by Vishu Dutta
(yamuna nagar (Haryana) India)
QUESTION: I am 21 and developed diabetes after treatment for a lung infection. My glucose was initially 460 mg/dL, and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and started on premixed human insulin twice daily. My insulin dose has fallen from 30 units in the morning and 20 at night to 6 and 3 units. My glucose is now about 70–100 before meals and 110–180 after meals, even when I eat sweets. Can type 1 diabetes be cured with Ayurveda or another natural treatment, and is there an alternative to insulin?
There is no proven Ayurvedic, herbal, dietary, or other natural cure for established type 1 diabetes. Insulin is essential because the pancreas makes little or no insulin. A large fall in insulin needs soon after diagnosis may be the temporary “honeymoon phase,” but it does not mean the diabetes has disappeared. Contact your endocrinologist promptly to review the dose and confirm the diabetes type. Never stop insulin or reduce it on your own.
Answer by Dr. Albana Greca, MD, MMedSc
Hi Vishu,
Your current readings suggest that you may still be producing some of your own insulin while the injected insulin, food intake, and high activity level are also lowering glucose. This situation needs careful monitoring because a dose that was appropriate at diagnosis can become too strong and cause hypoglycemia.
Many people experience a honeymoon phase during the first weeks or months after type 1 diabetes is diagnosed. Starting insulin reduces stress on the remaining beta cells, which may temporarily produce more insulin. Insulin requirements can become very low, but the autoimmune process usually continues and insulin needs later rise again.
Readings around 70 mg/dL are close to the low-glucose threshold. Record your glucose, meals, exercise, and insulin doses and contact your diabetes team for individualized adjustment. Our overview of insulin treatment and monitoring explains why doses must match food, activity, and remaining insulin production.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that usually develops over months or years before symptoms appear. An infection can increase stress hormones and raise glucose, making previously developing diabetes become visible. Some medicines, especially corticosteroids, can also raise glucose, but the timing alone cannot prove that a medicine caused type 1 diabetes.
Because your insulin requirement has changed greatly, ask an endocrinologist to review the original records and consider pancreatic autoantibodies and a C-peptide test. These tests may help confirm whether this is type 1 diabetes, another diabetes type, or a temporary change in insulin production.
A sweet food or soft drink cannot be used to test whether diabetes has gone away. The result depends on the amount and type of carbohydrate, timing of the glucose check, insulin already active, exercise, digestion, and your remaining insulin production. A later rise or an unrecognized low may still occur.
Do not deliberately consume sweets to challenge your glucose. Sugary drinks can raise glucose rapidly and provide little nutritional value. Learn how different foods affect glucose in our guide to food, carbohydrates, and blood sugar.
No. Cinnamon, fenugreek, bitter melon, gymnema, or Ayurvedic mixtures cannot replace insulin in type 1 diabetes. Some products may lower glucose unpredictably, interact with treatment, or contain undeclared ingredients and contaminants. Stopping insulin can cause diabetic ketoacidosis even if glucose initially appears acceptable.
Insulin pumps and automated insulin-delivery systems are alternatives to injections, but they still provide insulin. Pancreas or islet-cell transplantation is reserved for selected specialist cases and requires major treatment, including immune-suppressing medicines; it is not a routine natural cure.
People with type 1 diabetes can eat fruit. The important issue is the carbohydrate portion and matching it to the insulin plan. Choose whole fruit more often than juice. One practical serving may be a small apple or orange, one cup of berries, or another portion containing a similar amount of carbohydrate. A diabetes dietitian can teach carbohydrate counting for Indian meals, fruit, training days, and competitions.
As a taekwondo athlete and fitness trainer, you may need different insulin and carbohydrate strategies before, during, and after training. Exercise can lower glucose during activity and for many hours afterward, including overnight. Intense exercise may sometimes raise glucose temporarily.
Check glucose around training as advised, carry rapid-acting glucose, wear medical identification, and make sure training partners know how to recognize and treat hypoglycemia. Do not make large insulin reductions without your diabetes team. Our exercise and diabetes guide covers glucose precautions for physical activity.
Treat glucose below 70 mg/dL promptly with fast-acting carbohydrate and recheck after 15 minutes. Seek emergency care for severe confusion, seizure, unconsciousness, repeated vomiting, abdominal pain, rapid breathing, fruity-smelling breath, or high glucose with ketones. Never omit basal insulin during illness unless an endocrinologist gives specific instructions.
Your low insulin requirement may be temporary. Arrange a review with an endocrinologist or diabetes educator to confirm the diagnosis, check injection technique and meter accuracy, set glucose targets, learn carbohydrate counting, and create separate plans for ordinary days, intensive training, illness, and low glucose.
Educational safety note: This answer is for general diabetes education only. It does not replace personal medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Do not start, stop, or change insulin, other medicines, supplements, diet, or exercise plans without speaking with your healthcare provider.
Last reviewed: July 2026.
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