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Aside from the honeymoon phase (if you had one), has the amount of insulin you need increased the longer you have had T1D?
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No. Surprisingly, I have taken roughly the same amount for 70 years. I wonder why hormones, age, activity, or at least something have so little effect? ¯\_( ͡► 益 ͡◄)_/¯
Of 20 years it only changed a little until last year after that odd 9-10 week flu. Two years ago was using 27 units total a day (on a pump down from 32 a day injections) to now using 37 a day.
Overall insulin consumption has remained steady for long periods. This does not count spot adjustments for increased food, activity, etc. However, it is not constant. The trick is recognizing when the “need” is increasing or decreasing. My endocrinologist is helpful with these observations. One adjustment is seasonal — less in spring, more in fall, but this has some relationship to overall activity.
My basals change sesonally. A bit more, maybe 2 units more per day, in the Winter months.
The amount of insulin I’ve required HAS increased, but due to illness and treatments received during those periods. i.e. when I’ve been prescribed steroids. Other than that, I’ve remained quite insulin-sensitive over the last 40+ years.
I answered “other”. It has gone up when I ate more and gained weight. When my weight came down with better eating, the combination has reduced the amount of insulin I use. At my most, I was using about 60-65 units a day. Now it is averaging 45 units per day.
Because I am diagnosed as type 1 LADA, yes my insulin increases often. I started at 14 units a day 4 years ago, today I am around 30 units a day and climbing.
For the first 30 years of my T1D, the amount of insulin slowly increased until reaching about 70-80 units per day, with at least 4 injections per day.
After switching to LCHF (<20 gr carbs/day), the insulin usage was lowered a lot.
So today I normally take around 26 units, 2-3 injections, per day and that has stayed almost the same during these last 11 years. Bg and HbA1c is now in normal, healthy person's range. The cost of my insulin is therefore also a lot lowered.
15 years ago, bg was all over and HbA1c around 10.
My insulin needs have increased and decreased. I don’t see a correlation with the amount of years of being T1D. There are so many factors that change the amount of insulin, I e. weight changes, medicine, type or brand of insulin, exercise, etc.
It had gone up and down a bit but if weight is pretty much the same the insulin follows that in my situation. After 43 yrs I am on sl less insulin but of course I eat less than I did 20 yrs ago
I have been T1 for 64 years. I am taking much less insulin today than ever and I am much more sensitive to insulin than in the past.
I have had LADA since 2004 and have gone from 1 or 2 units per meal and 2 units basal to 7 to 8 units per meal, 8 units Levemir am and 17 units pm. But this oscillates, rising and falling. Some weeks I take 17 units both am and pm. Sometimes that’s 7AM/PM; sometimes it’s 11AM/PM. Sometimes I take more in the morning than the evening. It varies depending on how much my pancreas puts out and when. Weird unending honeymoon.
My answer is other. When I was diagnosed back in 1967, the insulin available was way different than what it is today. I don’t even remember how much I took. Also, I was a very active 12 year old and remained so until my 40s. So, it’s possible my insulin needs may have increased over the years. Now on the pump, I still only take between 20 – 25 units a day, so still not that much. If I had a honeymoon phase at the beginning, I don’t remember it. Too many years ago.
A little but not much. Used to take total of 21-25 (basal and bolus combined) now take 28 units.
Initially, yes, my insulin usage was always being increased. After switching to a pump things started to turn around a little. But then after retirement (way less stress) my usage really decreased.
My insulin dose adjusts based on activity and carbohydrates. Maybe short term need more or less from other random things not able to determine.
It has increased slowly for my growing child. I suppose it wouldn’t for a grown person.
The amount of insulin I need has decreased, when I was first diagnosed (40 years ago) the endocrinologists encouraged a high carb diet. They never mentioned exercise. It was only 15 years ago that I found a very knowledgeable endocrinologist that taught me about how carbohydrates affect type 1’s and through hard work and much retraining of my mind, and the addition of exercise, I have got down to 1/4 of what I used to take. This was also imperative because Insulin has become less affordable over time.
It’s decreased as I’ve gotten older. I’m much more active at work than I ever was in school, though.
Said yes, but I’m still not using a lot of insulin. Started 48 years ago with 10 NPH and 1 Regular units daily. Thru the years I had times when I’d used up to 38 units total in a combination of fast and basal insulins.
At the present time on a Tandem pump I only used an average of just under 19 units of Humalog daily.
