Underweight - too much weight lost through diabetic diet

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

AmyJane

New Member
Hello, I'm hoping to get some advice on diet from people diagnsed with type 2 diabetes, esp for those who were not overweight when they were diagnosed.
My Mum was diagnosed about three or four months ago. She's in her early 60s and looked like she was within a healthy weight range at that point - on the slim side.
Her Doctor's put her on a very strict diet and she is following it religiously, doing the finger prick tests and trying to keep her levels down, which all sounds great, but I don't tink it is at all. She's now ridiculously thin and looks gaunt and pale to me. As I said, she didn't need to lose weight in the first place, but now has done so due to the diet and at a very fast rate. She's hungry all the time, but says she can't eat anything and when she went throuh the list of what she's been told she can eat in a day, the quantity of food is what an 18 month old toddler might eat.
She said that the Doctor repeatedly tells her not to drink alcohol at her appointments and makes her feel like an alcoholic even though she doesn't drink (at most, she's a small glass of wine with Sunday roast / two drinks because it's Christmas Day kind of drinker)!
I feel like she's just being given an off the shelf diet/advice for those who are very overweight and need to lose weight to help their diabetes.
I know that she's also on three metformin a day and one other drug that I can't remember the name of once a day.
It seems extreme. Does anybody know of any good diabetes type 2 diet plans for women that won't make you lose weight and, ideally, allow you to gain a bit of weight back?
Thank you in advance!
 
@AmyJane I'd recommend reading Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution the one from 2003 and ignoring advice to restrict anything other than carbs - though the name of the medication you can't remember would help to be sure advice given is apt. Dr Atkins does mention 'normalizing' weight on his way of eating.
 
I sympathise...its hard to put weight on whilst restricting carbs, even with higher fats. I never put on weight even with moderate keto. I do wonder if we are dealing with a misdiagnosed t1?
 
I was low weight when diagnosed with type 2. I stuck with the diet for almost 2 years. It’s absolutely brutal when you’re skinny. I’m actually a LADA and am now on insulin. I was told by a consultant once that a genuine skinny type 2 (without antibodies ) will progress to insulin far sooner as the mechanism behind it is different.
 
Tdm said:
I sympathise...its hard to put weight on whilst restricting carbs, even with higher fats. I never put on weight even with moderate keto. I do wonder if we are dealing with a misdiagnosed t1?
Click to expand...
I agree. It sounds like her HbA1c was very high if she has been started on 2 lots of medication straight away and the doc being strict about diet and her already not being overweight and I wonder if her GP has considered that she might actually be Type 1 and not Type 2. Some doctors are blinkered when diabetes develops in more mature people and just assume that it must be type 2 when in fact many of us were diagnosed Type 1 later in life.

I would be asking the GP why he thinks she is Type 2 and why he thinks she isn't or might not be Type 1. Ask what her HbA1c is? Has she been tested for ketones and does she have a means of testing her urine for ketones? Usually Ketostix. What sort of readings is she getting at home with the finger prick tests?
Is the other medication Gliclazide? I am guessing that may be why she has been given a meter to test her levels. Are you able to go with her and ask these questions because it sounds like she is being a bit brow beaten or or at least feeling intimidated by the doctor.
 
AmyJane said:
Hello, I'm hoping to get some advice on diet from people diagnsed with type 2 diabetes, esp for those who were not overweight when they were diagnosed.
My Mum was diagnosed about three or four months ago. She's in her early 60s and looked like she was within a healthy weight range at that point - on the slim side.
Her Doctor's put her on a very strict diet and she is following it religiously, doing the finger prick tests and trying to keep her levels down, which all sounds great, but I don't tink it is at all. She's now ridiculously thin and looks gaunt and pale to me. As I said, she didn't need to lose weight in the first place, but now has done so due to the diet and at a very fast rate. She's hungry all the time, but says she can't eat anything and when she went throuh the list of what she's been told she can eat in a day, the quantity of food is what an 18 month old toddler might eat.
She said that the Doctor repeatedly tells her not to drink alcohol at her appointments and makes her feel like an alcoholic even though she doesn't drink (at most, she's a small glass of wine with Sunday roast / two drinks because it's Christmas Day kind of drinker)!
I feel like she's just being given an off the shelf diet/advice for those who are very overweight and need to lose weight to help their diabetes.
I know that she's also on three metformin a day and one other drug that I can't remember the name of once a day.
It seems extreme. Does anybody know of any good diabetes type 2 diet plans for women that won't make you lose weight and, ideally, allow you to gain a bit of weight back?
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
As you say one of the problems is that most dietary advise is aimed at people who need to lose weight but sadly a one size fits all regime does not suit everybody and those who do not need to lose weigh will tend to do so if they restrict carbohydrates without increasing protein and healthy fats as the body need to get it's energy from somewhere.
I'm afraid some of the advise given by GPs is not all that helpful. I suspect that the advise was also for low fat and unless needed for other medical conditions it is not needed for Type 2 diabetes.
Have all the measures she has taken reduced her blood glucose or is it still high as that could indicate a misdiagnosis and she might be Type 1 or Lada. Do you know what her latest HbA1C is as that will indicate how her diabetes is at the moment.
Adding foods like avocados, nuts, eggs, cheese, full fat dairy and increasing her portions of protein may help.
Would you like to post the sort of meals she has and people may have some suggestions.
 
I really pigged out on fats when i was low carb but weight gain was still hard...one of the things i'd be tempted to ditch is small portions...
 
I can’t do very low carb (even with copious amounts of fat) because I become underweight very quickly. I don’t think it suits everyone.

@AmyJane Whats the other medication she’s on? She needs to be able to eat enough to sustain her weight. Perhaps she actually needs insulin so she can eat enough to put back the weight and remain a stable weight while controlling her blood sugar?
 
Thank you so much for all your replies on this. She won't really like that I've asked about it, as she's a very private person (even though none of you know me from Adam!). I'm going to share your answers with my Dad and see if he'll go with her to her next appointment to ask some more questions. I don't live with them, I'm an hour away. I'm also woefully lacking in information about diabetes at the moment. I was just a bit horrified when I saw her yesterday and how skinny she looked!
If it was my brother or I, she'd lose her s**t and demand we get more tests, etc, but because it's her, she's just (seemingly) doing everything the Dr says without questioning it. Drs see 30 patients a day... sometimes you've got to listen to your body and advocate for yourself when you don't think something is right.
I'll try send subtly find out the name of the second medicine she's taking, but yes her levels were very, very high and she has brought them down to between 5-6 (this doesn't mean a lot to me right now!).
 
The fact that her levels have come down with a low carb diet does not preclude her being Type 1, but if they start to go up again despite her best efforts then she needs to get medical help, especially if she starts to feel ill with abdominal pain or nausea or respiratory trouble or her breath starts to smell fruity like pear drops. If any of this happens your Dad needs to get her to A&E pronto, because they are signs of DKA (Diabetic KetoAcidosis) which is very serious and indeed life threatening. Whilst her levels are below mid teens she is generally considered safe from this, so it would be a concern if her levels started to go high again.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top