Lantus & weight gain??

[Riana]

Hi! I really enjoy all the posts and info. I have been an insulin dependant diabetic (diagnosed when I was 8 yrs old) for 34 years. Been on Humalog & Humulin N for 17 years. Changed to Lantus and Apidra 2 weeks ago. (Hb1c was 7.9). I've noticed that I hypo and peak less on the Lantus.

I have read on the internet that Lantus makes u gain weight?? my weight is 59kg, my height is 172cm. Before the change to Lantus I lost 7kg. I watch what I eat. My fasting BG ranges between 3.5 - 7. (my Endo says it shoud be 6.5 and less) Taking 18 units Lantus in the morning and between 4 - 8 units Apidra before meals (depending on BG and what I eat).

Really worried about the weight gain all is talking about.....

[plattb1]

I wouldn't worry too much. Some people don't experience it at all.

I went on Lantus in January, gained a steady pound per month through July (0.95kg), then leveled off. In the last four months, I haven't gained any weight.

There's a lot of variability in this so just keep an eye on your weight.

[drummingfool]

I did experience some weight gain on Lantus (to be honest with you, I hate the stuff), but you have to remember that everyone is different. While I experienced all kinds of issues, many people have been on Lantus for years and never had any problems.

My suggestion would be to try out the Lantus for awhile and see what happens.

[CarrieJett]

I am curious if the weight gain comes from better control or lower bood sugars, not the actual lantus. If you are used to a higher a1c, your body could be using all your food when with higher blood sugars you were not. I know that if I run high for a few weeks for whatever reason I drop 5 pounds pretty fast, and if I am fighting a lot of lows I eat hundreds of extra calories fixing it. Did the other lantus-bulkers see a connection between their weight and control, or is it just from the lantus?

[Riana]

I am curious if the weight gain comes from better control or lower bood sugars, not the actual lantus. If you are used to a higher a1c, your body could be using all your food when with higher blood sugars you were not. I know that if I run high for a few weeks for whatever reason I drop 5 pounds pretty fast, and if I am fighting a lot of lows I eat hundreds of extra calories fixing it. Did the other lantus-bulkers see a connection between their weight and control, or is it just from the lantus?
Thanks for your comment. If the Lantus causes weight gain, I'll rather go back on my old regime (Humulin N and Humulog!!). Going to give it another 2 weeks...

[Grunch]

I find it hard to believe that Lantus has a special substance that causes you to gain weight. I agree with Carrie that the most likely cause of weight gain is better control.

It's not a good idea to choose weight loss over good control.

[Halley]

Hi Everyone! I am a type 2 Diabetic and on Humalog before meals and 30 units of Lantus Insulin every night. I have been on the Lantus a good 5 years and haven't had any weight gain I vary between 2 or 3 lbs. either way, but average in at my usual weight. Lantus has been very good for me, Everyone is so different, just gotta give it a good try......Hope you get some good results! I really enjoy all the posts on the Forum......so much knowledge from those that have experienced alot and can share with you. Thanks to everyone and I wish you the best!!

[dbaratta]

I have read on the internet that Lantus makes u gain weight?? my weight is 59kg, my height is 172cm. Before the change to Lantus I lost 7kg. I watch what I eat. My fasting BG ranges between 3.5 - 7. (my Endo says it shoud be 6.5 and less) Taking 18 units Lantus in the morning and between 4 - 8 units Apidra before meals (depending on BG and what I eat).

Really worried about the weight gain all is talking about.....

My experience was that I did gain weight, when I talked to my doc about it and my diabetes nutritionist they told me insulin is a fat promoter, fat storer. so if you were on insulin before and just changed brans I don't think that you will gain weight, if you were going to you probably would have with your other protocol. For me I went from met to insulin. On met I lost about 2 pounds a month steady, then as soon as they put me on insulin I gained it all back with a quickness. It was very disappointing for me but like anything everyone reacts differently.

I asked my doc why he didn't tell me that I would gain weight and he said because he knew that if he told me I would not take insulin. He was right but it was still wrong to keep it a secret from me. :mad: :argh:

[TommyC1]

I lost weight when I switched from NPH to Lantus and Novalog.
I also started counting carbs at the same time which got me to cut way back on my total daily carb intake. I did not and do not pay any attention to fats or calories. Just carbs.
I lost about 25 lbs in the first few months.
I also got rid of the debilitating hypos and my a1c's improved.
At this time my carb intake has gone up just a bit and my weight is holding steady.

[NewdestinyX]

Hi Rianna,
Welcome to the forum! You've gotten great responses so far and as you can see it's sorta hard to tell what will happen. I'm a Type 2 only Lantus for only 16 days so far. And so far so good. No weight gain -- actually down a pound this week.

Let me amplify one point noted already - insulin, of any kind, has the 'key' to opening your cells for reception of glucose from your bloodstream to use the glucose for one of two purposes. If you don't need any more 'energy' (little to no exertion in your day like if you have a sit down job and don't have an exercise program for yourself {even walking daily can be huge!}) then the insulin 'can' and often does store the glucose as fat and weight gain results. If you add a little to a lot of exercise to your regimen and eat low->moderate carb then you could break even and not gain since your body needs the glucose for energy and takes it from your bloodstream for energy. And if you add even more exercise and reduce carb intake even more then you could actually lose some weight - as some have reported here.

So Lantus itself from what I've read and others here have explained to me -- isn't a 'drug' in the sense that it has 'side effects' as a result of some 'inert ingredient' in it that causes gain weight. Like Actos™ is an oral med to help T2's reduce Insulin Resistance. But there are ingredients in the Actos that can 'cause' the 'side effect' of weight gain -- no matter what you do (for some people not all).

Lantus, as an insulin product, functions like our body's own insulin (except much slower - since it's a basal insulin product), in that it functions as a glucose 'converter' in a sense. Depending on 'our' actions it can 'convert' the glucose to 'fat' or to 'energy'.

My personal strategy is to keep a vigorous exercise program and watch my overall carb intake. I stay under 110g of carbs/day. And under 2000 calories overall.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes!