Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Zoe on May 16, 2012 at 9:07am

Simply put? No, that is not possible. Your body no longer makes insulin everyone needs insulin to live. The only time this is possible (and perhaps you heard of this?) is when someone is in their honeymoon period. I see you are ten years into diagnosis. If you have been using insulin for ten years and maintaining decent blood sugars, you need to continue doing so. You can, if you want, reduce your insulin needs by eating very low carb and exercising, but you will always need insulin. Unfortunately that is what Type 1 is about. If anyone told you different, they are ignorant. Sorry to be so blunt and I know that this is not what you want to hear. Perhaps you can talk a bit about why you are asking this?

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Permalink Reply by Sam Iam on May 16, 2012 at 9:07am

Your most immediate risk is going into DKA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKA

When you're not getting insulin, this can happen even if your BG isn't that high. I wouldn't recommend it.

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Permalink Reply by Trudy on May 16, 2012 at 9:10am

Hi Unknown Diabetic. Your profile says that you were diagnosed in 2002, so you are clearly past the honeymoon stage. It would be extremely risky to go off insulin. Testing often, you can lower your basal and your boluses gradually as you lower your carbs and increase your exercise. Please don't go off cold turkey, and test, test, test. The risk if you try? DKA.

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Permalink Reply by Doris D on May 16, 2012 at 9:12am

My mom used to try and get me off the insulin in many "cures" at the time. I just want to tell u that that's not the best desion at all. U really rick DKA during that. If ur a Type 1 u will always be insulin dependant. Sorry to give u the bad news but PLEASE don't try that!!!

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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on May 16, 2012 at 9:12am

One significant issue is that a non-diabetic body is producing insulin 24 hours a day to cover your basal needs and there is simply no way for a diabetic body to replicate that without the aid of exogenous insulin. Low carb and exercise just can't cut it once you're insulin dependent.

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Permalink Reply by MyBustedPancreas on May 16, 2012 at 9:12am

That is not physically possible. T1s produce little to no insulin. You don't just need insulin to break down foods, but also for your body to perform basic metabolic processes associated with life. Dr. Allen was able to keep a handful of newly-diagnosed T1 diabetics alive on his starvation diet, but in hindsight, his diet was likely just taking advantage of the honeymoon period generally experienced after the onset of T1. His starvation diet just made it possible for some folks to stay alive a little longer. But even if you ate NO carbs and exercised like a fiend, your BG would still go up and you would still go into DKA and eventually die without insulin.

Why would you want to do this?

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Permalink Reply by Capin101 on May 16, 2012 at 9:58am

Here is a news article and Wikipedia link for a case of a T1 going off insulin. I will play the role of spoiler: The parents refused to provide their T1 daughter insulin believing that thier faith would save her. T1 daughter dies and parents have been convicted of criminal charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/us/08sentence.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Neumann_case

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Permalink Reply by Chris Miller on May 16, 2012 at 10:22am

Years ago I found a self-published book online about a guy who was diagnosed with T1 and refused to take insulin. He went on the old school, pre-insulin diet of boiled veggies. I regret not buying the book because I haven't been able to find it since. I think it would take extreme discipline, and even then any highs would take a long time to come down without insulin.

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Permalink Reply by Eric on May 16, 2012 at 10:40am

I doubt this VERY highly. I got sick with a kidney infection last week and my blood sugars ran in the 400s for DAYS. It's not only about the food you eat. Your blood glucose can rise under a variety of circumstances.
Eric

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Permalink Reply by John on May 16, 2012 at 10:40am

I pretty much agree with most comments proffered, a few additional things: what about when you get sick? Or incapacitated in some way that prevents exercise? If you do go off insulin (though I'm recommending that you don't), I would make sure to always have spare insulin around... and just a point about exercise (though I might be wrong), the blood glucose lowering effect is caused by faster insulin circulation/ distribution to cells, too!

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Permalink Reply by Trudy on May 16, 2012 at 10:43am

Even exercise is iffy. For the last two weeks, every time I walk my BG goes up. I used to be able to walk down a high BG; now it just gets higher. I'm frustrated!

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Permalink Reply by MyBustedPancreas on May 16, 2012 at 10:51am

Yeah, same for me. Some forms of exercise will make me go low, but some have the opposite effect and make me go high. From what my endo recently told me, this is a specific issues with T1s. T2s generally still produce some insulin, so exercise will make them more sensitive to the insulin produce and therefore bring down BGs. However, because T1s produce no insulin, if we don't have enough injected/infused insulin circulating in our system, exercise can actually cause our BGs to RISE because of the other hormones that are frequently released during intensive exercise. I know when I go out for a fast-paced run or do any kind of sprinting or any physical activity that causes some sort of adrenaline rush, my BG goes UP.

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