I am new to the group,  Is there anyone out there that was on insulin and had the sleeve?  I am thinking about the surgery and have an appointment with the surgeon,  I need to know who was fortunate enough to get off of insulin with the sleeve.

I'm sorry that you haven't gotten a response yet on this.  I visit this board all the time and respond and post a fair amount.  But, I am a RNY person and a Type 1.5 diabetic, so although the surgery has been very successful for me, I knew that I would not get off of insulin.  I don't know anyone who has had the sleeve, but you might try to bounce to the sleeve board and see what people can offer you?

I am also new to this website, have diabetes and have a surgery date. I had a date in May but postponed. At the time I was only covered for RNY and I had a deep visceral resistance to that procedure.  I have lost 49 pounds since I first met with my surgeon and started the pre-op diet.

Since May, my insurance has approved the sleeve. The sleeve feels better to me. I don't question the RNY as a good choice for some. I get to be me, right?  I find out on Tuesday if my surgeon will approve the sleeve.

But even if/when she does, I will have the same question you have:  does anyone know someone who had the sleeve who was on insulin and got off insulin?

I know the sleeve will improve my glucose readings and diabetes issues . . . . I have already seen much improvement by eating the pre-op (which is the same as the post-op) diet. . . but my body will be different. Not too many folks, based on my research who have been on insulin several years see a complete remission of diabetes but most see big improvement and some get off insulin.

Keep this in mind too: there are foods you can eat to stimulate the pancreas to generate insulin again. With insulin, your pancreas might have given up. Or maybe the diabetes has damaged your pancreas for good:  if so, no procedure will change that reality. But maybe, with prayer, careful nutrition and commitment, you can bring some pancreas production back.  Anything is possible with the right mindset, faith, love.

The stats are against me. I have read many reports that say folks that have been on insulin for several years don't see complete remission of diabetes after bariatric surgery -- and the remission rate seems to be slightly less for the sleeve than the RNY. .  but if my surgeon lets me, I'm going with the sleeve . .  and trust that I live in a loving universe. I think. I won't know until she approves the sleeve and I meditate on it some more.

I guess my first question for you is - what type diabetic are you?  Type 1, 1.5 or 2?  And, for how long?  Those seem to be the key issues about whether someone will achieve some measure of cure.  What does the surgeon/endocrinologist say your chances are?

I am a Type 1.5 diabetic x 25 years (insulin dependent for 24 of them), so I knew that I would not and could not get off of insulin.  But, things have improved - with work, of course - as a result of surgery.

Good luck to you.  I hope you can get more comfortable and settled with a decision this time!

 funkkyphillygirl, sorry, but I did not see your reply until now . . . 

but your reply to me indicates your questions were good ones. When I saw my surgeon again, she said I had to see an endrocrinologist. I had to wait a while to see my primary care doc, so the primary care doc could refer me to an endocrinologist and then it took a couple months to get a new patient appointment with the endocrinologist and I won't see the endocrinologist again until after Thanksgiving and in the meantime, the clock is ticking on all my tests to be screened for surgery. The tests are good for one year: so I have until February or I have to start all the tests, like a sleep study, and all the others all over again!!!

The endo ordered testing to decide if I am 1.5. It had never come to my attention before that I might not be Type II. Since you are 1.5 and you had bariataric surgery, I bet you know that many 1.5's are diagnosed Type II because many docs assume fat diabetics are Type II.

I suspect I have 1.5.  I won't find out until Nov. 28th. The lag between appointments is so hard!!!

have now lost a total of 120 pounds, over the past 8 years, since I was diagnosed as Type II.  I am already injecting a lot of insulin and I think I am 1.5. If I definitely am, I will not do the surgery for I see that I can lose weight w/o it.  I was only interested in healing my diabetes, not weight loss.  I am leary of permanently altering my digestive tract. If the surgery had the potential to heal my diabetes, I would do it. Without that possibility -- and it is not possible for my 1.5 autoimmune disease to go into remission -- if my pancreas has stopped making insulin, it aint gonna start again

but thanks to you for responding. I wish I had read your response back in July. I might have sped up the endocrinology process instead of passively accepting such delayed scheduling.

I weigh 210 right now. I would like to weight 150, and I think that would be very healthy and reasonable for a 59 years old woman who is five feet six. I don't need to be skinny, just healthy.  But it is clear to me I can go on achieving my health  goals, and weight loss is part of my health, without the surgery. It is hard, but I can do it.

I have not completely decided. I want to ask my endocrinologist if she thinks the surgery would help. I bet she will say no, since she knows my all time high weight wsa 330.

Ironically, it is possible I have lost some, even most, of the weight because of my 1.5 diabetes and not from my efforts. What happens is I lose a lot of weight fast and then I stop losing for long periods. During my last plateau, I started insuliln and expeirenced a weight gain, which is common when folks do insulin, but now I am down another huge chunk but plateau'd. For four months I have continued to eat a very low calorie, very low carb diet -- 600 calores a day? -- and have not peeled off a pound. This time, however, I know that if I persevere and do not give into discouragement, I will lose more when my body is ready.

So it looks like I have decided, doesn't it? But we'll see. If my endocrinologist is enthuasiastic about me having surgery, I will do it. But she has seen my history and I have shown I can lose without the surgery.

