July 9, 2002
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Honeymoon
Question from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA:
My daughter, diagnosed seven months ago and on only 5 units of Lantus (insulin glargine) at night time with Novolog only when she eats large quantities of carbs (e.g. pizza, fries, hush puppies, etc), has a hemoglobin A1c of 5.3%. We all were very happy, and her doctor don’t know what to think! He told her she was in a “heavy” honeymoon, and that she could even come off her insulin, but we decided a little bit will help keep her pancreas from getting too tired. He wants to wait a year to test her for antibodies.
Should we get her tested now or does it matter? If she is negative, does that mean she might have type 2 diabetes or something else is going on with her pancreas? Would taking insulin hurt her if she’s negative?
Lots of questions — we are just trying not to get to excited because medically speaking she probably is in a huge honeymoon period, but there is still room for miracles and she has so much faith in God anything is possible!
Answer:
The honeymoon periods last variable times in different people. As long as your daughter is not having excessive frequently or severe episodes of hypoglycemia, there does not seem to be any danger in continuing insulin. Most diabetologists do not recommend stopping insulin for fear of insulin allergy when insulin is needed again. It is not likely that young children will come off insulin and stay off insulin.
If she is overweight, has acanthosis nigricans, hypertension, or premature adrenarche, then she may have type�2 and not type�1 diabetes but her doctor should be able to distinguish the two either clinically or with some lab assistance like the antibodies you mentioned.
SB
