worried!

[kraysmom]

My daughter has had several boughts of low bs that wouldn't respond to therapy.  Her doctors were very suprised to find out that it took over 14 hours for her body to respond to carbs to bring it up from the 30's and 40's.  They mention that she had "binding antibodies".  I have researched this myself and can't find anything to help me understand what this is and how it is treated.  If you know something about this subject, please help!

[JDRF-VOL-RL]

Wow, you and your family are really struggling with a lot of issues.  I've got some people who can help explain to me the medical abstracts I've found so far.  Please check back and I'll let you know what I find out.  I just want to make sure you knew that I was looking into it.

[JDRF-VOL-RL]

krawsmom, not that it answers your question, but I'm curious about how you're treating lows.  Could it be that your treatment techniques need to be tweaked, and that could help her recover faster?

[JDRF-VOL-RL]

kraysmom, as best I can find out, it appears that there are two possibilities for those antibodies.  They are either related to causing your body to attack the beta cells which produce insulin, or they are related to insulin resistance, which is more of a type 2 diabetes issue.  The latter seems to be the most likely.  

It looks like the anti-bodies attach themselves to the insulin your body produces, which makes them ineffective, which is the cause of type 2.  I don't believe your daughter is on metformin, is she?  If she is, that could be part of the problem, but I don't think you've ever said she is.  The antibodies are a sign of a potential problem with insulin resistance, which isn't a good thing for a type 1 diabetic.  I'd definitely follow up with your doctor on this issue.  Good luck.

[kraysmom]

She has been diagnosed with having a Pituitary Suppression and Insulin binding antibodies.  We have treated lows the right way but her body wouldn't respond.  She was just released from the hospital on Saturday.  All the tests have been done and confirmed both of these problems.  They started her on Apidra insulin to help with the antibodies and are trying to tweak the dosages slowly so she won't go low which will kick in the suppression issue.  She will have to take an injection of a steroid when she drops below 50 from now on.  

My question is this....  What kind of life will she be able to have with these problems?  I am worried to death.  I know her doctors will do everything they can to get her back to a normal state.  She is not able to attend school for at least 6 weeks until everything is better.