. GP did his levels and they were above 25 at that point. Took 3 weeks to get levels back to normal and 3 more weeks to clear his sight but since then he has had no complications at all!!!

OP posts:
kirbygrip · 19/03/2014 17:03

I am confused - he would not be on NovoRapid and Lantus (or another background insulin) if he was on 2 injections a day - that's a 4 injection a day routine?

If he's taking no insulin at all, his blood sugars would rise even if he are no carbs because of the glucose released by the liver.

kirbygrip · 19/03/2014 17:06

If he is on 2 injections a day, does he take Mixtard? I am amazed he could manage so long with no insulin, even if he didn't eat. I'm t1 and without insulin, there is no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead within three days. He must have been taking some insulin during this 'diet'.

Original poster
Bonkerz · 19/03/2014 17:56

No insulin at all for 5 days and that's why I'm confused and worried he says he only had flavoured water and tins of tuna for those 5 days. He takes novo mix 30 insulin twice a day (morning and night)

OP posts:
FabULouse · 19/03/2014 18:05

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Original poster
Bonkerz · 19/03/2014 18:18

Exactly. It doesn't make sense at all!!!!!!

OP posts:
Bornin1984 · 19/03/2014 18:20

Actually u can be type 2 on insulin, because I am

paddyclampo · 19/03/2014 19:46

Don't type 2's normal start on pills then move on to insulin if need be?

It's bizarre that he's on the mixed insulin after all this time! Doesn't he find it really restricting? When I changed from the mixed on to MDI when a teenager I felt like I'd got my life back!

Bornin1984 · 19/03/2014 20:01

I had a reaction to metformin so the diabetoligist changed it

Original poster
Bonkerz · 19/03/2014 20:10

That's why it's all bizarre. He has never felt ill since that first diagnosis and getting his levels straight.

OP posts:
kirbygrip · 19/03/2014 20:11

If he really didn't take any insulin at all for five days and wasn't in DKA, I would be asking for blood tests re: pancreatic and liver function.

How old was he when diagnosed as t1?