Skinny in Illinois

[chris724]

Greetings! When I was diagnosed in November '06, I weighed in at 129lbs. I am 5' 8.5" and I had gotten so skinny, it was obvious something was wrong. My friends were relieved when I told them I had type 2 diabetes, not cancer or something more serious. :) Well, relief wasn't exactly my reaction to the news. I got cracking and learned about my disease and got to work on the diet and exercise. In 3 months I had reduced my A1C from 16.7 (!) to 8.4. Since the diagnoses, I have been on 500mg Metformin x 1/day and 4/2 Avandaryl x 2/day. My next 3 quarterly tests showed an A1C of 6.3, 6.8, and 6.3, so my doctor so no need to adjust the medication. But I attribute these results more to my efforts than to the pills. I thought I was doing great until I read some of the numbers here on these forums. I guess I still have some room for improvement! Anyway, I'm now up to 149lbs, and most of that gain is muscle in my legs and arms. I am encouraged by these successes so far, but I'm a little worried about my daily carb intake. At the beginning, I could have 180g/day to get under 100mg/dl the next morning. I've slowly been having to cut back, and I now eat more like 130g/day to get my numbers. Is it possible I'm a Type 1.5, like I've learned about here? Or is this progression of the disease normal for Type 2? Well, on a happy note, I measured 99mg/dl this morning after some serious partying yesterday. I had chowed down on the veggie platter and hot wings, but also on taquitos and chips and beer. Away from home, it's always hard to judge how bad I've really been. So the 99 this morning was a nice treat!

[ant hill]

What a great effort!!!, To gain weight meens that the Insulin is working for you and welcome to Daibetes Forums.
Your A1C is a great improvement. :D

I will look forwaed to your future posts. :D

[Jill-O]

Hi and welcome here from Virginia http://www.getsmile.com/emoticons/smileys-91853/aiw/bye.gif

That's very good work on your A1C's http://www.whinny4me.com/Smileys/happy0064.gif

You'll find lots of nice people and good advice here http://www.getsmile.com/emoticons/smileys-91853/aiw/yes.gif

[Jan B]

Chris,

You have done great so far. It's possible you are not Type 2. Several on this forum were misdiagnosed that way, simply because they seemed too old to be Type 1 (which it looks like you've already figured out).

A C-peptide test can be done when diabetes has just been found (or later?) and it is not clear whether type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes is present.

Hopefully, you'll get more definitive answers from others soon! If you were not a Type 2, I'd think your numbers would be higher, but I'm not confident in that answer.

Welcome!

[kgm0612]

HI Chris & Welcome to the forum. Nice people and tons of information to be found here.

Are you testing your blood sugar before going to bed and having a light protein snack? It's possible that your liver is dumping on you during the night, hence the higher blood sugar readings in the morning.

Karen

[xMenace]

Welcome Chris.

You are making a lifestyle choice by cutting down on carbs. Lots do it and I have no issue with it, unless it's an unhealthy low level. You have lots of room to add more metformin, a max of 2000g. If you find you need more carbs, don't hesitate to ask for more met, unless you want to move to an unhealthy high level of carbs :eek:

Balance!

[chris724]

Welcome Chris.

You are making a lifestyle choice by cutting down on carbs. Lots do it and I have no issue with it, unless it's an unhealthy low level. You have lots of room to add more metformin, a max of 2000g. If you find you need more carbs, don't hesitate to ask for more met, unless you want to move to an unhealthy high level of carbs :eek:

Balance!
Thanks, everyone. I am not on insulin yet, but I am slowly starting to accept that inevitibility. I am currently testing only once a day before breakfast. I'm not a real big fan of poking myself, and my doctor said this was adequate. I'm not convinced that the pills are doing much at all. Maybe I'll ask my doctor about doubling up on the Metformin, since I sure wouldn't mind a few more carbs each day! My evening routine is to have 30-50g at dinner around 7pm, a couple of shots of whiskey and cup of coffee at 9pm, and run on the treadmill for 20-40 minutes around 10pm. I'll usually eat about 1/2oz of beef jerky during or after the workout. I rarely go to bed before midnight. Forgoing the whiskey seems to produce higher morning numbers, but maybe this is just the dawn effect not being surpressed by the alcohol. I usually shower and shave and get dressed for about 30 minutes before my morning test. If I were to test immediately on rising, would I maybe see lower numbers? I think I'm going to try that tomorrow. Hey, I've learned something already!