[mariannee]

I am a 39 year-old Norwegian who has been type 1 since I was 22 years old.
When I finally got diagnosed I had lost a lot of pounds.
I liked the new skinny me, and I very quickly learned that I could control my weight by injecting less insulin. I developed a kind of eating disorder that I still, after so many years struggle with.
I have exellent health, live a very active life and my diabetes doesn't stop me from doing anything. Still I have way too high bs at all times and I eat wrong kind of food. I am so afraid of gaining weight that I still use the less insulin-method.
Is there anyone else out there struggling with similar challenges?
Anyone who can give me some good advise on how to move forward, how to become a good diabetic without gaining weight?
I know I have to work it out, because it will only be a matter of time before my health won't be so good anymore.
It's time to take action!
Anyone?

 

[Guest]

What you have is Anorexia Nervosa and you're trying to tie it to being diabetic and using the myth that all diabetics using insulin gain weight. That simply isn't so.

You have to come to terms with this. Either you want to get your blood sugars under control and avoid diabetic complications in the future...or pride yourself on your thin image and suffer the consequences. Believe me...the consequences are far worse than weight gain. But I think you already know this.

I've been on an insulin regimen for 16 months now and have gained exactly 1 pound. At diagnoses, in July of 2009, I was 266 pounds. I weigh myself every Monday. Yesterday, and for the last 16 months I've weighed in at 267 pounds. I don't lose any weight...I don't gain any weight. I am overweight...but insulin has nothing to do with it.

I have no formulaic cure to offer...just a comment to debunk your beliefs that insulin automatically makes one gain weight. I suggest you get your blood sugars under control and address your weight issues once that's accomplished.

 

[Adjitater]

I agree with most of what Bountyman has said. However you do need to be careful when you take insulin that you are not caught feeding the insulin to keep from going low. If this happens then you will gain weight but maybe you need to gain some. Insulin in of itself is a growth horemone but what you are doing will not end well for you. Besides skinny chicks are ugly. You never see a farmer or a rancher saying boy look at good looking skinny cow. In my opinion people are just the same.

 

[Shanny]

Diabulimia at GraceNutrition.org

Hello, mariannee . . . the clinical name for your affliction is diabulimia. If we have members dealing with this challenge, I'm not aware of it, but there is information available: From Meghan Vivo/Diabulimia: A Deadly Path:

For most patients, a multi-disciplinary team approach that involves an endocrinologist, registered dietician, and psychotherapist produces the best outcome.

“Seeing a physician alone is not enough because the individual needs to address the emotional components of their eating disorder,” says Murdock, who formerly worked as a marriage and family therapist intern at The Victorian, an eating disorder treatment program for women in Newport Beach, California. “Seeing a therapist alone also is not enough because diabetes is a serious medical condition that requires treatment and monitoring.”

“With treatment, people with diabulimia can learn to accept their disease and manage their symptoms,” says Murdock. “Diabetes doesn’t define you but you do have to take control over your disease and your life.”

From Justine Lorelle Blanchard/DiabetesHealth:

Grace Shih, a registered dietitian and eating disorder counselor at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, believes treatment must be three-fold to be effective.

• An endocrinologist must be involved. An endocrinologist is a doctor who specializes in diseases that affect glands and hormones in the endocrine system. “[The doctor] would have to know how to treat diabetes and adjust insulin,” Shih says.
• The patient needs the help of a dietitian. The dietitian would help the diabulimic with nutrition. He or she would ideally have knowledge of eating disorders as well as diabetes.
• The diabulimic should see a therapist. This doctor would need to understand eating disorders and have medical knowledge of diabetes and insulin as well.

Essentially, each specialist must have a working knowledge of the other fields. Shih’s Web site, gracenutrition.org, launched in October 2007, can help diabulimics find the help they need.

 

[mariannee]

Thank you for links and advise.
I really found the articles interesting.
Where I come from we don't have this kind of program where endorcinologist, thearpeut and dietist are involved all together.
Either you see your doctor, or you can get in at the hospital to see an endor. or one can try for oneself to find a therapeut specialised in eating disorders, there are no such person as a specialist therapeut in diabulimia. Irritating :-(
Anyway, I found the links enriching, thanks!
It's all about me, and I know that I can fix this. I will!

 

[Richard157]

Hello mariannee, welcome! I have been type 1 for 65 years and I am doing very well. I hope you will improve your control so that diabetes complications will be less likely to occur. What is your current A1c?

Bountyman may disagree with this, but I don't think a type 1 should be very much overweight. I gained too much weight in the 1990s and was diagnosed with insulin resistance, which is a type 2 characteristic. A type 1 with insulin resistance is called a "double diabetic". I had to work very hard to lose some weight. I dropped from 242 to 208 and felt much better. I still have insulin resistance, but not as much. I have to take a type 2 medicine along with my insulin to help with the resistance.

I believe that type 1 diabetics staying close to their ideal weight will prevent insulin resistance, but gaining a little weight should not cause a problem. I was 42 pounds overweight when I developed insulin resistance. My total daily insulin dosage had increased 40%. After starting the type 2 med and losing some weight my insulin dosage returned to normal, but the resistance problem will always be there.

 

[Shanny]

Thank you for links and advise.
I really found the articles interesting.
Where I come from we don't have this kind of program where endorcinologist, thearpeut and dietist are involved all together.
Either you see your doctor, or you can get in at the hospital to see an endor. or one can try for oneself to find a therapeut specialised in eating disorders, there are no such person as a specialist therapeut in diabulimia. Irritating :-(
Anyway, I found the links enriching, thanks!
It's all about me, and I know that I can fix this. I will!

mariannee, if you are serious about gaining control over this, then you'll have to start rattling cages and enlisting the help of all the medical people who will listen. You say that you're in excellent health, but it's a delusion. You are deliberately allowing your diabetes to kill you, and it will - very slowly and surely.

If your doctor is not aware of your manipulation of insulin, then be honest with him and ask that he consult with experts in eating disorders, particularly diabulimia. Norway is medically advanced as anywhere else and Sandnes may not be a raging megatropolis, but it is a thriving city. You must actively seek the help you need and you will find it.

 

[Guest]

Bountyman may disagree with this, but I don't think a type 1 should be very much overweight.

I doubt I'd ever disagree with you, Richard. If I alluded that type 1s should be anywhere other than at a healthy weight...then I've misspoken.

 

[mariannee]

I will seek help!
I know that I have to do so, I realise that I cannot do this on my own and I realise that I have been ignoring my diabetes for way too long,
The only two periods of time that I have been really good have been during my two pregnancies. My Hba1c was under 6 then. Before and after it has been over 10.
When I say that my health is really good I mean that I never catch a flu, a cold or a fever. I live a very active life and don't experience that my diabetes has ever put a brake on whatever I wanted to do.
Still, I know the results my diabetes tests, and I know that I don't take as much insulin as I should and I know that I eat way too many carbs each day. I know where this can end, and that's why I am now taking action. One step at a time.
This is also the reason why I joined this "club"; to get some good advise, to talk to someone with the same diagnosis.
I am greatfull for all feedback. I need it. Thanks

 

[diabetes89]

Thank you for links and advise.
I really found the articles interesting.
Where I come from we don't have this kind of program where endorcinologist, thearpeut and dietist are involved all together.

 

[Shanny]

Thank you for links and advise.
I really found the articles interesting.
Where I come from we don't have this kind of program where endorcinologist, thearpeut and dietist are involved all together.

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