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how to gain weight with type 1 diabetes

H

hismom

Well-Known Member
Messages
114
Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help. My son was diagnosed in october last year and had lost 2 stone before we could get the diagnosis. He is now 5 foot 6 and only weighs 7 and 1/2 stone. he actually lost weight in between his last 2 hospital appointments. he was tols to have inbetween 180 and 200 grams of carbs a day which he does but he does need to gain some weight. what is the best way to do it? he is 14 this week and needs to gain weight for his growth but it needs to be done sensibly.
we have tried to give him more per meal and give the extra insulin but this justs sends his bg levels high after around 2 1/2 hours.
 
Khaleb lost a couple of kilos at the start of the year when he started taking thyroxin. To get him back up to weight I increased his basal and bolus insulin and the food to go with it. He still hasn't put it all back on but he's getting there. I didn't have to overfeed him but just made the food a bit richer and the snacks a bit bigger. Obviously you have to watch for hypos as you are increasing insulin.

My 15 yr old son eats and eats and eats and for a while he got a bit skinny so I started making big pots of casserole so he could eat better quality food instead of eating 10 snacks. He's coming out of that huge growth phase now and even though he still eats a lot his weight is steady. It seems nearly impossible to fill up teenage boys.

Is your son hungry all the time or not that interested in eating more?

I hate that I have to look up to my teenage son now and he's about 5 times stronger than me also. He wants to sleep til 10am everyday and stay up til midnight. Apparently this is normal behaviour but I can't imagine this being possible for one with diabetes. I know I haven't had a sleep-in since Khaleb's diagnosis - or many full nights of sleep.
 
hi,
my son is always hungry,even after he has just eaten. when he has more food we give him the correct amount of insulin but it just seems to stay on bg's forever. last night he has a carb meal that was 73 grams of carb. his bg before was 7.2 . we tested 2 1/2 hours after and his levels were 13 still. another 30 minutes later they were still rising into 15's. this morning he woke up and his level was in the 6's. he normally has really good control his last hb1ac was 5.6 but he has had braces fitted recently and we have been told this may affect his levels. the easiest way would be to add bigger snacks but at the moment he doesnt need insulin for them and i didnt want to suggest he has a bigger snack with insulin.
 
if your son is going high after meals with more food/insulin, could it be that your ratio's are incorrect? Sometimes the smallest changes in what you eat can mean adjustment is needed with the numbers :?
 
hi,
if we keep him on 60 grams of carbs per meal he has 3 units which works fine but if he has more carbs say 100 with 5 units it leaves him high.he cant afford to lose anymore weight and he is getting taller all the time about 1cm a month at the moment. he is still in the honeymoon period sohis insulin use is low. he has 11 units of lantus in the morning and 1 unit of apridra for 20 grams of carbs. i might try adjusting how the insulin/carb ratio and see if that will work. to be honest I think he is coming down with another cold which might be the reason.
 
Khaleb also has a dreaded cold at the moment. It is causing the odd high figures and making it difficult to keep steady. His blood sugar isn't rising all the time but just every now and then so it is hard to decide what to correct and what to leave alone. He's not overly sick but the effects seem to be lingering on ....At least he's eating and sleeping okay.

Do you think the honeymoon is coming to an end and the hormones have kicked in to disrupt blood sugars all at the same time? When I have problems I resort to sick day rules and tend to just test a bit more often and give the odd extra injection to correct. Is your son managing a lot himself and has a good understanding of what's going on?

Battle on...
 
hi jen,
I do think the honeymoon period might be ending or slowing. Ryans does his blood tests roughly every 2 hours but although he does sort out his insulin he is doing it under supervision.It is a it easier as he is homeschooled and I am there to check. He sings and his singing teacher told him last week that he had a cold coming and she wouldnt risk letting him sing, but upto now no signs of one.It could be there just waiting we had this a month ago and it lasted for a month.Its like yesterday 2 hours after breakfast he was reading 10 (this is normal as he has porridge and it stays for ages) but the just over 1 hour later he felt hypo. when he checked he was 4. Last night he was at his theatre group and he had chocolates to hand out as it is his birthday tomorrow. he had one an hour later at home he tested and it hadnt affected him. we thought it may do later but it didnt.
my main concern is his weight. he lost 2 stone before he was diagnosed then was steady but in the last couple of months he has lost a few pound. not a lot i know but he has grown by 2 inches so should have put weight on.


steph
 
I think Sean (my 15 yr old) grew and grew, ate and ate, and didn't put on weight or even lost some for a time. He doesn't have diabetes to deal with but I suppose it was normal that his body just couldn't keep up with his growth. He's 6ft tall now and has size 14 feet.

