Does insulin REALLY make you gain weight? 

I've been on insulin for several years. When I first went on it I gained 40 pounds in the first month and did not change my eating at all. I kept that new weight for years but every time a doctor increased my insulin to a higher amount I gained a little but when I could decrease the amount I did not lose. I am elderly now and disabled and it is near impossible to lose for me. I hate this. I try to eat healthy but it really doesn't seem to make a difference.

@@belvadalidowich5314you’re likely consuming too many calories and or not as active !

@@mannyruiz8493 if is type 1 diabetes or severe insulin resistance, it will be hard to lose weight even if someone is active.

@@belvadalidowich5314There's no “healthy food” each body is different. Some “healthy foods” are good for some people but bad for others. I only eat a small can of whole corn daily, may be incredible because is corn, but corn helped me to at list lose some ounces of weight monthly. If I eat even a little more, I gain weight. That's how difficult it is to lose weight with chronic diabetes.

Jim that’s made my day and only 7:40 here so a good start to the day! Well done. What a turnaround. Congrats. Now keep it going!

Hi Melanie All insulin has a small anabolic effect - makes you gain some weight. It’s hard to advise on specific circumstances over RU-vid as I know nothing about your case. I can only do that in a formal appointment unfortunately. It’s not safe and would likely violate our code of conduct. As a general rule, high fat will help you gain weight but if you’re reducing carbs at the same time, you may find the calories balance out. So to gain weight, typically you need to eat more overall. But I wouldn’t want to tell you that only to find I then make your diabetes worse for example So id need full context I do offer 1:1 appointments because it’s the only way I can advise specifically to you. The services are published in my website

Good luck

Come off the insulin before it's too late. CUT OUT CARBOHYDRATE. Your disease was caused by elevated insulin!

I think I’m understanding what you’re saying but forgive me if I’m not. When blood glucose is high it increases infection risk because your body excretes the excess sugar via the kidneys and you pee it out. Bacteria likes sugar. So infection risk goes up. Particularly UTIs but all infections are more likely. When you take any glucose lowering therapy you will reduce this chance assuming the medication has the desired effect. When you lower blood glucose levels, you redirect the glucose to where the energy is destined to go. First that’s muscles and places that need energy. Then storage in the liver kidneys and muscles. Then if you’re over eating, into fat cells where it’s stored as fat. So I think your description is kind of there but not quite how it is if I’m understanding you correctly 👍

@@diabetesdietguy No. It was my understanding that the kidneys always only send sugar to the liver; part of the body's strategy to store energy. They only send it to the bladder if one of those recently created meds is being taken.

@@mediaapps no that’s not the case I’m afraid.

Hi Melanie Thanks for the comment. I hate to say it but I can’t advise on this over RU-vid I’m afraid. Not without a detailed view of your case. So I’d speak with your endocrinologist. If you’re not on insulin yet and walking around ok, you’ve overwhelming have type 2 diabetes. A c-peptide isn’t always needed as sometimes the presentation of the diabetes is fairly obvious. However, if your presentation is a bit more precarious, then it may very well be justified. So yes, have a chat with ya team. And the fact your body weight is fairly low, it may very well be justified👍 One thing I would say is I wouldn’t use insulin as a mechanism to gain weight I.e. don’t just go on insulin to gain weight if there’s other options available. However, if your glucose levels have been high for a while, then yes, going on insulin does help gain weight as all those glucose calories start to be absorbed. Whereas before, they would have been peed out Keep us updated 🙏

Hi alpha beta Unfortunately I can’t There’s an easy test that will tell you immediately if you have diabetes or not - HbA1c. So go see the doc In fairness, what you describe does not sound like type 2 diabetes People with type 2 don’t typically struggle to gain weight - in fact it’s normally the reason they get type 2 in the first place Type 1 on the other hand or LADA (slow onset type 1) is when people struggle to gain weight. However, type 1 is usually a very quick onset so you’d likely know by now if you had that. LADA is a bit different but just go see the doc. They could have a answer for you within a couple of days

Yes type 1 adult onset sounds more like it. I’ll definitely try to speak to a doc asap. Are you aware of anything that could be possibly damaging/reducing my insulin producing ability?

@@diabetesdietguy oh yeah it sounds more like type 1 adult onset… maybe from fat blocking my insulin receptors. Any tips on how to fix it?

Hi Melanie Yes it’s possible to be misdiagnosed Normally it’s difficult to misdiagnose conventional type 1 diabetes due to the speed at which the condition manifests. It’s normally a very acute onset resulting in excessive thirst urination weight loss and blurred vision. That said - occasionally patients develop a slower onset version called LADA. There are blood tests to confirm this One is called c-peptide - this measure how much insulin your body produces. However this will only show how much insulin you produce at the time of the test I.e. if your body is still producing insulin - even if type 1 but all your beta cells haven’t yet been destroyed and so you still produce insulin - it will show insulin being produced. And an Anti GAD (most common one)/ other anti body tests as sometimes different anti bodies are produced. - there’s a few - these test the autoimmune response that your body produces to destroy the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. If this is highly positive it shows type 1 The downside of this is once the process has happened and is complete, the anti bodies will disappear and be undetectable However, if that has happened, then your c peptide will confirm type 1 So if you’re years after being diagnosed type 2 and still producing insulin, it’s overwhelmingly likely it’s type 2. But obviously it’s hard to comment if you’re not one of our patients without the full picture But yes, it is possible- rare but possible 👍

Thank you so much for responding. I'm going to see an endocrinologist to get both the C-Peptide & Anti GAD tests. Wish me luck. Thanks again, Melanie

That’s it 👍