Question:
I have been told that I have both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I am
a 57 year old male. I was told I have both type 1 and 2 about 1 year
ago. I take Hurmlin R U-500 28 units in the morning and 14 units in
the evening. I am confused. Is this possible? Is this new?
Answer:
If your doc thinks you need U-500, then you are an unusual case and it
probably doesn't really matter if you are Type 1 or Type 2. The docs
think that the standard therapies don't work too well so they are giving you
U-500.
If you're interested, one of the primary differences between a Type 1 and a
Type 2 is in the method in which their beta cells die and stop producing
insulin.
Type 1 cells die because of a sudden auto-immune attack from other parts
of the body.
Type 2 beta cells die because of an internal poisoning effect within the
beta cells.
In both cases, the cells are dead; they just die for different reasons.
It is very useful to know which kind you have during the "dying process"
because that can affect the choice of medicines. However, when enough
are dead so that you need insulin injections, it doesn't matter too much
what caused the death.
For folks wondering about that somewhat odd insulin shot pattern, you
ought to read the faq URL, e.g. U-500 Regular has quite a bit of zinc in
it and acts more like NPH than Regular.
