Hi Ashley-I have two questions.  First what is your blood insulin level when they draw it?  Also when you exercise does your blood sugar go down?  thanks, Daisy

It gets really old, how moneied interests get in the way of proven better care!

For the doubters, here's the link to an article about the superiority of the DS for resolving diabetes:
http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/06/09/6228/duodenal-switch-surgery-better-against-type-2-diabetes-than-gastric-bypass/

When I was researching surgeries, I found a lot of info about Type 2 diabetes and RNY, but almost nothing about Type 1 diabetes and any kind of WLS. So I wanted to post my experience so far as a way of paying it forward to Type 1s and Type 2s looking at their options.

The day of surgery, I was very nervous about leaving my beloved insulin pump behind in my luggage. I had taken a dose of Lantus two nights before surgery, and was giving Humalog injections every four hours starting the night before surgery. (I couldn't sleep, so it wasn't a big deal to give one at 3am, trust me!)

The hospital put me on IV insulin. By the second day post-op, I was taking one-fifth of the amount of insulin I had taken the day before surgery. In other words, I was taking about 160 units/day pre-op, and suddenly was down to 30 units day. It was surreal. And just to add to the weirdness, my post-op blood sugars while in the hospital stayed right around 100, like a rock.

Once I got home and started eating, my basal needs did creep up a bit. I had a few weeks where I was inching up the basal rates, and I was worried about it. I thought, crud, I didn't get rid of insulin resistance! But after those few weeks of adjusting, I found the right basals, and they have stayed stable since then.

What amazes me nearly every day is how tight a range I maintain with my blood sugars, and it's almost effortless. I stay within 50 points of my fasting blood sugars--a miracle to me, when I could easily streak off into the over 230 range at the drop of a hat before surgery. Plus, my fasting blood sugars are almost always around 120 or a little under. THat may not be the ADA ideal, but it is a vast improvement over the scattershot I had before.

I have some days in my cycle that lessen my insulin resistance, and end up dropping overnight into the 60s and 70s. I'm going to have to do a monthly chart and see if I can predict when those days will be. So far, that's my biggest complaint, at least as far as diabetes is concerned.

Oh, and a mere six weeks after surgery, my A1c dropped from 7.3 to 6.8. I absolutely cannot wait to see what it is when I go back to the endo in September.

I am thrilled to answer questions via private mails, about being a Type 1 and doing WLS, or about being a Type 1 and the duodenal switch in particular. And of course, I'd love to start a dialog in this forum, too.

My name is Ashley and i had type 1 diabetes since  i was ten years old i am considering doing the lapbend because bypass is really risky anyways i am still going to take insuline. I have a question regarding when first you do any kind of surgery for weight loss did you take insuline when you were on liquid diet or the for the those protein shakes how did you handle your insuline dosages.  

I chose the DS because of my Type 2 Diabetes.  There is a 98% "cure" rate.  I am completely off of my insulin and pills.  I had Type 2 Diabetes for almost 13 years prior to my surgery.  It has changed my life and I feel fabulous!

Good luck to your husband.