What happens when honeymoon is over?

[All About Aliya]

:confused:Hi Everyone!

May seem like a silly question, but I really don't know what to expect. My daughter was dx almost 10 months ago now. She is still honeymooning. Our endo said generally 8 mo-1 year...so since we are in that time frame, I am wondering what happens? Is it a gradual increased need for more insulin? Do her BG numbers start sky rocketing all of a sudden? Is it a situation of YDMV and everyone is different? Will it be a huge increase in insulin? My daughter is 2 yrs old and is on Humalog/NPH - 2 shots a day...Humalog varies between 1/2-2 units (2x a day) and she gets 5 units of NPH in AM and 1 unit in PM.

I will be asking my Endo this ?, but we don't see him again until the end of this month and I am very curious to know from the people who have been there! ;)

Thanks!!

[liasmommy2000]

I'm not sure. Lia has been dx 1.5 years and we've been waiting. Several times before her needs have skyrocketed but after a week or so dropped back.

Right now we are in one of those periods and I'm waiting. A bit annoyed too in that she will be pumping next week and that was the main reason I have been so excited for the pump. Being able to dose such small amounts. Now it seems we may not need it lol. Still glad we made the decision, but wouldn't you know!

Two weeks ago she was on 7.5 units of Lantus and 1:60 Novolog. Now she's up to 9 units of Lantus and 1:30 Novolog. And I think it's still not quite right.

[Kris60]

we didn't know exactly when Lauren's honeymoon ended, no major spike in insulin dosage. We had a c-peptide done before diabetes camp and they said, well, the honeymoon is over. So not really sure.

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

I hear an illness will often times end a honeymoon.
Anything over a couple of months is a long time to be honeymooning IMO (in my opinion). But your right -YDMV. Mama2H's daughter didn't have a honeymoon. :o
We saw a gradual increase in insulin needs, it wasn't like she just went off the charts one day. It was a small increase on Tuesday, then again on Friday, so on and so forth until we leveled out. Our diabetic team did small increases, so Abby wouldn't go low. Our Endo's office is very big on not liking the child being low.

[Amy C.]

I didn't notice an abrupt end to the honeymoon with my son. His insulin needs kept increasing and I kept adjusting.

Some folks report that the needs greatly increase after a sickness and stay there.

If you are tracking the sugars, exercise, insulin given, and food eaten, you will notice when your child needs more insulin.

Each child is different. Just pay attention and expect to give more insulin as your child grows.

[AlisonKS]

Tony's lasted 6 weeks. It seems like there were a few days in a row where he was real high, also in the middle of the night he'd be crazy high with ketones and he wasn't sick at all. I went over the numbers w/a CDE over the phone and they figured the honeymoon was over. Kinda nice though-he doesn't have random lows like before!

[sam1nat2]

we thought the honeymoon was over a year ago and then he went back to lowered levels, second honeymoon?? 18 months here on the 18th and still going strong. I know of a girl whose honeymoon lasted 4 years, so YDMV

[Twinklet]

It's been 14 months for us, and I'm pretty sure Emily is still honeymooning. She has had slight and gradual increases in her insulin needs, but she has also grown several inches and gained more than 20 pounds in this time. We just had a C-Peptide drawn yesterday so we'll see what that measurement is soon.

I do know several people IRL who had a measurable C-Peptide for years after diagnosis. It was a gradual thing of C-Peptide lowering and insulin needs slowly increasing.

Others I know have reported seeing sudden, major increases in insulin needs.

As Bennett says, YDMV!

[Momof4gr8kids]

Julia was ill last fall, and her insulin needs doubled for about a month and a half. I posted a question about if this was still from the flu, or if it was the end of the honeymoon. I only had 1 person tell me that their child's honeymoon ended that way (from illness). I believe it was Amy (Emmasmom). Please correct me if I am wrong.
Anyhow during that time we did end up decreasing rates again, but not as far back as we had them pre illness. From that point on we'd increase when needed which was every few weeks only to decrease a small amount a few weeks later. Julia's honeymoon ended in a dance of two steps forward, and one step back. It did cause a small A1C raise, but it wasn't horrible. I guess it is one of those things where you will just have to see how it ends as it is different for everyone. Don't worry, you wont miss it. Just adjust doses as needed and go slow and it should be ok.
Also, I've heard of a few people having their honeymoon last around 2 years, and the time frame seems to be individual as well. Since most of the time type 1 is an auto immune disease, and auto immune diseases can go into remission...... in theory a honeymoon could last for many years under the right conditions....... but isn't likely.

[Mama2H]

Like Lanae said, Hailey never had a honeymoon :( The lowest her Lantus was 9 and her I:C ratios were always above below 1:20. I think it is different with every kid. From what I have read it usually ends after a major illness. From what I understand the immune system goes into hyperdrive again during this time and usually kills off the remaining islet cells.

Looking back before dx I believe Hailey's honeymoon was over a long period of time and she kicked out enough insulin to keep her well without showing any major symptoms that couldn't be explained by heat, enurisis, just thirsty, etc... I am thinking minimum a year before she was dx she had symptoms.

[Mama Belle]

Like Lanae said, Hailey never had a honeymoon :( The lowest her Lantus was 9 and her I:C ratios were always above below 1:20. I think it is different with every kid. From what I have read it usually ends after a major illness. From what I understand the immune system goes into hyperdrive again during this time and usually kills off the remaining islet cells.


My daughter never honeymooned either. She was dx'd younger than Hailey, but I think her lowest lantus does was like 4 units, and that was the first week or so when she ran 300-400 the whole time. We just kept increasing and increasing as each day went by. I think we hit the sweet spot at about 7 units where she stayed for a bit. I think too many of Sam's insulin cells were killed off too quickly. We had very rapid onset, 2-3 weeks of minor symptoms, no DKA, but high sugar and large ketones at DX. I know she still had some insulin cell function, as we would see a small increase in dosage after each illness. But the function wasn't enough to drastically reduce insulin requirements or give us decent numbers.:(