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T2 and insulin

Shem S said:
Saw my DN yesterday. Can see my BG is coming down but even though I’ve almost completely cut out carbs since diagnosis 2 weeks ago, am hovering around 10% to 15% carbs and around 1500 calories/day, I haven’t lost any weight.

Am going back in 2 weeks and she’s suggested we might need to discuss insulin.

Has this happened to anyone else? The idea of having to do injections fills me with dread.
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Back in March 18 I was in a similar situation. I wasn't newly diagnosed, but my BGs were running way too high (about 13), and my endo doc suggested that I go on insulin. That made me sit up and take notice. Not because of the injections, as I already injected myself with victoza every day and was used to it, but because it marked the progression of my condition and I was worried it would make me gain weight. I knew I could do better than succumbing to insulin, so instead she increased my daily dose of jardiance.
I went home and started using my meter again. I googled a lot, ate healthier and found this community. Became quite extreme about avoiding carbs and saw a reduction in BGs after only a couple of weeks. I went for my bi-annual review at the endo clinic about 3 weeks ago, and was taken off the jardiance. Yay!
As for weight loss ... Well, I have lost some weight, but not as much as I expected to and hoped for. Never mind. I'll get there in the end, and choose to be happy that my A1C is now 5.1 even without the jardiance, even if I still do pop metformin and use a lower dose of victoza.
To me it sounds as if you're doing everything right, and I agree with everybody that 2 weeks is not a long time and that going on insulin at this point sounds a bit over the top. Haven't you seen an improvement in your BGs already? :)
 
briped said:
Back in March 18 I was in a similar situation. I wasn't newly diagnosed, but my BGs were running way too high (about 13), and my endo doc suggested that I go on insulin. That made me sit up and take notice. Not because of the injections, as I already injected myself with victoza every day and was used to it, but because it marked the progression of my condition and I was worried it would make me gain weight. I knew I could do better than succumbing to insulin, so instead she increased my daily dose of jardiance.
I went home and started using my meter again. I googled a lot, ate healthier and found this community. Became quite extreme about avoiding carbs and saw a reduction in BGs after only a couple of weeks. I went for my bi-annual review at the endo clinic about 3 weeks ago, and was taken off the jardiance. Yay!
As for weight loss ... Well, I have lost some weight, but not as much as I expected to and hoped for. Never mind. I'll get there in the end, and choose to be happy that my A1C is now 5.1 even without the jardiance, even if I still do pop metformin and use a lower dose of victoza.
To me it sounds as if you're doing everything right, and I agree with everybody that 2 weeks is not a long time and that going on insulin at this point sounds a bit over the top. Haven't you seen an improvement in your BGs already? :)
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Thank you. I think my DN is just very keen to support me. She can see how I’ve already improved my BG readings (through being a slave to my meter), but also knows how badly being fat makes me feel. Her motivation was to try to find a way that will help me to lose weight - quickly - but I’m not so sure there are any silver bullets.

Think I’ll stick to my plan of low carb for a bit longer before making any new decisions

As ever your kindness, help and support is invaluable x
 
Shem S said:
Thanks all. Going to keep on the LCHF for now and see what happens weight wise. I’ve not lost any weight but I haven’t put any on either
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Hi there, I think someone already asked but what are your BG readings? I wonder also whether the nurse was thinking about your diagnosis when she mentioned insulin because it's strange she should launch in to that 2 weeks after a diagnosis, have they said definitely type 2?? x
 
Shem S said:
Thank you. I think my DN is just very keen to support me.
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I'm glad you have a supportive DN. That's the good news, but I still don't get the insulin ... You're newly diagnosed, right? Did anybody at least suggest other kinds of medications? Metformin and/or victoza? Victoza is supposed to help with weight loss due to being an appetite suppresant. Mind you, I've managed to gain 22kgs while being on victoza, so I'm not too impressed, but it's what's often suggested to peope who want to lose weight. It's even prescribed to non-diabetic obese people, but under a different name for that reason.
Lots of very knowledgable people in here know way more about this that I do, and I hope they'll correct me if I'm wrong, but it would seem that many T2s are IR (insulin resistant), meaning that our bodies can't put the insulin that we do produce to good use, and that injecting insulin on top of all this useless self made insulin will only add to our grievances. If you want to know even more about T2 and how the various kinds of diabetes meds work here's a very useful link. https://www.bloodsugar101.com/

