&Quot;Honeymoon&Quot; Patients with diabetes mellitus

Honeymoon for Diabetes Patients

Doctors have this concept: the “honeymoon” of a diabetic. It should not be confused with the honeymoon after the wedding. For newlyweds, it smoothly transitions into ordinary family life. But the “honeymoon” of a diabetic can sometimes end completely unpredictably.

Let's imagine a child or young man who has type 1 diabetes. The diagnosis was made and treatment began. Gradually, blood sugar levels normalize, and the painful symptoms of this disease disappear. The doctor selects the dose of insulin required for the patient, and suddenly, after some time, the blood sugar level “for some reason” begins to decrease. Sometimes so much so that it can cause hypoglycemia. The doctor is forced to gradually reduce the dose of insulin, sometimes even to the point of stopping it completely. But will the doctor be right if he says: “My young patient! We have put an end to diabetes mellitus forever. Now live to your health, without diabetes!”

Of course not. The doctor will never say that, because he knows that diabetes has not disappeared, it has not gone away. He simply retreated temporarily under the pressure of the treatment. Then why does the blood sugar level normalize without insulin injections? This should be discussed separately.

Most often, this happens because the inflammation occurring in the pancreas initially affects not all insulin-producing cells, but some of them. As soon as insulin treatment begins, metabolic processes in the body, including in the surviving cells responsible for the formation of insulin, are normalized. Their function is restored over time, and they begin to produce insulin again.

In this case, some patients have enough of their own insulin. Others have to introduce very little of someone else's. This can last a month, six months, a year - it’s different for everyone. But one way or another, one day the day will come when the pancreas completely stops producing insulin.

It's sad, but there's nothing you can do about it. This usually happens 5 years after the onset of the disease. If you develop type 1 diabetes mellitus after 30 years of age, then residual insulin secretion persists slightly longer. Be that as it may, in no case should you let your guard down, frivolously believing that you can get rid of diabetes forever.

You need to constantly remember about the disease and always visit an endocrinologist. Otherwise, it may happen that the disease makes itself known in the intensive care unit.

Our advice to you: be attentive to yourself and do not forget that people with diabetes have their own “honeymoon”. This is the only time you do not need insulin injections.