Advice on gaining weight

Hi . hope you are all well

So i need some advice . about 3 months ago i went into the hospital after losing an excessive amount of weight with my mouth so dry i couldn't speak 2 words without a cup of water my blood glucose was at 30 . they immediately put me on 2 saline IV drips and injected potassium and insulin .

they started me off on 24 units of insulin a day (didn't even explain how it works but yeah)

eventually after figuring it out i balanced my insulin with my carbs . the 24 units covered about 180 carbs

then things started getting complicated . it started to cover 220 carbs . then 300 . eventually 400 . i had to quit insulin instantly because id inject myself (actriphane 70 basal /30 rapid) and id reach hypoglycemia within 90 minutes after pushing my blood glucose past 14 . in 90 minutes it would hit 3.3mmol on reduced insulin .

I've been totally off insulin for 5 days now . i can fit about 140 carbs in but here is the part that bothers me

if i eat i can spike my BG to 12 . 14 . 16 or whatever i decide to . it stays elevated and stable for 2.5 hours . after the 2.5 hpur mark it drops rapidly to 5 or 6 mmol .

the doctors cant explain it . they told me i cant use the insulin anymore . but I'm losing weight fast (2lbs in 3 days) . i only weigh 140 from being in DKA for over a month (it was 125lbs at diagnosis) I'm 6.1ft . I'm already too underweight . what can i do to gain weight without spiking the living smoke out of my BG

I'm sure the diagnosis of type 1 is correct . i think the honeymoon phase kicked in and is messing with me . 1 unit of insulin ruins my life because i cant feel the transition from hyperglycemia to hypoglycemia . i have really bad brain fog and migranes from all the hypers and hypos

any advice to get my life back on track would be highly appreciated because the doctors cant do anything for me and without medical insurance its like pouring everything i own down the drain

ive also tested myself for ketones a couple of times but there is nothing

EllieM said:

Hello and welcome to the forums


Can I ask where you are located as others in your location may be able to advise on handling the medical costs. (New Zealand may be twenty years behind the times in terms of medicine but I am very grateful for a public health system).


Not sure I'd care about the spikes if I were that underweight. Spikes are a long term issue. And if your issues are caused by a honeymoon that should theoretically pass in time? Are you testing for ketones?

Forum rules don't allow us to diagnose so I have to be careful what I say. But if you think you are in honeymoon have you tried tiny doses of insulin (get a half unit pen)?

And many of the T2s on here maintain there weight on keto diets because they can't tolerate carbs. What happens if you pack in the fats and proteins?

Another thought, did your issues happen after covid? There are some strange reports about covid induced (sometimes temporary) diabetes that have been cropping up.

And one final thought, how confident are you that the weight loss is caused by diabetes rather than some other issue? (Disclaimer, I am not a doctor so I am just throwing out some suggestions).

Good luck.

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Hi there . thanks for the reply . so to start off .i live in south Africa so the public healthcare system unfortunately isn't too great . i also live very remote so the nearest hospital is more than 200 kilometers away

I've been testing for ketones ever since i stopped insulin 5 days ago and there hasn't been anything yet

i really thought of getting half unit pens but the issue is currently i cant afford them . I'm actually not sure if i should be using rapid acting or basal insulin

i do smoke but I've cut that by about 70% in the months since i was diagnosed . its difficult to totally quit but I'm nearly there . i don't drink a single drop of alcohol though

i think i might have had diabetes for about a year now because i absolutely couldn't survive without water . but about 4 or 5 months ago i slept with the window open to let the breeze in . thats when i started rapidly losing weight and went into hyperosmolar glucose levels . i tested positive for large ketones when i got diagnosed too

I've added lots of proteins which seem to be working well for me . but fats cause problems . i get eye floaters when eating fats . like looking through a snow globe with dark spots

at this very moment i cant tell what's triggering the weight loss . it could be due to either too much or a lack of sleep . mental stress (I've had insane amounts of it unfortunately because i was going hypo out of the blue) it could also be because of insulin shortage . i really don't know anymore

Awiiiiin said:

About the eye floaters do you or anyone in your family have nearsightedness ?

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hi there . im the only one in my family that has nearsightedness from what i know .

MrsA2 said:

I had eye floaters when I first went low carb, it's just the sugar clearing out. There may be blurriness too. For me it was temporary (weeks/months) .
I'm not diagnosing just saying what happened to me

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Hi . yes that makes some sense to me . when they put me on insulin for the first time my vision swinged from a -3 lens to a +3 lens for about a month and then returned to -3 . it seems my vision problems are linked to calorie intake somehow . this also had me thinking about the unintended weight loss . i totally cut all dairy products a while ago . i think that was causing my weight loss because i overestimated how many carbs it contains . the calories outweighs the carbs by quite allot . i was also doing exercises for about 60 minutes a day (some walking and weight lifting) . i think i can gain weight if i just took a break from that for a while . this means ill probably have to start off again on small amounts of insulin over time because i think my insulin resistance would go up a bit too .