Shem S said:
She can see how I’ve already improved my BG readings (through being a slave to my meter), but also knows how badly being fat makes me feel.
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That's wonderful :) Congratulations on getting your BGs down. I've been fat my entire life, apart from a year or 2'ish 10-12 years ago. It felt good, but I was still the same old briped. Weird feeling and I had a hard time recognising my own reflection in glass doors. It did lots of interesting things for my psyche, but it didn't make me any happier. I truly hated seeing myself naked in a mirror. Generally speaking I had to adjust my expectations to being slim vs. being fat a lot, to my big surprise. Perhaps that's why I'm in no hurry today ...? I know what it's like and what to expect, so as long as I'm happy with my BG levels and lose a little, I'm fine. I suspect that because my weight loss happened quickly 12 years ago the weight gain happened quickly too ... I don't know. LCHF seems to be the long term solution for me.

Shem S said:
Her motivation was to try to find a way that will help me to lose weight - quickly - but I’m not so sure there are any silver bullets.

Think I’ll stick to my plan of low carb for a bit longer before making any new decisions

As ever your kindness, help and support is invaluable x
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I think the only silver bullet is patience, Low Carb and persistance, but you already knew that ;) Please keep us posted on how you're doing.
 
KK123 said:
Hi there, I think someone already asked but what are your BG readings? I wonder also whether the nurse was thinking about your diagnosis when she mentioned insulin because it's strange she should launch in to that 2 weeks after a diagnosis, have they said definitely type 2?? x
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These are my readings since diagnosis. I think the first few are disproportionately high as I hadn’t clocked the 2 hour rule for the first couple of days, but average does seem to be coming down.

I think the assumption is it’s Type2.
 

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Bg control is more important then weight, been on insulin for 11 days now, awaiting test results to confirm diabetes type, their think I'm in fact t1 LADA, Went onto a vlchf diet. About 0 to 20g of carb per day, bg still very high. I was diagnosed 4 years ago, lchf diet plus tablets controlled it for 2 years, I haven't put any weight on if you need if, take the insulin, once stable you can lose some weight.
 
kokhongw said:
This presentation by Dr Bikman explains why insulin makes it difficult to burn fats...
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Very interesting. @Shem S if you don't want to watch the entire video you can FF to approx. 28 min. in.
 
@Shem S

All I can say is that you have had excellent advice, and just give it time.

Your body didn't develop diabetes overnight, whichever type of D you have. And if you do have T2 then it probably took years. And your weight didn't appear overnight either, did it? They probably waltzed along in tandem, with slowly increasing weight, and slowly increasing insulin resistance, until one day your body couldn't cope any more.

Be kind to it, and give it time to recover. That may or may not involve weight loss, but you are already showing excellent improvements in blood glucose.

As for being a slave to your meter... if you are T2 then there is no reason for that to continue forever.
Let's face it, once you have sorted your way of eating, and you know what to avoid, and what indulgencies and portion sizes are acceptable to your body, then endlessly recording the same numbers for the same breakfast, or the same lunches, becomes rather a waste of time and money. I have much better things to do with that time, and that money. ;)

Testing gets old fast. And I am profoundly grateful that I can choose not to micromanage and test ad nauseum - because I am not on medications that require frequent testing. My preferred technique is to forget all about testing for a few weeks, and then test intensively (glucometer or Freestyle Libre) for a couple of weeks. Then forget all about testing again. I tend to wear the Libre for holidays, Xmas, and when I am away from home. It serves as a beautiful conscience for me when surrounded by temptation! :D

I suppose, my central point is that you may have diabetes. But it does NOT have you. It shouldn't be ruling your every thought and action. Don't let it take over.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Did your nurse tell you that insulin can encourage weight gain? I haven't heard that it helps reduce weight. Just the opposite in fact.
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I’m actually shocked that a diabetic nurse would think that adding exogenous insulin to an insulin resistant diabetic patient would promote weight loss. Dumbfounded in fact.
 
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