Honey Moon Period

I finally had my appointment with an endocronologist after waiting for over 8 weeks.  He explained how the pancreas and insulin work to control blood glucose.  In a normal functioning system the pancrease is able to product sufficient insulin on demand to cover the glucose in the blood.  He suggested that my pancrease may have been declining for quite some time.  However, under extreme stress ( e.g a viral infection), the pancreas can no longer keep up with demand and blood glucose rises.  As the blood glucose rises the pancreas works harder and harder but...eventually gives up.  In my case I had an upper respitory infection just a few weeks prior which may have triggered the stress on my pancrease.  Once I began insulin therapy my pancreas was able to recover a bit.

He said that right now I am doing well controlling my "sugars" but that is to be expected during the "honey moon" period. During this "honey moon" my pancreas is producing insulin almost at full capacity and I can reduce my insulin dosages to match. In fact the doctor suggested that I may even be able to eliminate the insulin altogether.

For example before each meal I was originally taking 1 unit of Novolog for every 15g of carbohydrate and my nightime basal (Lantus) dosage was about 3 units. My blood glucose before each meal was about 105. Now I notice that I can take 1 unit for each 20g of carb and I have eliminated the night time basal dosage. My bloog glucose before each meal is now abouy 88. That's quite low and I think I may need to lower the Novolog to 1 unit per 30g of carbohydrate.

What scares me ( yes, I am afraid ) about all this is that I am basically guessing at the dosage amounts for each meal which can lead to taking too much insulin and risking hypoglycemia. For dinner last night I had slightly more than 60g of carb and 3 units of Novolog. My blood glucose before the meal (around 6 PM) was about 76 ( I tested twice to be sure ). By 10PM my blood glucose was 79. So obviously I took too much Novolog. I ended up eating a late night snack (20g carb) which I had eliminated when I droppred the basal (Lantus) dosage to zero. My blood glucose this morning was 95. This is a very scary honey moon.

My doctor suggest that in about 6 months to 2 years ( what a huge friggin range ) this will change I will need more insuling to cover my meals etc. I now understand why this is called "medical practice'.

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

One thought on “Honey Moon Period”

  1. Hi there! I stumbled on to your blog via a google blog search (I love google!) I am a type 1 diabetic--19 years. You should check out http://diabetesoc.blogspot.com/ There are a lot of blogs there of diabetics. I think you'll find the community support beneficial. And total we've got hundreds of years of diabetes experience, so chances are someone has the answer you're looking for!

    Commenting on your post about the Olive Garden--man, at least you got a response! I reamed Quiznos out and never heard back 🙂 However, celebrate your son's birthday there! Over time you'll be more comfortable counting carbs and your doctor will help you with that too (I hope). Another great resource is calorieking.com Sometimes they have carb information that restaurants don't carry/disclose and it's more accurate than some of their sites (dunkin donuts for one). While it's geared towards dieting, I think you'll find the information at your disposal quite valuable. Search for anything. (I just searched "Olive Garden" and it gave me 27 items from soups and breadsticks to entrees).

    Goodluck!
    Melissa
    http://orsaaetas.blogspot.com/

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