I just turned 60 and I am working hard to rebuild muscle mass I have lost through age , insulin resistance and statins. It is not easy but it is doable. I do light weights everyday and am trying to improve my range of motion. The back of my shoulders are the worst to build up. But I refuse to give in to age or diabetes.
Looking at this list, for a T1, the weight gain and inability to lose weight seem counterintuitive considering how weight loss and the inability to gain weight is a symptom of T1 in the absense of insulin. I guess providing exogenous insulin and being resistant to it cause some other interaction that still allows the insulin to stimulate fat storage?
Hope you get this worked out Richard. You are one of my heroes.
Thanks. I am adjusting to Metformin, and it is working very well for me. I should start losing the weight I gained on Actos very soon now.
Jeanne, both of us have that problem. My shoulders are very weak, but my leg and arm muscles are not so bad. I will never be able to do the bench press with heavy weights. I think attempting that would do me more harm than good at this time. I hope you are successful in restoring some of your muscles.
Keep us posted. metformin is a great addition to a good protocol. :o)
Thanks for posting this Richard! I have a lot of those symptoms and have been suspecting insulin resistance problems. I go to the endo this friday so lets see what he says. I’m really active and I don’t eat much so I don’t give much insulin. I’m only around 130 pounds so I’m not really overweight either. Gee, don’t know, I guess they’ll be checking my thyroid, too.
Hi Sysy, it is nice hearing from you. It is certainly possible to have many of those symptoms, and not have insulin resistance (IR), so don’t jump to conclusions. Since you are using so little insulin, It is unlikely that you have IR. My insulin:carb ratio is 1:7 whereas type 1 diabetics would normally use a ratio like 1:15…1:30…etc. The thyroid is worth examining, but most of my friends with thyroid problems have experienced weight gain. Good luck with your endo visit!
Hi Richard. We may have talked about this briefly on another board. I’ve spent a lot of time looking into it as muscle weakness has been a concern for me with no other explanation. We talk on these boards about what insulin does to our atypical systems but not alot about what its normal function is which is to open a port on cells, including muscle cells, to let food in. If someone is insulin resistant the muscles in their cells may not be getting the message to open those ports and eat. The muscles themselves may be just fine (tests I had run showed no byproducts of muscle breakdown in my blood or urine for example) but they’re just not getting the fuel they need to run properly.
It’s also true that sometimes diabetes leads to high ACE levels. ACE is a vasoconstrictor. It makes the veins smaller and effectively inhibits circulation. That can’t help the food supply to muscle cells either.
Not saying these are the only explanation to weak muscles in those with diabetes, they’re just things that make sense in my own circumstance and for which there is no other explanation I’m aware of.
Thanks gphx, I appreciate you post. I have also been thinking that the cholesterol med I use, a statin, may be the cause of my muscle weakness. Statins have caused that problem for many people.
Something I was reading today said they can cause statin-induced SLE (lupus) too. Everything has risks and rewards. I hope you find what’s right for you.
just do it slowly and slowly increase your weights and you should be able to do anything. Remember to stretch a lot too
Tom, I have a trainer, and she watches me even on days that we do not have an appointment. If I start adding too much weight she lets me know.and if I lift too fast she slows me down. Thanks!