Miserable & Desperate!

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Rubyloo

Rubyloo

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Afternoon everyone,

I hope you don't mind me coming on here for a little (or large) moan :(.
I am having a bad time at the moment! I did a DAFNE course in November so am now Carb counting. The reason for doing this course was that I wanted to get my Daibetes under control & also be able to keep my weight stable. I am 5'6" & when I started the DAFNE course was 9st 7lb. I was on Novorapid 3 x times a day & Levemir at night. The course was great & I am really glad that I did it but since New Year I have managed to put on 6lb! I know that you are probably all thinking that thats the norm at this time of year but on the 1st Jan I was 9st 6lb so I had lost! I decided that 2010 was a start of the new Healthy & Fit me so when the kids went back to school I left the car at home & have walked to & from every day come rain or snow & I have also used my daughters Wii Fit almost everyday for between 50 & 60 mins! I have walked the dogs for miles & have done sit ups/leg raises/pushups etc almost every day and yet I still have managed to put on 6lb :(
I went to see my specialist at the hospital last week (Fri) and I have changed my night insulin to Lantus from Levemir, I did this as I was often high in the evening & as I took the Levemir at night I felt it was running out in the evening! I was told it would take some time to get into my system so when I woke up high the first morning (15.9) I put it down to that. The next day it was the same but I just adujusted my Novirapid, after day 3 of it high I upped the Lantus to 7 from 6 & had 7 Hypos in 24hrs! Last night I dropped it back to 6 again, I checked my reading before bed at 10pm & I was 4.0 so I had an apple! This morning I woke up on 18.9 :( There doesn't seem to be any answers! I am eating really small amounts & weighing everything! My excercise has increased about 1000% & still I feel that I am useless! I am desperate to get the weight off & gain back the control..... Could it be the Lantus putting on the weight?
I so sorry this is a long post, I have cried myself silly today & my family don't understand I just think that I am a pain! I have left a message with my DAFNE mentor but had no reply......

Debs x
 
hi Debs BIG HUGS comming your way...i cant help you with all the practical advice as i am T2 but i do identify with needing a good cry every now and then xxxx🙂
PS the insulin brigade will be posting pretty soon with the practical stuff im sure x
 
Hi Debs, Wish I was as active as you!

I am on 34 units of Lantus and have had no problems with weight gain so I doubt that the amount you are on would have a significant effect on your weight.

We regard to the hypos, have you only been experiencing lots of them since you started your fitness regime? The extra increase in exercise could be causing your blood glucose levels to drop suddenly.

Hope you find a solution soon and by the way you are certainly not being a pain so don't beat yourself up.
 
Rubyloo, it might be worht seeing if your DSN can get you a Lantus pen which does half units as this might help a bit.

Also remember that if you have been exercising, you will have increased you muscle mass a bit and as muscle is more dense than fat, this will account for some of the weight you are talking about.

Good luck, hope it gets sorted out soon.
 
First of all *hugs* We all get frustrated, and venting is better than keeping it all bottled up!

Do you mind if I ask why you're so worried about the weight? I might just be missing something, and I appreciate that you've put on six pounds and might be concerned about putting on more, but at 5' 6", even with those extra six pounds, your BMI is well within the normal range.

Have your blood sugars been better in general? That might explain why you've gained weight. On my DAFNE course, we were told that it's quite normal for people to gain weight when their control improves. It was explained to us as basically you're not peeing so much sugar down the toilet anymore! 😛

I sympathise with your lantus problems - it can take a while to get right. As far as I'm aware there is no half unit pen for lantus, but I may be wrong. Did your specialist suggest splitting your levemir into two doses? A lot of people on levemir do that, as it doesn't always last 24 hours. If your running out at night, then maybe adding another shot in the morning would help. If you are particularly sensitive to small changes in lantus, then split levemir may be a better option. I'd suggest you discuss it with your specialist and see what he thinks. 🙂
 
MCH said:
Rubyloo, it might be worht seeing if your DSN can get you a Lantus pen which does half units as this might help a bit.