Man, if I had known I had 1.5 long ago, I would have made so many different choices.  I have seen several docs who missed the 1.5, including a gal I saw at Stanford who used to actually say, all the time, "I am a faculty member at Stanford medical school, so I am speaking to you as a Stanford authority, so you should listen to me" and that arrogant gal never suggesed I had 1.5 diabetes even as she was ordering more and more insulin.

this is fat bigotry. Ever since I got fat, in my early thirties, from another misdiagnosis -- I got fat taking tons of psychotropics for a mental illness I do not have -- I have been aware that most docs ignore all my health concerns. :They seem to think, and have often said, "if you lost weight you'd feel better". Docs just look at fat women and ignore many of their symptoms.

Keep in mind:  3 years after being diagnosed diabetic and after losing about 70 pounds at the time, my Stanford doc started me on insulin, and then I needed more and more, and she never suggested I was 1.5.

Our medical system and our food systems are so damaged. It's not just my body that has an autoimmune disorder. This culture has multiple autoimmune disorders.

On the 'positive' side, if I have 1.5, it was going to happen no matter what docs got wrong.



 

I resonate greatly with your frustration - I truly do.  I don't think the endocrinology world knew squat about 1.5 when we were diagnosed.  Basically, I knew I never really "fit" the Type 2 diagnosis - every doctor said that - but I certainly didn't fit Type 1 with a diagnosis at age 29 either. 

I stumbled into it when I was starting down the surgery path for the first time about 3 years ago.  I saw an endocrinologist at the medical center where I was planning to have surgery and he suggested that I could have some blood tests to confirm.  So, I did.  The results contradicted one another, and then I had a c-peptide that showed very limited insulin production, so the official diagnosis was made.

At the time, my regular endo (who I like very much and still see) said, "well does the type really matter, since your treatment really isn't any different?"  At that point, I sort of exploded and said, "well, if I am considering bariatric surgery to cure type 2, and I don't HAVE type 2, it sure as hell DOES matter."  He got it - and still gets it.  I stepped away from the whole surgery thing for about a year after that until I wrapped my brain about what I could expect.  And, then I proceeded and did the RNY.  I don't regret it at all.

Here's one big thing that HAS changed for me - my doc thinks my insulin resistance is gone now after the surgery.  I am taking a lot less insulin and getting better results from it.  My ratio of total units of insulin/body weight is MUCH improved.  But, I will say that I was absolutely never able to lose any weight on my own.  In fact, those attempts usually resulted in gains.  At one point, I was eating very low calorie and doing 2 hour spin classes and I actually gained 30 pounds in about 7 weeks - and could not stop it.  It felt like banging my head into a wall....

I am thrilled to hear that you are losing weight on your own without the surgery.  If I had been able to do that, I would not have gone with surgery either.  I do not regret my decision at all, but it was impossible for me to lose (I also had PCOS). 

I am 55 - and am 5'4" and about 172 pounds.  I may lose a little more, but my weight loss has only been about 20 pounds in the past 6 months.  I lost about 55 in the first 6 months after surgery.  I'm still have a BMI that puts me at the bottom of obesity and I'd like to get out of that range, but if my body is done with weight loss, then it is done.  I am letting it lead the way and focusing on the improved labs, etc.  I am glad I did it.

Keep in touch - and let me/us know how you are progressing.  I'd really like to know whether they decide you are 1.5 or not after your November appointments!

All the best!

 

Hi,

I was sleeved two weeks ago and was sent home off of my metformin (I'm a type 2 diabetic for 3 years). However my doctor has gradually added my medication back since my sugars have been running high daily - anywhere from 140 to 160 fasting. They're hoping that after a few more weeks I'll be able to start getting off of it again.

Congrats on getting through surgery!  That's a big step....please be patient with yourself.  Your body and your metabolism are going through a lot right now, so just take it a step at a time.  When you are more stable and eating more normally, your body will be able to metabolize what you are consuming in a different kind of way.

Stay strong - and good luck!

I'm a Type 2, diagnosed in 1990, with Insulin dependence about 5-6 years. Pre-sleeve was on 25 units fast-acting before meals, and 80 units of slow-acting at night, as well as the oral Actos.

Post surgery, was instructed to take nothing. so until I saw my doctor 3 weeks out, my fasting sugars were about 200-225 post-surgery.

We now added the long-acting Insulin back, trying to find a dose to keep me at 150 fasting. I'm 5 weeks post op, and am now taking 10 units of the slow-acting (Lantus) at night. This is producing fasting sugars of >150.

I'm down 47 pounds since the start of my liquid pre-op diet, 7 weeks ago.

My primary reason for getting sleeved was diabetes, apnea, blood pressure and triglycerides. The hope is, as I continue to lose weight, and my body adjusts to the new reality, that I will be off all my meds. So far a single shot of 10 units at night seems pretty damn good to me.

Good luck to you. We are all different. I was hopeful to be one of the fortunate ones that leave the hospital with normal sugars. That obviously didn't happen, but am looking forward to see where I end up.

-M

Male, 57 years old, 5'8" -- VSG on July 13, 2012
Highest Weight: 262, Date of Surgery: 238, August 13, 2013: 215
Goal: 185

Hi,

Besides you being a male and I a female and you are 3 inches taller than me, we have identicle insulin useage.  I have only been on insulin for 2years.  My surgery is not until  I finish jumping through all the hoops for the insurance co.  it should be in 2 months.

I am 65 years of and I want off the insulin so bad to do such a drastic thing to myself.  I also want a better quality of life.  I weight 270 and am only 5'5''.  My dream is to help the diabetic foundation with children.  They must find a cure for all the kids that have to stick themselves all the time.  I feel so much pity for them.

You are on your way and doing very well so far.  I hope your journey is a smooth one.

Please if you don't mind keep in touch.  I would like to know where you are before I have surgery.

Thank You  Mokee

 I will definitley keep in touch. I wish you well on your journey, as well.

-M