Hey everyone. New here. T2DM, just switched over to insulin vs oral medications. Diagnosed 12 ish years. I usually did not feel the hunger trigger very much, and usually could only eat small servings in a sitting. I have been on insulin for almost a month, and I am finding that I am ravenous! all the time! and eat way more than I usually do as a result of it.
This makes me super confused, and quite frustrated.
Any clarification would be much appreciated. I do see my endo within the next couple of weeks, so Iām hoping to she some light on this (and will update accordingly).
Only going on my own experience, I would say that insulin does not cause hunger. I eat meals that fill me and am rarely hungry between meals. When I ate a low carb diet, I wasnāt hungry and now on a low fat plant based diet I am very seldom hungry. I am a type 1. I donāt know if taking too much insulin could cause hunger. I am also only rarely hungry when low.
I am not sure about the too much insulin part. I have been titrating up by a couple of units until my fasting BGL is within range in the morningsā¦ nothing else has changed, so I attributed to that, but I could very well be mistaken. As I mentioned, I have never been on insulinā¦
Insulin wonāt make you hungry, but insulin deficiency will. When you are insulin deficient, such as in untreated and/or uncontrolled type 1 diabetes, your cells arenāt getting the energy they need because the lack of insulin keeps the glucose in your blood stream instead of transporting it into cells for uptake and use.
The highly levels of glucose in your blood stream are eventually filtered by the kidneys and excreted in the urine after wreaking havoc on the body and all meanwhile your cells are starving for energy. The body tries desperately to feed the cells with body fat, this is why type 1 diabetics lose so much weight and have high levels of both glucose and ketones in the blood and urine, prior to starting insulin therapy.
Unfortunately while this is occurring a vicious cycle of gluconeogenesis is happening in the liver. The liver notices the cells are starving for glucose and speeds up the process of breaking down fats, tissues, and proteins for conversion to glucose for the cells, therefore more weight is lost and blood sugar levels climb even higher because the insulin deficiency prevents the glucose from entering the starving cells
The good news is, when insulin levels are restored and blood sugar is balanced. Your hunger and appetite should essentially return to normal. However your eating habits, cravings, snacking, and other psychological food patterns will still exist.
The scientific word for this symptom is āpolyphagiaā and itās a main symptom in uncontrolled, untreated, and/or undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.
What do you mean by just switched over to insulin? Are you taking one long acting insulin daily and one short acting insulin for each meal? What insulin are you taking, when are you taking it and how many units do you take? With that information in hand, we can certainly help you out. Insulin makes me ravenous, especially combined with exercise. So please let us also know your exercise routine as well.
It would help significantly to know what kind of insulin you are taking. Are you only taking long-acting basal? Or are you taking a combination of long-acting basal and rapid-acting, mealtime bolus insulin? Or perhaps some other regimen?
Hi, yes let me clarify. I had been managing (trying to) just on oral medications. (Metformin, jardiance, glycozide, januvia) after being diagnosed for so long now (just over 12 yrs) and not having any success getting my a1c down, my endo and I decided to try a basal insulin (triseba) plus metformin and januvia. I am titrating up (on my forth week) until my fasting sugars are in range. At the moment I am on 22 units and still rising.
I am just getting back into exercise after shattering my tail bone just shy of 3 months ago.
Before that, i was going 2 a wk with my trainer and walking daily. Throw in some yoga/boxing/zumba when I can.
Ah so youāre type 2. Metabolic syndrome along with your increased exercise regimen is whatās likely causing you to feel so hungry.
If I may make a few suggestions to curb your hunger, get your diabetes under control, and possibly reduce your meds, try long term water fasting. If your daily life permits it, go as many days as you can consuming nothing but water occasionally mixed with sea or Himalayan salt for electrolytes.
Iām not going to assume youāre overweight, but if you are and manage to lose it, your diabetes will improve markedly. Type 2 is typically much easier to manage and can sometimes be halted, not reversed, youāll always need to watch your diet and weight. But there is certainly hope to come off or reduce your meds if you work really hard. If itās not possible for you, of course thatās fine as well, weāre all different and meds are there to help
Quick edit: I havenāt found any literature on Tresiba causing hunger. Itās one of the newer basal insulins and it works very well based on research and studies, especially regarding reducing hypoglycemia when compared to other basal options. So essentially I think itās highly unlikely that your new insulin regimen is inducing newfound hunger
You may want to curb your exercise for a few weeks as exercise is just an additional factor you have to deal with in your BG/A1C management.
The starting point would be to reduce your carbs wherever possible. Go to a low carb diet. This is not a diet you need to do forever but it will allow you to learn how many carbs you can eat per meal and per day before your medication no longer keeps up. Forget, for now, low carb hi fat or low carb low fat, just go low carb. When you get your meal carbs down to 20 and below and your daily carbs below 50, you should see a marked improvement in your BG (Blood Glucose). From there you can tweak your diet and do what works best for you and then introduce exercise back into your regime and adjust for that as well. You will also find as you eat more fats, that will curb your appetite and that will encourage you to start skipping meals. Skipping dinner, followed by skipping breakfast is best for BG control when you feel totally sated from Low carb/High Fat meals.
There are some really great recipes on www.ditchthecarbs.com and you will find you can eat almost all the foods you love on low carb. This is not necessarily a long term solution, but a starting point you will be able to work from and tweak to get your BG and A1C in line. Here is a start for you. Enjoy and keep us posted:
You will also find as you eat more fats, that will curb your appetite and that will encourage you to start skipping meals.
As @CJ114 mentioned, eating a relatively high fat diet will reduce your bodyās hunger. Works for me, I eat only once a day (Iām type 1 and have been injecting insulin most of my life)
How many calories do you consume when eating OMAD? Iāve tried OMAD but I struggle with rapid weight loss. I am currently eating two meals a day (~1pm and ~7pm) and still struggling to keep my weight up. I eat only beef with Himalayan or sea salt, but I think salt is zero calories anyway
Wow and you arenāt losing tons of weight? Iām very active but I imagine you are too. Iām curious as to how you maintain a healthy weight eating such few calories. Iād think 1500 calories would roughly be the basal metabolic needs, not accounting for additional energy expenditures. But maybe the consensus is wrong and we actually require far few calories than we think. Also of course everyoneās caloric needs vary
Iāve found I need far fewer calories than the minimum 1500 recommended (Iām only about 150lbs now, lost nearly 40 but put a few back on). For someone my size and age, 800 calories is plenty to maintain body weight
I am also eating an average of about 800 calories per day and maintain my weight between 125 lbs-127 lbs on a low carb (15-18 carbs per meal) on 2 meals per day at age 70+ and regularly inline skate 20-25 miles on nice days. Also working full time and do lots of walking at our various facilities worldwide. My nutritionist originally requested I eat 1500 calories per day and I decided I did not want to join the average US obese crowd so ignored her advice and never looked back.
