Re: Constantly felt ill since diagnosed 11 years ago
- From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@xxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 22:42:51 +0000
oldal4865 <oldal4865@xxxxxxxxx> wrote on Sat, 24 Sep 2005 07:44:52 -0400:
> Sam wrote in message
> <1127482299.019593.57350@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>...
>>Has anyone else had any side effects to human insulin? Since I was
>>diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 11 years ago, I have been constantly
>>ill.
>>I am lethargic all the time, I feel nauseated most of the time, and
>>bloated off very little amounts of food. My joints ache constantly. I
>>am only 32 years old, but sometimes feel more like 100!!
>>I have been doing some research on the internet and read that some of
>>these symptoms can be related to human (GM) insulin. Although the
>>diabetic consultant at the hospital insists the symptoms are because of
>>my "uncontrolled" diabetes. I have never in 11 years managed to have
>>controlled blood sugars, . . .(snip). . .
Maybe you're trying to "overcontrol".
> It took me more than 2 years to get my HbA1c down below 6 when using
> human insulins. If you are afraid of GM insulins (i.e. Humalog,
> Novolog, Lantus, or Levemir),
Er, can we agree on some terminology here, please? "GM" mean
"genetically <something beginning with M>" (I think "genetically
manipulated), and insulin here on MHD is usually contrasted with
"analogs". So, how about calling Hunalog, Novolog, Lantus and Levemir
"analog" (because they're not insulin), and calling the traditional stuff
"insulin", categorised into "human" or GM insulin and animal or natural
insulin?
> then you should seek better advice on using human insulins.
Or, perhaps better, animal insulins. There's never been any convincing
evidence that GM "human" insulin works as well as animal insulin (other
than for those allergic to the latter).
> Most doctors can't help, you need a good Insulin Trainer nurse (CDE
> in the U.S.) They do this kind of stuff all day, every day, and
> have the time to do it right.
> As of the end of the year, the only human insulins on the market will
> be Insulin R for meals and the very old-fashioned basal Insulin, NPH
> (Insulin N)
I think Sam said he was based in the UK. There is a much wider choice of
insulin there, though Novo is withdrawing many of its GM insulins soon.
> Insulin NPH is an extremely difficult insulin to use; too many people
> try to get by with only 2 or 3 shots a day. Splitting your NPH dose
> into 4-5 shots is the way to go. That's what I had to do to gain
> control when I used the human insulins.
Having 4-5 injections per day of "basal" insulin would surely be sheer
misery. Injections are nasty - they hurt, they're invasive, they require
privacy or brass neck, and bulky supplies and equipment. They can't be
avoided, but they can be minimised. Get some Lente or Semilente Insulin
(whether GM or pork or beef) and try it out.
> The modern GM insulins are much more powerful than the human insulins.
Probably not true, for any sensible meaning of "powerful". What do you
mean by "powerful"? Do you mean that to produce a given glucose lowering
effect, you need fewer units of an analog than a "human" insulin? For
what it's worth, I used to inject 22 units of "human" NPH at bedtime, now
I use 8 units of pig Semilente which works far better.
> From my personal experience, they are the easiest way to solve your ".
> . . . .I have never in 11 years managed to have controlled blood
> sugars, . . ." control problem. The fact that your control is
> lousy is enough by itself to explain your ill health.
Well, maybe. But it sounds much more like an intolerance to GM insulin
to me.
> I suggest that you give the GM insulins Humalog and Lantus a chance and
> see if you can exploit their power.
I would suggest natural insulin. CPP's beef Lente is very well liked
around this newsgroup (though I haven't used it myself).
> I also suggest that you add the "Corrective Bolus" technique to your
> insulin regime, e.g. my personal Corrective Bolus technique is:
> 1. Measure my before-meal blood sugar
> 2. Inject a pre-meal bolus of Humalog. The amount of the bolus will
> include:
> a. A corrective bolus to drive my sugar into the 80-90
> range
> b. A corrective bolus to "cover" the carb in the food
> 3 Wait some pre-set time to allow it to start working, i.e. enough
> time to let the bolus drive my bG into a normal range. (0 - 60 minutes as
> needed).
> 4. Eat
> 5. Test blood sugar at 90-120 minutes after eating. If needed,
> inject a corrective bolus of Humalog to drive my bG into a normal range.
I would suggest you'd be better stabilising your BS levels first. First
try and get them stable at around the 200 mark. Once you've achieved
that, gradually (over several days or even weeks) increase insulin doses
until you get to sensible levels (probably 100 - 140). Try to get lower
than that and you'll likely end up on the hypo <-> hyper seesaw.
> That sort of technique has allowed me to hold my HbA1c below 6.0 for
> years. It does require a multitude of shots each day but that is a
> requirement for a T1 aiming for good control.
It isn't. It's a YMMV thing. Willbill manages just fine on one
injection per day, for example. Some while ago, 1 or 2 injections per
day were the normal thing for T1, and they worked well enough. And
exactly what "good" control means is a personal thing - Not being able to
get through a morning or afternoon or evening without wielding a syringe
would NOT be good control for me.
> The old-fashioned minimum-number-of-injections-per-day R + NPH regimes
> just don't work that well.
Probably not. Lente, in my experience, works MUCH better.
> Regards
> Old Al
--
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aacm@xxxxxxxx; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
(like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").
.
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