For some reason, it really bothered me that I know how I got this way, so I've done my research and pondered my past quite a bit.
I'd always eaten properly and was relatively active and was skinny as a kid so my battle with weight made no sense until diagnosis in my 40's as LADA.
I had a suspected appendicitis when I was 15. The pain was on the wrong side though so I was pumped with antibiotics, felt better the next day and sent home. I think this was the virus that triggered things with my pancreas with pain being caused by an inflammation and the antibiotics made things worse. Then I had terrible stress with my mum being diagnosed with cancer not long after and she died when I was 17.
I started putting weight on about a year later and couldn't shift it until I dropped my calories to 1100 and really hit the gym when I was 21. At this stage I was metabolically resistant and my whenever I went back to normal eating after hard dieting the weight would come back on. All this happened through a horrible marriage and I had my first child. A few years later the second child was probably GD as I was very, very large but thought to be too young to be a candidate for GD. When my bub was 4 months old I had my gall-bladder removed as it was packed with large stones and many small ones.
After getting away from the stress of a horrible marriage I lost weight again but only through very low calories and significant exercise. Weight would rise when I stopped that regime. I had a work health review and was diagnosed pre-diabetic but going through divorce, didn't pay too much attention and was told to watch what I ate. Had my third child a few years later and ended up GD, injecting basal and bolus insulin. A year after having bub, weight began to climb and nothing would shift it and that's when I got an initial T2 diagnosis.
I asked for a referral to an endocrinologist at this point (being in Brisbane, Australia). He's very switched on and did GAD and C-peptide and I was diagnosed as LADA about 8 years ago.
Started on Metformin, I lost weight initially with prescription of Phentermine. Metformin didn't really work longer term and had terrible side effects racing to the loo before I went William Shatner-pants and sulphur burps. So I was moved on to Forziga and Jardiance. Without Metformin, the weight came back on so I was prescribed Vyctoza injections when Phentermine didn't work on it's own.
I developed a reaction to Vyctoza with nausea, vomiting, sulphur burps and constipation. The medication made my throat close rather than make my tummy feel full. Next I tried Byetta which made me intensely nauseous. At some point Gliclazide was added.
For the last 12 months my HBA1C went from ok to climbing as I've tried to lose weight and failed with limiting intake and using phentermine. Just as Covid hit, I began daily Lantus injections. Working at home and staring insulin has made me pile on some more weight so now my specialist has prescribed Ozempic.
So far, it's made my tongue tingle and I'm thirsty. I'm just upping the dose though and today had a decent reading (for me) of 8.9 on waking and hunger and cravings seem to be more manageable. I'm hopeful. My aim is to get the weight down so that insulin dose is lower or possibly even not required. Somac is keeping nausea at bay although now I'm getting joint pain so will have to take something for that....
I'd always eaten properly and was relatively active and was skinny as a kid so my battle with weight made no sense until diagnosis in my 40's as LADA.
I had a suspected appendicitis when I was 15. The pain was on the wrong side though so I was pumped with antibiotics, felt better the next day and sent home. I think this was the virus that triggered things with my pancreas with pain being caused by an inflammation and the antibiotics made things worse. Then I had terrible stress with my mum being diagnosed with cancer not long after and she died when I was 17.
I started putting weight on about a year later and couldn't shift it until I dropped my calories to 1100 and really hit the gym when I was 21. At this stage I was metabolically resistant and my whenever I went back to normal eating after hard dieting the weight would come back on. All this happened through a horrible marriage and I had my first child. A few years later the second child was probably GD as I was very, very large but thought to be too young to be a candidate for GD. When my bub was 4 months old I had my gall-bladder removed as it was packed with large stones and many small ones.
After getting away from the stress of a horrible marriage I lost weight again but only through very low calories and significant exercise. Weight would rise when I stopped that regime. I had a work health review and was diagnosed pre-diabetic but going through divorce, didn't pay too much attention and was told to watch what I ate. Had my third child a few years later and ended up GD, injecting basal and bolus insulin. A year after having bub, weight began to climb and nothing would shift it and that's when I got an initial T2 diagnosis.
I asked for a referral to an endocrinologist at this point (being in Brisbane, Australia). He's very switched on and did GAD and C-peptide and I was diagnosed as LADA about 8 years ago.
Started on Metformin, I lost weight initially with prescription of Phentermine. Metformin didn't really work longer term and had terrible side effects racing to the loo before I went William Shatner-pants and sulphur burps. So I was moved on to Forziga and Jardiance. Without Metformin, the weight came back on so I was prescribed Vyctoza injections when Phentermine didn't work on it's own.
I developed a reaction to Vyctoza with nausea, vomiting, sulphur burps and constipation. The medication made my throat close rather than make my tummy feel full. Next I tried Byetta which made me intensely nauseous. At some point Gliclazide was added.
For the last 12 months my HBA1C went from ok to climbing as I've tried to lose weight and failed with limiting intake and using phentermine. Just as Covid hit, I began daily Lantus injections. Working at home and staring insulin has made me pile on some more weight so now my specialist has prescribed Ozempic.
So far, it's made my tongue tingle and I'm thirsty. I'm just upping the dose though and today had a decent reading (for me) of 8.9 on waking and hunger and cravings seem to be more manageable. I'm hopeful. My aim is to get the weight down so that insulin dose is lower or possibly even not required. Somac is keeping nausea at bay although now I'm getting joint pain so will have to take something for that....