Type 1 Diabetic in Trouble

[Gaggy]

I have a serious situation and time is of the essence. I have been on Lilly pork insulin for 23 years. This is the only insulin that I have been able to tolerate for all of these years. When I have tried to switch over to any kind of human insulin; I become systemically very ill; neurologial symptoms; feelings of passing out; funny heart sensations; very ill all over; complete intolerance to any other kind of insulin. Lilly has abruptly stopped production of this insulin. I am using expired Lilly insulin now with only a few months supply left. I have just tried Apidra; weaning onto it with incredibly tiny amounts; but could not tolerate that either. I have tried Lantus, Novolin, Humulin. I have even imported pork insulin from England. Unfortunately; I had a very poor reaction to this also; probably because it was made by a different manufacturer even though it was still pork insulin. My endocrinologists do not know what to do for me as they have never experienced a patient like myself. There must be others out there because there were 2,000 people taking pork insulin in the U.S. when Lilly decided to stop manufacturing my life-saving insulin. I am desperatae; I would appreciate any and all suggestions. If anyone knows of anyonw like myself; with similar intolerance problems; please reply to this post. I would appreciateany and all suggestions . I do now know what to do and am counting the months I have to live.

[vikingirl]

Have you tried contacting Lilly? I googled "lilly insulin" and clicked on a link to a letter that was written to medical professionals advising them of the discontinuation.
As excerted from the letter...
" Again, Lilly’s first priority is to make certain that patients transition as smoothly as possible to an alternative insulin therapy, regardless of whether the new therapy is a Lilly insulin or not.
For additional information, Lilly is available to answer your questions at 1-800-LillyRx (1-800-545-5979) from 9:00am to 5:00pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
Sincerely,
Scott Jacober, DO, FACE Medical Advisor Diabetes Care Eli Lilly and Company Indianapolis, Indiana "
Physicians can visit [url]www.LillyConnect.com[/url] and direct patients to [url]www.LillyDiabetes.com[/url] for more information.

It's not much but maybe they can provide some suggestions (I would think others like you would've contacted them, too)? Wishing you the best of luck - I hope you find somthing soon.

Cheers,
- Vikingirl

[rosequartz]

My mom is a diabetic. She used to take insulin, and now she takes byetta. It's not insulin, it's synthetic lizard spit. It's administered in a pen, like a shot, but not like the insulin shot. Maybe ask your doctor about it? It has different ingredients, and maybe your system would be able to tolerate it. My mom has lost weight and lowered her blood sugar on it. it seems to be good stuff!
Good luck!

[Betty325062000]

I too suggest contacting Lilly. Lilly helped me on a few occasions that was also serious. When there was no insulin on the market like my daughter needed Lilly supplied us until it came available. Aside from the insulin they gave me badly needed support in a number of ways. Perhaps there is no way that they can help but it is worth a try.

I have only met 2 doctors in the last 38 years that I felt that they knew what they were doing and both were with Lilly.

[blondy2061h]

Byetta will work for type 2s, but for type 1 the only option is insulin.


I recommend trying to give the new insulins at least a week, even if it has to be done in patient, so that you can see if your body adjusts.