My daughter recently married a young man with type�1 diabetes.

He went to a new doctor (he hadn’t been seen by a doctor in at least five years); they are trying to get up-to-date blood work and new profiles.

He said the last time he took regular insulin he wound up in a coma and could take only synthetic insulin. His new doctor said he wanted to try him on new type of regular insulin. Has technology advanced to where someone that is allergic to regular insulin can now use something that is synthetic?

The real question is whether he developed an actual allergic reaction to the insulin, or if he developed hypoglycemia. If your son-in-law needs this question answered, I would suggest seeing an allergist or diabetes doctor, who can skin-test him for regular insulin.

There are insulin analogues (“synthetic insulin”) out there which are very good and may be superior to regular insulin in a lot of ways. However, they are very similar in structure to regular insulin and I would still be concerned that an allergic reaction is possible. Finding an answer is a serious question for your son-in-law. I would suggest that an insulin regimen without a rapid-acting insulin is inferior and leads to poor blood sugar control.

Since insulin allergies are very rare and hypoglycemia is very common, there is still a high likelihood he can take regular insulin or one of the rapid analogues. He needs to find a physician who will work with him to answer these questions.

JTL