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If you have gone through menopause while living with T1D, how much did your insulin needs change throughout those years?
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Not a woman. But I experienced a change in insulin requirements at around 52 years old. 35 years diabetic at the time.
I have yet to hit menopause. A better suggestion for answers would have been: Have not yet experienced menopause.
N/A as I’m male. I don’t believe that I’ve gone through Andropause.
I’m in the 1% but my answer is truthful. I was diagnosed with T1D during menopause and sugars must have soared when the GYN put me on birth control pills to help with the menopause exhaustion. In just a few days, my vision got blurry and when I called the office, he said to stop the birth control hormones and I needed a glucose tolerance test. Instead, my husband tested me on his meter and I was very high. He called his endocrinologist specialist. I was put on insulin over the telephone.
Since I was peri menopause when diagnosed with HER2+ ER+ PR- breast cancer and then chemically forced into full menopause, I can’t really say if it was menopause or one of the treatments that caused the change in insulin requirements.
I was having so many issues with unexpected highs and then crashing lows that my MD suggested Hormone Replacement Therapy. (This was 24 yrs. ago.) That stabilized my glucose levels and reduced menopause symptoms. After a year on HRT I was finished.
No problems. Same old, same old.
I would be at 300 one minute and 40 the next. Even hormone therapy didn’t help my levels. My pharmacist, with my doctor’s approval, made a bio-identical hormone for me. That helped my menopausal symptoms, which eventually helped my glucose levels.
I fluctuate like a rollercoaster… and not one of the many doctors I have spoken to have mentioned HRT let alone bioidentical HRT. It is interesting to me that, in this day and age, women are still (generally speaking) undertreated. Doctors (generally speaking) still think our complaints are all in our heads.
Things are just starting for me and it seems like my once predictable cycle is all over the place now!
It all depends on the day but everyday is a challenge my doctor has me on a low dose hormone therapy I have four more months before getting a high therapy who came up with not having a menstrual cycle for a year I have only one overt on top of that four more months and then I will get help after 8 years of crazy
I’m 53 and currently going through this. For the past 2 years I have been needing more insulin. More basal, more bolus, more corrections. In October 2020 I had my period then nothing in November or December 2020 or January 2021. February 2021 – surprise! But the three months without my insulin needs almost went back to normal. I was relieved about both that and not having my period. Oh well, it’s going to end some time….
It was several years ago in my late 40s early 50s and I was sometimes high, sometimes low. Was on a pump, but did not have CGM back then, just finger stick BG monitoring. A1Cs ranged from 7.5 to 7.9. I remember needing more basal insulin and bolus coverage for carb intake.
At 55, I went through menopause. My insulin needs had always been hard to guess — either my bgs were high or I had reactions. After menopause, it became easier to rely on the amount of insulin I took would meet my needs without dealing with the constant threat of reaction/high by. They still occur, but not with the same question: What will my hormones do next???
During menopause, I moved to a hybrid pump (Automode on Medtronic), so insulin needs did decrease a lot. However, I noticed during and after menopause, my BG rose more during stressful situations.