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I have a somewhat odd question. I am a newly diagnosed Type 2 who was recently hospitalized for very high blood sugar (along with pulmonary embolism, lung infection and broken kneecap) So they have given me quite a lot of insulin to bring the sugars down to have surgery.
All of a sudden I have grown hips! I have always been on the slim side with relatively small hips. My waist looks tiny compared to these big hips I have now. Is this strange or unusual? I know insulin makes you gain, plus I started eating more to keep strength for surgery. I am also on several courses of antibiotics but not thinking that has anything to do with it. This just happened all of a sudden, was in hospital a total of 16 days.
Insulin has been considered to be essential to maintianing BS levels due to the way in which it was discovered-- a hundred y/a, Banting removed the pancreases from a bunch of rats and found their BSs all went up...He ground up the pancreases and injected them in the rats and their BSs went back down. Then he progresssively fractionated ground up pancreases and found that it as the protein portion that did the trick. From there, he eventually purifed insulin and the paradigm of "insulin's purpose is to keep BS levels normal....
....Subsequent research should probably be interpreted to say that insulin's purpose is to regulate fat metabolism, and one of the ways it does that is to take sugar in the blood and force it into fat cells to make fat.
Eg-- A very typical scenario is that a young mother notices her cherubic 4 y/o is losing weight like crazy, has become skinny and not acting very energetic. She takes him to the pediatrician (unless the kid goes into diabetic coma first, then it's the ER) and the doc finds a very, very high BS. The kid is started on insulin and before long, gains weight and becomes cherubic again.
In 40 yrs of caring for diabietcs, I've found that a major and common mistake is for a doc to start an adult T2 diabetic on insulin too soon just to satisfy his own ego and avoid criticism for not gettng the pt's BS down. When that's done, it's counter-productive-- BS falls initially, but the pt gets fatter, so the BS goes back up. That's why you see so many T2 diabetics getting fat and repeatedly iincreasing insulin doses.
In your case, surgery is needed in a timely manner, so using insulin temporarily won't hurt and it will avoid potential problems of hi BS in the short term.
In the long term, it's best usually for T2 to use treatments that don't increase insulin levels (T2 usually has hi insulin levels to start with)...But pooirly cntrolled T2 DM will "poop out" the pancreas eventually and insulin may be required then....A signal for that is when the pt is well controlled for yrs, then starts losing weight and BSs rise.
OTOH- the "skinny T2 diabetic" is an enigma. Diet imay be the keystone to treating DM, but how far down can you cut calories when you start out skinny ?
I've described generalities about treatment, but everyone is different and there are exceptions. Discuss with your doc about long term management and what's best for you....Hope you're feeling better soon.
Insulin has been considered to be essential to maintianing BS levels due to the way in which it was discovered-- a hundred y/a, Banting removed the pancreases from a bunch of rats and found their BSs all went up...He ground up the pancreases and injected them in the rats and their BSs went back down. Then he progresssively fractionated ground up pancreases and found that it as the protein portion that did the trick. From there, he eventually purifed insulin and the paradigm of "insulin's purpose is to keep BS levels normal....
....Subsequent research should probably be interpreted to say that insulin's purpose is to regulate fat metabolism, and one of the ways it does that is to take sugar in the blood and force it into fat cells to make fat.
Eg-- A very typical scenario is that a young mother notices her cherubic 4 y/o is losing weight like crazy, has become skinny and not acting very energetic. She takes him to the pediatrician (unless the kid goes into diabetic coma first, then it's the ER) and the doc finds a very, very high BS. The kid is started on insulin and before long, gains weight and becomes cherubic again.
In 40 yrs of caring for diabietcs, I've found that a major and common mistake is for a doc to start an adult T2 diabetic on insulin too soon just to satisfy his own ego and avoid criticism for not gettng the pt's BS down. When that's done, it's counter-productive-- BS falls initially, but the pt gets fatter, so the BS goes back up. That's why you see so many T2 diabetics getting fat and repeatedly iincreasing insulin doses.
