Muscles

[slimblackman1]

Does T2 diabetes cause you to lose muscle tone? I've noticed I have much less muscle tone but much more fat. I recently had 2 epidural steroid injections for back pain. I also had a round of steroid pills of 60mg for 4 days, then 40mg for 4 days, then 30mg for 4 days, etc., until I stepped down to finally a 5 mg for 2 days until completed. All the Steroids were in a 2.5 months timeframe. Could it be the steroid injections? I'm somewhat puzzled. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I had an issue with statins which went away when I stopped taking them. I ended up confined to a chair for two (separate) months. Therefore I got the impression that the medication was the cause and not the diabetes. It makes sense to me since when diagnosed I already had diabetes but didn't have muscle trouble at that point but only after taking the pills.

 

[Deleted Account]

My understanding is that normally energy is released from the sugar in our blood by the insulin.
When we have insufficient insulin, our body looks for energy elsewhere - this can be by breaking down muscle.
Therefore, one theory maybe that you may have lost some muscle tone whilst your BG was too high. As you get it under control, your insulin will work in the usual way and you will stop burning muscle and build it instead.

 

[leslie10152]

I'm not sure about this one.

 

[Alison Campbell]

Has the back pain limited your mobility and ability to exercise at all?

 

[slimblackman1]

Thanks all! @Alison, I'm allowed to start walking this week because of the C6/C7 fusion. I do feel a bit better each day now that my BG is pretty much within normal ranges.

 

[Alison Campbell]

Any period of inactivity will have a huge impact of muscle tone. I'm sure once you get moving again you will be back to form in no time.