Comments on: new

By: Lea Hayden

Lea Hayden — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 13:54:30 +0000

Cookie–
In my long experience, yes, that IS an awfully large total daily
dose (TDD) of insulin for a Type 1 to be injecting, and I’d
suspect, with your low carb intake, that perhaps something else
may be at work here. In general, the accepted medical rule of
thumb is as follows for calculating approximate insulin dosages:
Take your weight in Kilograms (pounds divided by 2.2), and
multiply that by .6. For example, I weigh 135 pounds, divided by
2.2 = 61 kg. 61 x .6 = 36.6 TDD in units of insulin. OF THAT,
depending of course upon food intake, exercise and type of
insulin, approximately 60% should be long acting (basal) and
40% fast acting (bolus). SO, according to this formula, I should
take about 24u Lantus and the remaining 12.6 u with meals as
my bolus. In fact, because of my particular schedule, muscle
mass, and food intake, I take 17u Lantus and about 15u total of

Novolog during the day, depending on what I choose to eat. But I
am VERY insulin-sensitive, have a high muscle mass, eat very
little and I’m very active, so my TDD would be less than the
formula predicts. My ratio of basal to bolus is closer to 53%
basdal and 47% bolus–certainly, however, my calculations are
in the general ballpark. Yours, depending upon your weight,
would NOT be…
WHY? If you are very overweight, that would be one reason, but
you did not mention that. Insulin resistance would be the most
obvious explaination. You might actually be both a type 1 AND a
type 2. This IS possible. Or, you may just be so far out of whack
with your dosages that your body is taking in calories, converting
everything to glucose to store in your liver, and dumping glucose
from there continuously to offset your massive insulin doses.
What do you tests run? Why can’t you get out of bed in the
morning? And WHY THE HELL is ANY type 1 still on that
useless, inflexible pre-mix crap??!!? AARGGHHH!!!
Excuse my tantrum–it makes me angry when people try their
hardest to stay healthy but are refused the tools to do the job
correctly. I’d say your entire regimin is for the birds, and if this is
the best that the experts at Yale can do, they need to go back to
med school and learn some real-world up to date technologies.
Your entire schedule, the correction boluses, everything, makes
NO sense to me whatsoever… UNLESS you have a high degree
of insulin resistance. You need better treatment, more concrete
answers, and specific explainations as to why you are being
treated with the medical protocols you are currently under. Ask
the docs WHY, and make them explain it to you until you can
understand it. Demand that they make sense to you. Because it
makes NO sense to me…
Good luck,
Michael
T1 since 1965

By: Chester Albert

Chester Albert — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 07:18:09 +0000

I have been on the list a while reading but have not posted. I
became an adult type 1, 6-7 yrs ago. Rather a surprise as I was
normal weight and worked out an hour a day. Was not expecting it and
nearly died. Then I had 3 rotten docs in a row. Finally I have
gotten into Yale after a wait of nearly a year…lol ins The still
have me on my old 70/30 insulin and added novolog to it. I am
finally now getting more normal numbers. But I take so much. I am
on 85 units of 70/30 which is N for 60 units and R for 25 1/2 and
probably going up 5 more in a week. On top of that vast amount I take
Novolog for before meal highs and meal carbs. I take 1 unit for 80-
100, 2 100-120, 3 121-150, 4 151-200, 5 201-250 and 1 unit per 10
grams of carbs. Is this a horrendous amount? I eat about 90 gr of
carbs a day unless I have lunch which is rare, I prefer to do a snack
since I can’t get out of bed and breakfast is noon and dinner at 6.
and since I also have dawn phenomeon I have to eat a snack before bed.

I need to learn more about Lantus cause now that they have me more in
controll I will probably switch to Lantus when the pen comes out in
Sept..and i know i will need too shots, just wonder how much i will
have to take.
Cookie

By: Von Delta

Von Delta — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:25:18 +0000

Hello everyone,My son Ben was Diagnosed in november with type 1 he
is 3.What a nightmare,he has adapted really well his levels are a
bit crazy but were working on that.I have taken 1yr of work to look
after him,and hopefully get him on track.Look foward to joining your
diccusion group and getting some wonderfull tips. Dave A