Poor Khaleb went from 15 kg to 13kg in about a month (January) and he is sitting at 14kg now. This was from the thyroid meds. His metabolism probably wasn't working very well before the meds. I was glad when things settled down. I am still making the choice to give extra insulin and food rather than limit his meals.

Glad that Ryan can do quite a lot himself. Is he okay with it all? Khaleb doesn't know any other life and is happy to hand his finger over and even though he has a little whinge when he sees the needles, he doesn't complain when he gets them. The anticipation seems worse.

Khaleb seems over the worst of his cold. We are coming into Winter so I expect he'll have plenty more. We have changed over to porridge for breakfast and I find it is better than weetbix (your wheetabix). I've had to buy some kitchen scales though as working out a portion size has been a bit hit and miss.

You might have to make an appointment with the dietician to work out bigger portions that are healthy and don't blow the carb budget. You probably shouldn't worry too much as I think in boys it is just par for the course that they get a bit gangly in the teen years. Soon enough, they start filling out and that is scary. My little boy is more a man these days.
 
hi,
it has been a bit cinflicting from the clinic really. he was set a 60 grams of carbs per meal. but now we have been told to let him eat more or less as much as he wants and give the unsulin to match. his diet is good anyway but he is still allowed the treats after all he is still young and i think if everytime it is no they will eat it behind your back anyway.he understands that some foods are treats and some are everyday so he does keep in control. just a thought try shreddies too for breakfast we find these seem to work the same as ready brek.
 
I think I know what our equivalent to Shreddies is but not sure if Khaleb could manage the chewing. He has a few oral issues - only just started saying a few words and eating soft chunks.

Treats are good. Khaleb eats off my plate after his dinner and depending on what it was he may or may not need his own supper before bed. Mostly I feed him my stuff so he gets better at eating normal food. He could nearly manage to eat a normal meal but not quite.

I hate conflicting stuff from clinic. The last time I went to clinic the Paed's Dr saw there were a few times I had fed (given a bit of milk in a bottle) Khaleb at around 2am and he had woken up a bit high in the morning. The Paed's Dr commented that if he was 4.something mmol at 2am I should leave him like that but I explained that I wouldn't be getting any sleep as I would be getting up a second time to check he hadn't dropped further. Khaleb can quite often drop 2-4mmol between 2am and 6am, he can sometimes stay the same and other times he can go up slightly.

Anyway, at least you can let Ryan scoff some food and help his hunger. His hba1c is really good so you have a bit of room to move. Coming into warm weather there might be lots of outdoor activities to help with the blood sugars.
 
Hi there,

I was diagnosed last summer and at the time i had lost almost 2 stone in weight. Since then i have put some of the weight back on but still would like to put more on. I eat like Godzilla and my blood sugar levels are always ok. I just cant seem to eat enough food and i always feel hungry. Tonight i ate 3 plates of food at the chinese buffet and left with a blood sugar reading of 5.7.
I think i may have a giant tape worm eating all my steaks!!! Its difficult trying to keep the munchies away without eating a load of cr*p (crisps, biscuits). It seems my whole day evolves round planning food and where i can get my next 'healthy snack' from without resorting to crisps etc.....

I wonder how many type 2 dudes are reading this and are thinking 'lucky git'.
 
Ah now, I'm a Type 2 'dude' and I didn't think 'lucky git'........ :wink:

I'm more interested in when your Bg level reading was taken, how long after you finished eating and what amount of Insulin you use. What sort of food would help as well. That might tell us something.

I'm also interested in what your actual Bg levels are throughout the day, fasting, pre and post meals
(2 hrs) etc.

Ken
 
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