Insulin information

[NaggingMin nie]

I have a friend who has been a diabetic since a child, she is putting weight on all the time then she looses it she blames her insulin, I have been trying to help her loose weight and get her to eat healthy, no matter what I do she isn't willing, she has been to see a dietitian, and follows it all for a week then pow, she is back to her weight gain again but I have found out from a few of her friends that she is eating Mac'ies, fish and chips ( large ) drinking larger its as if she wants all this weight the last time she was weighed she was 29 stone ( yes and she looks it it hurts me to see this), but still she blames the insulin

 

[cugila]

Insulin use CAN cause weight gain, however in most cases it is usually down to poor dietary control. I doubt any Dietician would recommend chips and McD's

Have a look at the Basic Advice we give out to newly diagnosed. It most probably will be different from a Dietician's advice, but many of us know that it works and should help lower Bg levels and lose weight. It might help.........

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, Diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy Carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of Insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause Insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting Carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total Carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a Diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the Nurse/Doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own Diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Ken / Sue.

 

[Hobs]

It is difficult for me to give an answer from experience as I am Type 2 and do not inject insulin. However, I do know that insulin often gets the blame for weight gain. As far as I am aware, insulin itself will not cause weight gain alone .. it has to be the food and fluid swallowed in conjunction with the insulin.
It is easy to blame weight gain on something you do not have control over when you do not want to face reality. I should know as I used to blame my arthritis for my once hefty weight because it really affects my mobility ..which of course was basically a load of tosh but an easy condition to blame.
It took me a long time to realise I was hiding behind the arthritis when deep down I knew it was my really my diet all along that was to blame.

Since I have come to terms with the real me and adjusted my portion sizes in conjunction with a slight increase in mobility (within my limits) I gradually reduced my weight.

You friend would be taking the first step in helping herself by joining this forum where helpful advice from those of us that have been where she is now, will always be just a click away.
Also if your friend is a T2 and not a T1 there are new meds out there that for some can help with weight reduction ..but alas, not for a T1.

 

[the_anticarb]

Insulin can cause weight gain when people are injecting too high a dose, as this will cause them to go hypo and then need to feed the hypo which means they are eating more than they would ordinarily be. This can often be when someone is 'over basaled' whilst on a basal bolus regime, or if they are on too high a ratio for their bolus. Insulin can also cause weight gain if people are erring on the side of eating a little more than they would ordinarily have done so, in order to avoid going hypo.

I believe that a non diabetic person would probably eat less frequently (on average, we are all different) than a diabetic person on insulin, as for example they could go for a good few hours without a meal or snack (if for example they were very busy) whereas the diabetic person is more likely to stop and have a snack to avoid being in a potential hypo situation.

So it's not the insulin per se that is causing the weight gain but the way in which being on an insulin regime may cause someone to change their eating patterns. This is what I believe, in any case.

 

[TheSparkyPony]

I've always been led to believe artificial insulin is an appetite stimulant...is that not the case then?

(Sorry to hijack OP, although I guess it is on topic and could help your situation too!)

I agree with the_anticarb though. I know if I wasn't diabetic I'd hardly eat at all and I'd be a size 8, but I panic too much about hypoing etc etc.

 

[totsy]

i know insulin can put weight on but ive managed to lose over 5 stone while on insulin so i think its more what the person is eating that puts the weight on

 

[cugila]

Very true Totsy. Great weight loss BTW.

Insulin if used to excess can definitely cause weight gain.....and as you say if someone is eating too much that too causes weight gain. Put the two together however.......too much Insulin, too much food and very quickly the weight can pile on.

Got a friend who is on Insulin and listens avidly to his DSN........eat what you like and just use more Insulin. He wondered why he was getting larger and larger till I pointed out to him that by restricting what he ate, especially the carbs he would be able to lower the Insulin dose and probably start to lose weight. 3 weeks into the new regime, Insulin down by 30% and weight dropping off him.......

Can't be bad !

 

[the_anticarb]

I've fallen into the 'eat what I like and inject to cover it' trap and it's definitely one way to put on weight, it's easy to over inject in that situation and then you end up eating more to avoid the hypo...

I suppose if you eat what you like, for most people, unless they are doing lots of exercise, this woudl make them put on weight anyway.

I haven't found insulin to be an appetite stimulant, au contraire If I don't take enough insulin and my sugars are running high that can give me a horrible sort of hunger that never gets satisfied.

I guess there's no escaping that diabetic or not if you want to be slim and healthy you have to control what you eat.

I lost 2st in 6 months on low carb diet a year ago, reduced my insulin from 38u per day down to about 12u, but I was also eating much less food and <50g carbs per day and exercising too.

 

[alaska]

I haven't found insulin to be an appetite stimulant, au contraire If I don't take enough insulin and my sugars are running high that can give me a horrible sort of hunger that never gets satisfied.

I think it can work both ways as an appetite stimulant:

1. Low blood sugar levels (as a result of too much insulin) means the body needs sugar in the blood so the body 'calls out' for food energy and you become hungry.

2. High blood sugar indicates that you don't have enough insulin in your body. Insulin is the hormone that helps turn blood sugar into energy for your cells, so if you don't have enough insulin then the body then your cells don't get enough energy, as a result you get hungry (and tired as well).

I find the 2nd case quite a strange reaction but it must be linked to survival somehow -after all, up to a hundred years ago no-one was injecting themselves with insulin.