Is it unheard of for someone newly diagnosed to need very little insulin?

[kyleesmom]

Kylee was diagnosed about 6 weeks ago. Shes on Novolog and Lantus. About once a week her endo drops her insulin because she is consistantly low. She is now 30:1 for breakfast and lunch, 20:1 for dinner and 9 of Lanuts at bedtime. For breakfast and lunch she will never be getting more than 2 units because her meals are never more than 67 carbs. Breakfast is usually lower. I know she is honeymooning right now, but I feel like at the rate shes going, shes not going to be getting any insulin. It also doesnt help that they are out of school right now and shes doing a lot of running around, riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline and that sort of stuff. We make sure she has a snack before she does it, but its really keeping her numbers down.

Oh, she's 10, 5'1" and weighs 122 lbs and Im pretty sure shes going thru a growth spurt right now because her pants are getting too short.

[keegansdad]

It's possible she's moneymooning. It can be a frustrating time but that's what it sounds like to me. Her endo could probably answer that better.

[KeltonsMom]

When Kelton was diagnosed he required very little insulin in his honeymoon period which lasted 9 months..I have all the past records packed so I can't tell you off hand how much he was taking at the time..

I am still in my honeymoon period and all I need right now is one unit of Lantus and that is it.

[Heather(CA)]

Hi:D Sounds like a normal part of the honeymoon...Also, running around is a good thing and yes, it will also lower her insulin needs:cwds:

[MelissaC]

Just to give you an idea of what we have here at our house...

My dd is 6 - she is on 10 units of Lantus at nite
Her I:C ratio is 30/1
Not sure how tal she is bt only weighs 53 pounds (she was only on 6 units of Lantus when we started 10 months ago!)

She usually has 1 unit at breakfast (she will only eat about 27 carbs)
1.5 - 2 units at lunch (between 45 and 60 carbs) and then dinner is usually no more than 2.5 units... We are finding that she is needing a fast acting now whenever she wants a snack - she used to be able to have a small 15 carb snack uncovered but no more!

That is very typical - especially while they are "honeymooning" - As long as her numbers are in range and there are no ketones you are doing great!

Avery's range is 80-180 and she usually falls into the 160 and 170 range (if we are lucky) - we still see some funky lows too! Hang in there - you are doing a great job and found an awesome site!

[Amy C.]

It is absolutely common for newly diagnosed children to take almost no insulin.

Expect to keep lowering it, if she continues to have low blood sugars.

[caspi]

Her pancreas is probably still pumping some insulin out which is why her insulin needs are so little. It's very common for this to occur.

Cameron was dx'd last October and I remember at Christmas, he was on hardly any insulin at all. He ate his way through the day and his #'s were close to perfect! It was the best Christmas present he could have gotten!

We left the hospital on 13 units of Lantus and dropped to as low as 3, but have climbed back up to 7. Throw in a growth spurt or two (or three.....) and that number will climb again! ;)

[JenniferM]

We are also experienced that shift as well. We started off with 6 units of Lantus and we are not down to 3. As for the novolog we are at about 1:40 and we started at ratio between 1:15 and 1:20.

No clue how long we will be at these number but it means less shots in the morning because it would be very hard to give him a 1/4 of a unit.

Jennifer

[MamaChrissa]

If J needs more than 3-4 units daily...its been a very high carb day! So, no...I don't think its unheard of. ;) As a wise man once said...YDMV! :cwds:

[Momof4gr8kids]

My daughter Julia went through a strong honeymoon. For months she rarely had an injection for food and if she did it was small, and her lantus dose was only 2u. We still saw a lot of lows even with that small of a dose.

[MamaC]

Jill,

Tom was diagnosed at age 13, was on NPH and Novolog for 1 month, consistently dropping dosages of both until we dropped Novolog altogether except for treating extreme HI readings (and we've had to do that 4 times in the 17 months since). We were still dropping the NPH units regularly, still experiencing lows, then he had a hypo seizure and we switched to Lantus. He still has lows but less frequently. He is still honeymooning and has one shot of Lantus at bedtime, I think it's 12 units. That's it. He's almost 6' and 150#.

I think you will see a full range of dosages around this forum!

Becky

[Treysmom]

Hi! Trey is still on a fairly low amount of insulin.

His breakfast is 1/30 probably going to change soon.

and the rest of the day is 1/35. Most days he gets around 7 to 8 units

total. He has been dx'd 16 months now.

[Twinklet]

Sounds common. As others have said, it's most likely a strong honeymoon.:)

Emily had to drop to 1 unit of Lantus and very little Novolog about a month after diagnosis (she was on 6 of Lantus before that) and still had some lows at night.

Some people ONLY need Lantus with no rapid-acting for awhile.

[Madisonsmom]

Madison takes 2 units of Novalog at all meals and 11 units of Lantus. She is also honeymooning.
The nurse at her doctors office said they have had children who only used Lantus for a while because of honeymooning. In fact there is a good chance Madison will be changed to one unit as they review teh numbers i just sent in for the past few days.

[BCot]

Will honeymooned for 22 months, he had 3 units of Lantus and I:C of 1:50.

[Debbie]

When Adyson was newly diagnosed, I remember giving her 1/2 unit of humalin(there was no lantus then) and no humalog for a while.

[badshoe]

"Is it unheard of for someone newly diagnosed to need very little insulin?"

As you have seen it is as common as spit.

It one of the diabetes mind games. This particular game is "Hey maybe it isn't diabetes, maybe that doctor was an idiot, got this all wrong and I don't have to do all the shots."

Yeah I have been through that game. Twice.

Diabetes is all about the head games. Let see there is:

"This is my fault." and its buddy "This isn't my fault so world stop telling me it is."

"I can't have a real life this is all consuming"

"I am evil because I forgot a shot."

"I am doing this wrong because I can't make it work."

"Food Police"

To these and other games I say "So What" - YDMV.

[DDsmom]

I definately think it is normal in the beginning. My son is 8 and weighs 63 lbs, dx on 9/18/07 and he takes:

3.5 units of Lantus at bedtime
.5 of Novolog for 30 carbs

So, not much at all......he also is very active.

[Soccermom]

I agree...it is not unheard of for new diagnosis. My son (age 9.5, weighs 57lbs...dx 10/1/07) takes 4 units of NPH in the morning and .5 units of levemir at dinner time. He is also very active.