For the record, I did read the patient pamphlet from the pharmacy that came with the insulin and I have read through the entire pamphlet that comes in the box with the insulin.  It gives dosing information, A1c clinical studies for adults and children, Drug interactions, pregnancy concerns, non-clinical toxicology, general warnings, and precautions.   But that isn’t the whole story. 

As a T1D patient, I needed to know more.  I trusted the doctors and pharmacists to tell me what I needed to know and what concerns I should have.  I was a good patient and did what I was told.  I took my insulin as prescribed and as scheduled.  My A1C was a “controlled” 6.7, and I didn’t “seem” to have any major diabetic complications in the 12 years since diagnosis. 

The reality – I gained 100 lbs in the first year of being on insulin.  My blood pressure was out of control, I was put on b/p meds, statins, diuretics, prednisone, and many other medications – many of which increased my blood sugars and required me to take more insulin – which made me gain more weight and complicated things even more.    I became morbidly obese and I was in a never ending cycle of being sick, and being prescribed more medications which made me even sicker.  

Then one day, I was listening to YouTube while I was working at my desk.  I had been researching low carb diets after discussing my health concerns with my own cardiologist, and a video cued up with Dr. Jason Fung MD.  He was talking about type 2 diabetes.  He said, 

“I can make you fat – all I have to do is give you insulin”. 

 — Wait, What did he say?  I stopped my work and watched the entire video and something sparked in me.  How could I have not known more about this drug that my life depends on?  

Dr. Fung was talking about information in his book The Obesity Code – I went on-line and looked up the direct quote from the book. 

 “I can make you fat – Actually, I can make anybody fat. How? By prescribing insulin. It won’t matter that you have willpower, or that you exercise. It won’t matter what you choose to eat. You will get fat. It’s simply a matter of enough insulin and enough time.”

I needed to know more and started binge watching video after video of doctors and researchers talking about the benefits and the complications brought about with long term, high doses of insulin.  I was literally shocked at how much I did not know about my own medication.  

I asked other diabetics if they had done research on their prescribed insulins and if they already knew what I was learning – and they did not.  Why are we not asking more questions and doing more research when it comes to a medication that our lives depend on?   Why do we implicitly trust our Dr’s and diabetes educators to tell us what we need to know? 

Learning more about Insulin and how it affects my entire body- now and in the long term has changed everything about how I manage my diabetes.  I was taking way too much insulin (100 u per day) and I could see that I was going to become insulin resistant.  I did not want to have both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes because I knew that was a death sentence.  

Some of the information I was given at diagnosis was just plain wrong and misleading.  Eating 40-60 carbs at every meal and 15 with snacks is a recipe for disaster.  It keeps us on a roller-coaster of low and high blood sugars, underdosing and overdosing day after day after day causing damage that we don’t physically see until the damage is done and it is too late.   We are carbohydrate intolerant and yet we are encouraged by our health care providers to consume carbohydrates like “normal” people and bolus to cover what we eat.   Why?   

Eating large amounts of carbohydrates all the time creates a need for more insulin.  Over time this can lead to insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance causes inflammation in our bodies and makes our blood glucose go higher which then requires more insulin.  

Insulin resistance has been shown to be a factor in other diseases. 

• Obesity
•  Arthritis
• Autoimmune Diseases (Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus)
•  Heart Disease
•  PCOS -Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
•  Male and Female Hormone Imbalances
•  Cancer
•  Alzheimer’s
•  Fatty Liver 
•  Fatty Pancreas
•  Thyroid Disease
• Gastrointestinal – Crohn’s and IBS

    It isn’t just the high blood sugars we need to worry about.  Studies show that high insulin levels increase the risk of disease – even when blood sugars are controlled with insulin.  Another very important thing that I learned…. this affects non-diabetics as well.  Eating large amounts of carbohydrates requires large amounts of insulin for everyone whether it happens naturally or it gets injected.  It is a vicious cycle that is causing health problems for all of us.  

As soon as I started a very low carbohydrate healthy fat diet (under 20 total carbs per day), my insulin requirements dropped by 50% — within just a few days. The long-term inflammation in my body started to reduce, my pain lessened, my blood pressure stabilized, my stomach issues settled, my mind cleared and the weight started dropping as well. I was amazed at how quickly it all changed.