
May 2, 2000
Insulin
Question from Kodiak, Alaska, USA:
My daughter is 9 and is currently taking 7 units of Regular and 15 units of NPH per day. I am wondering if your body builds up a tolerance toward any of these two insulins, or any type of insulin.
Answer:
Children with diabetes very rarely develop a situation where the insulin is less effective. Very rarely, insulin antibodies can be produced which effectively neutralise the insulin. However, with the highly purified synthetic human insulins this is very rarely a problem. As children grow, their insulin requirements increase, and it sometimes seems that they are needing a lot more insulin than one might think. However, this is a normal process, and often insulin requirements can increase substantially after the end of the honeymoon phase.
JS