I would really appreciate some opinions about changes I felt happen quite suddenly about three years ago. Could my own behaviour have triggered my diabetes???
Four years ago I was simply a very fat 50 year-old woman (about 18 stone, big belly, no exercise, on/off smoker) with slightly raised blood sugar, but not yet diabetic. Onset of menopause was not a factor as I went through that 12 years earlier when I had radiotherapy.
Eventually I decided to do something drastic to lose weight. I understood that during prolonged exercise, the body first uses its glucose stores, then begins to metabolise fat. It occurred to me that if I did two hours serious exercise in the morning on an empty stomach, I would just switch much sooner to the fat-burning stage.
For two months, I went to the Health Centre three mornings a week, (with no breakfast), and did an over-50's workout class followed by 60 lengths of the swimming pool (about a 2 mile swim), and 'forced' my body to use fat as an energy source. Strangely enough, I was not hungry after these sessions, like I had actually had a meal by burning fat.
Then, one week, I felt unusually tired and aching, and didnt go, thinking I had a bug of some kind. The following week, I felt 'wrong' from head to toe, my muscles ached after the smallest exertion, and even a simple walk seemed to exhaust me. It was like something inside me just 'broke', and I never felt well enough to go back to the Health Centre again
I sunk into depression and inactivity, my weight started to shoot up till I was 20 stone a year later, and then was formally diagnosed as diabetic (type 2).
So now I wonder... is it possible that I somehow caused permanent damage to myself by regular strenuous exercise, on an empty stomach, to burn fat? Could that have triggered diabetes somehow, producing the symptoms of aching muscles, tiredness and depression? Can any other people look back to a time when they suddenly felt permanently aching and tired after prolonged physical stress, then were later diagnosed as diabetic?
And could diabetes have caused the subsequent weight gain, even though it was not actually diagnosed until later? What if the two modern epidemics of obesity and diabetes were actually linked in the reverse way to current wisdom, with undiagnosed diabetes causing so much obesity, due to aching muscles and lethargy?
Or am I just looking for excuses and barking up the wrong tree entirely? I have great respect for the collective wisdom expressed through this forum, so what do you think?
Rosie.
Four years ago I was simply a very fat 50 year-old woman (about 18 stone, big belly, no exercise, on/off smoker) with slightly raised blood sugar, but not yet diabetic. Onset of menopause was not a factor as I went through that 12 years earlier when I had radiotherapy.
Eventually I decided to do something drastic to lose weight. I understood that during prolonged exercise, the body first uses its glucose stores, then begins to metabolise fat. It occurred to me that if I did two hours serious exercise in the morning on an empty stomach, I would just switch much sooner to the fat-burning stage.
For two months, I went to the Health Centre three mornings a week, (with no breakfast), and did an over-50's workout class followed by 60 lengths of the swimming pool (about a 2 mile swim), and 'forced' my body to use fat as an energy source. Strangely enough, I was not hungry after these sessions, like I had actually had a meal by burning fat.
Then, one week, I felt unusually tired and aching, and didnt go, thinking I had a bug of some kind. The following week, I felt 'wrong' from head to toe, my muscles ached after the smallest exertion, and even a simple walk seemed to exhaust me. It was like something inside me just 'broke', and I never felt well enough to go back to the Health Centre again
I sunk into depression and inactivity, my weight started to shoot up till I was 20 stone a year later, and then was formally diagnosed as diabetic (type 2).
So now I wonder... is it possible that I somehow caused permanent damage to myself by regular strenuous exercise, on an empty stomach, to burn fat? Could that have triggered diabetes somehow, producing the symptoms of aching muscles, tiredness and depression? Can any other people look back to a time when they suddenly felt permanently aching and tired after prolonged physical stress, then were later diagnosed as diabetic?
And could diabetes have caused the subsequent weight gain, even though it was not actually diagnosed until later? What if the two modern epidemics of obesity and diabetes were actually linked in the reverse way to current wisdom, with undiagnosed diabetes causing so much obesity, due to aching muscles and lethargy?
Or am I just looking for excuses and barking up the wrong tree entirely? I have great respect for the collective wisdom expressed through this forum, so what do you think?
Rosie.
