Re: Daily insulin requirements

I've been a diabetic for 12 years and I am about 5'6'' tall and weigh around 150. I take Lantus(shots) only 25 units per day. I use a sliding scale of humalog but I usually just need a few units of that a day.

Thanks everybody for responding.  Knowing the various requirements of everybody really gives me a good idea of where we all typically are.  It's amazing how much variation there is.

Ideen, one of the reasons that it's a good idea to be aware of how your insulin requirements measure up to others is that many types of diabetes are misdiagnosed.  Especially MODY (mature onset diabetes of the young), LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) or Type 1.5, mitochondrial diabetes, and even pancreatitis mediated diabetes.  I know a lady with MODY who was taking insulin for years, thinking she was type 1, not knowing that the whole time she could have just been taking pills.

In fact, a continuation of low insulin requirement, like less than 1.1 u/pound/day (which my requirement meets), past the usual "honeymoon" period is part of the diagnostic criteria of MODY.

And Bailey, do you have hypo or hyperthyroidism... or something else?  It's interesting to me since I have such an incredibly active metabolism (and hypothy's have typically slow ones) that this may be why I have such a low insulin requirement.

So I've been researching this a lot lately, and it dawned on me that some T1s have a little bit of insulin production left even after the honeymoon period.  There is one article that studies basal rates in relation to a positive c-peptide test (some insulin production) vs a negative c-peptide test (no insulin production).  Since my basal rate is extremely low (~0.1 u/hr), I assume that I would still have a positive c-peptide test.  I'm going to ask my endo, and then see if I can get involved in some research.  I know that they are always looking for either honeymooners or T1s who still have a little bit of insulin production left to do research on.

Our son is taking about 16-18 units a day total.  He's seven years old, somewhere around three and half feet tall and weighs about 45lbs.  His daily intake is about 175-200g of CHO.  His CHO has crept up from about 150-175 over the last year and he's gone from the 14-16 total units to 16-18, which is about right for his ratio (sliding, 1:7 in the AM now, 1:30 at supper).

I have Hypothyroidism. Specifically hoshimotos hypothyroisitis.

Thanks for the reply Bailey.  :)

Gosh, Kathy takes so little!  1.5 units of Lantus at night, 1.5 units of NPH in the morning, and only .5 per carb serving twice a day...so on a normal day she only takes maybe 7 units total???  She's 51 inches tall an weighs 57 pounds.

I know once she's out of the honemoon it will all change!

i am a brittle diabetic and i have low numbers on my pump. i have ben diabetic for 18 plus years, my IC ratio is 1:15. the most i get in my basal rate is 29. when i was using injections i was taking at least 50 total units per day.

Mad Evans

In fact, a continuation of low insulin requirement, like less than 1.1 u/pound/day (which my requirement meets), past the usual "honeymoon" period is part of the diagnostic criteria of MODY.

Mad Evans - I'm curious, where did you find this kind of info? Wouldn't 1.1u/pound/day mean that a 150 lb person would be taking 165 units per day? And that's a "low insulin requirement"? Sounds off to me. I take about half that (lantus and humalog, shots) and it's probably the most I've ever taken. Also, I've never heard of these types you've listed. I'd be curious to read more. (?)

The truth of this whole thing is that metabolism and many other things play a factor in insulin needs and carb/insulin ratios. Everyone is unique, and "typical" amounts are only used by Endos as a rational starting point. Plus then, over time, things will change. Still, it's fascinating how widely diverse the responses here have been. 

Oooops.  My kg to # conversion is bad.  It's 0.5 u/kg/day...

So I guess that would be 0.23 u/pound/day.  Sorry about that.

Here are some links for you to read about the less prominent types/causes of diabetes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=606391
http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/reports/diabetes/1366-1.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1616684

I'm 17, about 4'11", weigh about 120. I take one unit of humalog for every ten carbs.

Totally out of the honeymoon.

It sucks.

I take 23 units of Lantus daily, plus my sliding scale of Novorapid. My morning dose ratio is 1:6 (yay Dawn Phenomenon), while all my other meals are 1:10. But I usually pack in about 2000-3000 calories per day, so I take 25-50 units of Novorapid over the rest of the day. I'm about 135lbs, 5'10" and I have hypothyroidism. Yay!

I am 120lbs and take no lantus.  Just 1:15 for bolus with humalog.

I am 120lbs and take no lantus.  Just 1:15 for bolus with humalog.