Reunited

A chapter in my Insulin Experiment has come to a close. Over the long weekend, I ditched my mealtime insulin and returned to the safe arms of low-carbing and Starlix, and a funny thing happened: my post-prandials and fasting blood sugars magically returned to the 80-100 mg/dls. Amazed and relieved but still a bit nervous, I decided to finally take the time (something a mother of a MODY patient that I encountered on Dr. Bernstein’s forums suggested a month or so ago) to write a long email to the experts at Centre for Molecular Genetics at the Peninsula Medical School and Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, UK and ask them what they thought about insulin vs. sulfonylureas.

Professor Hattersley wrote me back with a world of information, and I learned that in his experience, staying on oral medications was the best long-term option for MODY patients. Turns out they have observed MODY patients actually deteriorate on insulin. Whoa! So I am finally submitting to what my doctor and PA told me all along, which was that the Starlix was not putting me at risk of prematurely burning out my beta cells. Professor Hattersley even suggested an option for the future that I had not considered, which was a long-acting insulin taken once a day with Starlix at mealtime, and confirmed what I’d experienced, even with the insulin, which was that a high-carb diet makes no sense for a MODY diabetic.

I still have a lot of info from Professor Hattersley to process, but for now I’m confident that I’m making the right decision: I will resume using Starlix at meals, and will use insulin for correction doses and to cover the occasional high-carb meal. Injected insulin was simply no match for my own insulin. Obviously I’ll need the insulin full-time when my husband and I decide to breed, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In other insulin-related news, I know who I’m calling first thing tomorrow morning…