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Type 2 Type 2 & Weight loss

J

JamesBu

Newbie
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2
Hi All,

I'm very new to all of this having only been diagnosed with type 2 a month ago.

I'm looking for some help/advice. Before seeing my GP I was forever thirsty and always hungry I lost just on a stone in weight and 3 inches from my waist.

While I understand why my GP needs to be get my blood sugar levels down I'm concerned about the rapid weight loss mainly muscle wastage and the fact this doesn't seem to be the norm. Has anyone else heard of this had experience with this?

Also being type 2, I keep reading the best way to get this under control is weight loss, for me I don't need this infact I need to gain weight. Does anyone know of anyone I can speak to about this, is it really that unusual??

Many thanks in advance I hope I make sense.

James.
 
Thirst and weight loss are both common symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes.

Diabetes is what happens when your body is not able to process the sugar in your blood. It looks for alternative mechanisms to flush out that sugar: hence the thirst - your body's attempt to flush out the sugar through urine. I also found sugar coming out of my tears which led to weird sweet tears, some people find increased dental decay due to sugar in their saliva.

As your body is not able to get the energy it needs from breaking down the sugar (some describe insulin as the 'key" which unlocks the blood cells to let the sugar in), it looks elsewhere. Once place it looks it to break down your protein (in your muscle and, I think fat) which will explain the weight loss. This is potentially very dangerous as a side effect of this is the release of ketones. These are poisonous and can give your breath the smell of pear drops. It is not only people with diabetes, who can experience ketonacidosis: if you suffer from hunger, you can get it. Joe Simpson, the climber in Touching the Void experienced it when he was stranded in the Andes.

Once you get your BG under control, these symptoms should be alleviated - you will stop feeling thirsty and your body will be able to get the energy it needs from your blood glucose. Many people find they put on weight when they are first diagnosed.
 
I was incredibly worried about my weight loss at first, but I jumped into my diagnosis with both feet - a huge daily dose of Jardiance and LCHF started at 120g carbs / day (which also meant the end to the junk food and nonsense I was constantly - and unknowingly - eating before).

I lost 3 clothes sizes in the first 6 weeks. While everyone else was congratulating me, I was utterly terrified: having tried for years to shift any amount of weight, to see it literally melting off my body, with visible differences from day to day, even morning to night, was very hard to deal with in a strange way.

Now my new habits have dug in a little more, my body is more used to the medication and the diet and I'm better at dealing with it all, and the weight loss as slowed considerably. There's still a lot of weight to lose, and part of me misses the days when I'd wake up in the morning and then see an emerging collarbone or bicep by lunch that wasn't there before. But, really, it was just odd to lose so much so fast and I completely understand what you're feeling.

It gets better, I promise. You'll start to grapple with it all and, in surprisingly short time, you'll be on top of the worst of it.

Hang in there and welcome to the forum :)
 
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