I am 34 years old and have had type 1 diabetes since 1996. Many times I have had very low blood sugars, especially during my sleep. I heard about a new drug, Januvia, from Merck for people with type 2. If I stop taking insulin, follow a strict diet and exercise, can I take Januvia as a replacement treatment? If not, is there another drug for people with type 1 so that I don’t have to take insulin injections?

No, Januvia is not a substitute for insulin and the treatment of type 1 diabetes. At this point, there is no substitute for the injection of insulin in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. My encouragement to you would be to continue to treat your blood sugars, but not at the expense of very low values. If you have many low blood sugars, and you do not sense the low blood sugar when it is present, it is important to monitor more sugars if you can. In addition, you might want to set your goals a little higher so as not to run them so low. It has been shown that you might regain some of your symptoms of low blood sugar if you do this.

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