I was dx’d in 1976. When I transitioned from MDI to an insulin pump in 2011, my total daily insulin was 80% of the amount I used while on MDI. As I’ve aged (now in my early 70’s), my total daily insulin is 86% of what I was using while on MDI. I believe aging may have diminished my insulin sensitivity a bit, thus causing an increase in my insulin needs. My weight has remained stable over the past 20 years with a current BMI of 21.6 so that isn’t a factor. Pumping has allowed me tighter control with greater flexibility and less overall insulin than MDI.
Yes, I have developed insulin resistance and now take few type 2 meds to fight it, rather than increasing my insulin dose and gaining weight.
I don’t remember
Background insulin has dropped by >50% since diagnosis. Took 28 units of Lantus. Exercise much, much more than I did at dx 18 years ago. Currently take 13 units of Tresiba daily.
I think my insulin use has decreased over time, but am not certain. My activity has decreased with my age, but I am still active. When I started taking insulin I was on Regular and NPH. Now I use Novolog in a pump. It seems that I go through less bottles of insulin over a three month period. I used to use 5 vials, now I use 4. However, over the past few months my daily insulin usage has increase from 23 units daily to 26 units daily.
My basal has increased twice in 9 months, may be just getting the right dose adjusted. Bolus is heavily dependent on what foods eaten so is hard to tell, but seems like icr has increased.
In proactive diabetes managementinsulin volume changes constantly. During the course of decades I’ve used insulin my daily dose rose from 18 units of U-80 NPH to about 100 units. Now, 65 years later, I use almost 20 units of U-100 analog. CIQ and food choices will vary insulin requirement.
I have not seen any changes, but I was diagnosed with late-onset, 16 years ago
I checked yes. I peaked at ~80 u/day.
Over the last 4 years, since retiring, my insulin intake has dropped about 5 u/day. I attribute this to much less stress and eating better/less.
Since using a pump, 60 years after dx, I think it has decreased. Can’t compare the U-40 beef/pork Regular that I started on as an 8 year old to the Novolog I’m taking now via aTandem pump with Control IQ as a 75 year old.
Same here – who knows what was going on back in the days of U-40 beef/pork Regular and NPH? Long-haulers like us Baby Boomer T1Ds are lucky that it kept us alive through the dark ages of diabetes care so we could be here to live and thrive in our senior years with more enlightened approaches for targeted insulin delivery and duration.
I think by weight. I began taking insulin when I was 4.5 yrs old.
Following the Mastering Diabetes program, my insulin has decreased
I was a type1D who went 45 years without ever doing a finger srtick(i could feel it perfectly accurately) i could eat and drink anything i wanted (no candy bars) on 10 units nof NPH and nI couldn exercise as mush as I wanted with no glucose rise only might need tro eat an energy bar. I came down with the norrovirus 5 yewars ago…went into ICU for 3 days , was told that I was 5 minutes from death when I arricved. Ever since that day i can only eat one meal a day and only about 10 items. i react so stongly to the insulin that i cannot risk taking a larger shot for fear of it going dangerously low≥ I never take more than 4 units of novolog.
Was first diagnosed as T2D, had a blood test done for T1D an it returned positive for T1D. Blood sugars were all over the place are now more controlled.
The amt of insuin I took grdually increased from the age of 10 until my mid-20s. During pregnancy, my needs were much much higher. Since my thirties, and the use of blood testing, the dosage has come down. I currently take abut half what I did in my twenties. MDI.
I have no clue.
My insulin doses increased as I tried for control. The switch to time release Tresciba was a game changer. I take half of it now and about half of the Novologue I started with. I’ve been able to lose 25 lbs and keep it off, resulting in lower doses.
Like with all things diabetes, it goes up and down. Can’t really compare NPH/R to today’s insulin’s.
Hasn’t changed hardly at all in 18 years!
Diagnosed T2D then later T1D, so yes more insulin has been required
I’ve been T1D almost 40 years and I don’t remember what I used to take that long ago. But in the past 5 years I’ve upped my basal dose by one unit for better management. A lot of it is trial and error and finding what works best for certain times. And with better insulins now they’ve changed over the years but not necessarily increased or decreased.
Some of this is due to changes in types of insulin, and weight gain
Only noticeable increase was while pregnant or if I put on a few extra pounds
When I was first diagnosed in 1970 I took about 30 units of NPH per day. After BS meters became available the NPH was split into morning and evening shots and regular was added and the total was increased. Ultimately converted to Lantus and Novolog, with the Novolog amount based on BS level. Again, this increased the total amount of insulin used each day.