In your case, surgery is needed in a timely manner, so using insulin temporarily won't hurt and it will avoid potential problems of hi BS in the short term.
In the long term, it's best usually for T2 to use treatments that don't increase insulin levels (T2 usually has hi insulin levels to start with)...But pooirly cntrolled T2 DM will "poop out" the pancreas eventually and insulin may be required then....A signal for that is when the pt is well controlled for yrs, then starts losing weight and BSs rise.
OTOH- the "skinny T2 diabetic" is an enigma. Diet imay be the keystone to treating DM, but how far down can you cut calories when you start out skinny ?
I've described generalities about treatment, but everyone is different and there are exceptions. Discuss with your doc about long term management and what's best for you....Hope you're feeling better soon.
Thanks for the info. Yes, being hospitalized they had to give me lots of insulin to bring me down for surgery. But going to see my primary on Monday to discuss treatment plan. Right now hospital sent me home injecting 25 units lantus morning and night but I am waking up way too low (in the 50s). So obviously some adjustment is needed.
Lantus is usually only used once a day just to provide some baseline/background insulin. Surges of BS after meals are covered with some combination of intermediate &/or short acting insulins, and only the most complicated cases need more than two injections per day...Keeping in mind that hi BS will take 20 yrs to kill you, and low BS will take 20 seconds to kill you, may I suggest you ask for a referal to an endocrinologist/ diabetologist? Is you PCP an internist or a FP?
Lantus is usually only used once a day just to provide some baseline/background insulin. Surges of BS after meals are covered with some combination of intermediate &/or short acting insulins, and only the most complicated cases need more than two injections per day...Keeping in mind that hi BS will take 20 yrs to kill you, and low BS will take 20 seconds to kill you, may I suggest you ask for a referal to an endocrinologist/ diabetologist? Is you PCP an internist or a FP?
I believe he is a FP, so he may refer me out. I will see him on Monday. I am waking up SUPER low and am concerned. I think my dose is too high. But at least I don't have to wait too long.
On another note I figured out that the "weight gain" is actually edema from one of my meds (gabapentin). It is not a necessary one so I am going to quit it. Not even sure why it was prescribed, as it does nothing for me.
I have a somewhat odd question. I am a newly diagnosed Type 2 who was recently hospitalized for very high blood sugar (along with pulmonary embolism, lung infection and broken kneecap) So they have given me quite a lot of insulin to bring the sugars down to have surgery.
All of a sudden I have grown hips! I have always been on the slim side with relatively small hips. My waist looks tiny compared to these big hips I have now. Is this strange or unusual? I know insulin makes you gain, plus I started eating more to keep strength for surgery. I am also on several courses of antibiotics but not thinking that has anything to do with it. This just happened all of a sudden, was in hospital a total of 16 days.
Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Its why diet and exercise are so critical to a good outcome with the disease. The drug you need will make you fatter.
Thanks for the info. Yes, being hospitalized they had to give me lots of insulin to bring me down for surgery. But going to see my primary on Monday to discuss treatment plan. Right now hospital sent me home injecting 25 units lantus morning and night but I am waking up way too low (in the 50s). So obviously some adjustment is needed.
Keep juice next to the bed. You will learn how to adjust it. No one size fits all for diabetes. We could be same age gender height weight and have total different dosing.
In hospital, were You taking prednisone?
That stuff can mess up/raise blood sugar bad !
Last edited by Oldhag1; 11-22-2022 at 03:52 AM..
Reason: Fixed formatting
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I have always been on the slim side with relatively small hips. My waist looks tiny compared to these big hips I have now. Is this strange or unusual? I know insulin makes you gain, plus I started eating more to keep strength for surgery. I am also on several courses of antibiotics but not thinking that has anything to do with it. This just happened all of a sudden, was in hospital a total of 16 days.