Also remember that if you have been exercising, you will have increased you muscle mass a bit and as muscle is more dense than fat, this will account for some of the weight you are talking about.

Good luck, hope it gets sorted out soon.
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My thoughts exactly - muscle is denser than fat, and you are doing an awful lot of toning up! How do you feel about yourself, apart from the actual weight increase? If you feel you are looking and feeling healthier (apart from the problems with insulin/hypos), then don't worry about the weight. My weight can fluctuate by as much as 4 pounds day-to-day too, ao what you are one day might be quite different the next.

As for insulin - I'm not aware of a half-unit lantus pen, but there might be one out there - some people have discussed children's pens before. Talk to your DSN about possible splitting your dose, or maybe even getting use of a CGM to determine the profile of your insulin use over a few days. When you are on the lower lantus dose, you may possibly still be having a night hypo, with a bounce-back high in the morning, so paradoxically your lantus may still be too high. Or, it may be Dawn Phenomenon - make sure you eat breakfast as soon as you can on rising. All stuff to ask your DSN - make an appointment! Hope things settle for you soon🙂
 
Thanks so much for all your replies,

I have just spoken to my DAFNE mentor & she has advised me to set the alarm for 3am to check what is happening in the night & also to change the injection site for the Lantus as the Novorapid may be effecting it! As for the weight gain, she says it maybe because I am having Hypos & the extra food is making me gain! Maybe that & the extra activity (Muscle gain) is responsible who knows...... I have an appointment next week to see my Dietician so maybe she will be able to help! Lets hope so 🙂

Thanks again
Debs x
 
Muscle is denser than fat so as you develop it your weight loss may not appear on the scales - measure yourself instead - far more reliable!

Exercise can have a massive effect on bs levels - I had a terrible time when I used to exercise a lot and couldn't rationalise it. Resistance training/toning has a different effect to cardio vascular on your bs levels and different exercises can effect your bs sooner or later - it is a bloomin mine field!
I suggest that you start a diary - for instance I used to train every morning - if I did resistance my blood sugars would dip 4-6 hours later. If I did cardio it went up immediately and then crashed withing 1-2 hours.

Also what my bs was before I started exercise also had a tremendous effect, anything above 7 and I would end up between17-19 after an hour of cardio - which I couldn't rationalise at all!

It is quite a mine field but do not under any circumstances exercise with high blood sugar as your body does not have enough insulin to bring down your sugars already and exercising makes your body release more glucose which then effects your levels even further. Exercising will not reduce your sugar levels!

This is a really quick summary on exercise and blood sugars - and my personal experience - everyone is different!

I am sure Copepod + Runner will have lots of great advice - they do lots of it!

Oh! And I was on lantus for years and it worked best for me when I split it into two doses (one morning, one night) as I found it didn't do the 24hours it was supposed to do for me - again - only my experience.
 
Rubyloo said:
Thanks so much for all your replies,

I have just spoken to my DAFNE mentor & she has advised me to set the alarm for 3am to check what is happening in the night & also to change the injection site for the Lantus as the Novorapid may be effecting it! As for the weight gain, she says it maybe because I am having Hypos & the extra food is making me gain! Maybe that & the extra activity (Muscle gain) is responsible who knows...... I have an appointment next week to see my Dietician so maybe she will be able to help! Lets hope so 🙂

Thanks again
Debs x
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I just had a hypo, was 8.6 before i went for a shower so i thought i was ok then wen i came out i was 2.7 then i had 20g orange juice and a biscuit and tested 20 mins later and was at 3.5 so had some more juice and then checked another 20 mins later and im 4.2.... grrrr i hate how long some hypos can take to go away.

thats my moan for the day lol and i feel like crap after this dam hypooo

hope u get everything sorted debs. xx
 
Can't help with carb counting ot stuff like that as I don't, but I hope you are feeling better.

I'm type 2 and my care is with my GP, so don't even have the support of a DSN. A good bawl helps as does comming here.

I'm off ilater to see my doctor to see if I can get on the xpert prgoramme and maybe get a little more support if I'm lucky.
 
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