I have had diabetes for 60 years so compared to the early years of my diabetes I take a great deal less insulin. Insulin‘s are entirely different than they were 50 or 60 years ago of several people have already commented and work much more effectively there by necessitating a lower dose. I haven’t seen a big difference over the last 15 or 20 years. Insulin needs to go up a bit with weight gain. I have read that if all other variables stay the same, that many of us become more sensitive to insulin over the years requiring lower doses.
I have also had T1D for almost 60 years and over the years I have observed the overall amount of insulin I need depends on weight, stress level emotional state, and activity factors. I seem to require less as I grow older.
Have had T1 for 65 years and no w take anywhere from 14-20 units per day depending upon how active I am. Cycling helps me stay in better control and as a result I use less insulin.
Wow!
I don’t remember initial R and NPH doses from 1968-69 – which predated an MDI regimen many years later, but I think my pump amounts were matched generally to my average MDI daily total and haven’t changed significantly. Less activity during pandemic restrictions required about a 20% increase, but more activity recently has resulted in a decrease of about 10% from previous-pandemic levels. In other words, it doesn’t depend on age but on level of activity.
My daily insulin requirements have actually decreased.
I was diagnosed when I was 11, while I was in the “honeymoon” phase (starting my journey with diabetes on maybe 5-15 total units of insulin a day). While I was going through puberty, my insulin needs SKYROCKETED (100+ total units of insulin) . Post-puberty my insulin needs decreased to a middle ground of sorts (currently ~50 to 70 total units a day)
I put ‘other’ because beyond 10 years ago I did not eat low carb. My insulin requirements to cover rice, bread, oats, potatoes and corn were quite high. Since eating low carb my insulin requirements have lowered. That said, insulin resistance has set in some as I have to bolus for protein and fat more than I used to. I never used to bolus for protein and fat. I get some sort of exercise every day, mostly walking 5-10 km. My basal requirements have stayed mostly the same except for with Control iQ I have to boost my basal and bolus to trick the algorithm so I can average lower than the algorithm target. It is very frustrating but I don’t want my A1c to go up just because of the new algorithm I am on. It makes me rollercoaster during the day more. At night with a bit more basal I can get a fairly even trend. I use 24 hr. Sleep mode. I think this is a fair assessment of the last 8-10 years out of 28 total. Basal has stayed pretty constant at 12-15 units, with the additional 2-3 units above 12 due to the algorithm with the pump plus a bit more bolusing throughout the day to bring my numbers down. I use a pen for that and will be trying Afrezza soon to combat stubborn highs. A good day for me is 24 units, weighing 130 -135 which has crept up from around 126 since being on Control iQ and of course CoVid and feeding insulin at times when rollercoastering. My dog is asking for a walk but I could go on and on about this topic.
I was diagnosed in 1962 at age 8. I seem to recall taking more or less insulin back then than I do now because of adjustments being made by the Internal Medicine MD treating me back then for factors of weight, height, activity and frequency of hypoglycemia.
Based on experience in my middle-age adult years insulin needs increased during a period of inactivity caused by physical injury with less than ideal physical activity leading to stress-related overeating and weight gain. Once recovered and back on my feet, overall daily insulin needs decreased and have remained stable for several years at ~ 20 to 30 units total per 24 hours delivered by pump or MDI. Depends on what I eat, level of activity, and mind/body/emotional stress. However, overall insulin needs are fairly stable and if anything seem to decrease as I grow older and mature as an aging adult.
@ConnieT1D62 – I was diagnosed in 1964 as well, but I was only 2 1/2 years old. Nice to know there are others who have lived through glass syringes, etc. like me!
Take care,
Pam K.
Me too!
My insulin dose did increase in my teens (1970’s), but settled down to the amount I still take today.
It’s varied throughout my 55 years years of Type 1 diabetes. Likely relative to the types of insulin used, my age and activities, my weight, number of doses and delivery modes of insulin and my understanding of DM management . Overall my TDD has decreases over time.
No. My insulin sensitivity keeps increasing. I use much less insulin than I did when first diagnosed at the age of 30, twenty years ago.
My weight has dropped a bit which puts me slightly underweight and I am LESS active than before. Eating and digesting food takes a lot more time now.
Not that I remember all 56 years of dosages well, but I think I take less insulin now. Of course it used to be, uh, U-40 & U-80? in strength, and I used to use Regular + NPH, or maybe Lente for awhile. Been pumping for about 20 years, which is a dream compared to fiddling with injections.
Not much has changed based on length of diabetes (61 years). Would change temporarily based on mental state, work or home stress, exercise etc, but basically the same for years now.
No…. my insulin needs were the highest after 20 years of T1D. I was unmanaged for the first 7 years (due to lack of an local endo). Once I went on a pump, my insulin needs dropped by 40 units.