Type 1 With Insulin Resistance

I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1945, when I was 6. I used animal insulin. My doctor told my parents I could eat anything I wanted, and as much as I wanted, as long as it did not contain sugar. I lived on a small farm, and I ate large amounts of food, but I avoided all sugar (sucrose). I was very skinny, and I got a lot of exercise on the farm. In the mid 1990’s I started using a rapid acting insulin (Humalog). I began gaining weight, and I was overweight for the very first time. In 1998 a doctor diagnosed me with insulin resistance (IR). I had gradually reduced my daily carb intake from hundreds of grams to only 130 grams. I still had a lot of exercise, but I continued gaining weight. By the year 2000 I had gained 57 pounds! I had four relatives with type 2 diabetes. I think my IR was caused by genes passed down from those relatives. The weight gain triggered the IR. I was a double diabetic. That does not mean I had both types of diabetes. I had been tested, and found to be autoimmune. A C-peptide test showed I produced almost no insulin. I was a type 1 diabetic with a type 2 characteristic, but I was not also type 2. Many type 1 diabetics have been found to have IR.

My doctor was an internal medicine doctor, and he did not believe a type 1 diabetic should use Metformin. He prescribed Avandia, which slowed my weight gain, and I gradually lost about 27 pounds during the next few years. I continued using Avandia for many years. My weight stabilized, but I needed to lose another 30 pounds. I started seeing an endocrinologist, and she prescribed Metformin. In a little more than one year I lost 38 pounds. My weight before all the gain was 185 ( I am 6 ft, 2 in with a large frame). The doctor said my weight should be in the 170-200 range. I considered a weight of 185 pounds to be a good healthy weight. I continued using Metformin for seven years. After the weight loss I weighed 177 pounds. My IR seemed to have disappeared, and I stopped using Metformin in mid 2018. Recently, I have started gaining again. I currently weigh 186. My average daily carb intake is still 130 grams. I do not want to follow a Keto diet, I am happy with 130 carbs per day. I may start using Metformin again.

I have been type 1 for 73 years. My heart, kidneys and eyes are in great shape, but I have some neuropathy in my feet and legs. There is some numbness, but no pain. I feel that I have very good diabetes health.

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Hi @Richard157! There was just a thread about using Metformin as a T1, and your story is another point in the favor of T1 success with that drug on board for some folks. Thanks for sharing! I’m going to link that thread here in case you missed it. There were some interesting discussions about when to take it and splitting the dose.

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