The thyroid issue offers another hurdle in itself… But as Bella stated, hang in there! Like you I have always been thin or in the low end of normal weight, after diagnosis, I gained 20 lbs.
I have been on Symlin for a few months now and immediately dropped 5 lbs, but then struggled to lose 5 more… However, recently, I noticed instead of hovering 145 I am not hovering 139-141… So I think once you are balanced and knowing your body and levels, you have half the battle beaten! Before Symlin, I was overly frustrated with exercising, eating right, and always hungry and never losing a lb. But now, I can see a huge difference, it is just a slower process with diabetes involved… and in your case, thyroid issues too…
Thanks, Kaayle. Actually my thyroid is the first thing I always think of when I gain weight, but at last testing it was fine. It sounds like you have been losing slowly and I’d be ok with that too.
I’m now taking 120 mcg about 15 minutes before my 3 meals. I didn’t lose weight on the lower dosages so I thought I’d try raising it. I do see substantial improvement in my blood sugar, but no weight loss. I do have to be careful and not let that 15 minutes drift to 25 and to test if I’m borderline low before I take it as at the higher dosage I do get lows occasionally and they come on pretty fast and hard, so I try to be cautious.
I’ve been taking Symlin since 5/18 but only on the higher dose since 7/26, so I’m not ready to give up yet. I have about a month’s less before I need to reorder so I’ll decide then if it’s worth it for me.
Interesting… I’ve been replying to a few posts so forgive me if this is a redundant question… But are you spiking a couple hours after eating your meals?
No, my spike comes between 3 1/2 to 4 hours which is when I test now. I used to have my spike before somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 hours and always tested my post prandials at 2 hours.
I’m glad to see someone else generating discussion on here, I’ve found there is little activity and its nice to compare notes.
Definitely hang in there Zoe - I just started back up on Symlin last week... I'm definitely not gaining more weight but am starting to feel less of the normal "bulge" I usually feel after eating. I'm going to be 40 in a few weeks and my stomach is definitely on the "not so easy to loe weight" side of things.
Last time I was on Symlin (roughly 8 months) it took me a while to drop the extra weight and get back on track but it definitely happened. I take Symlin right before I am going to eat, use a dual-wave bolus (30% now / 70% later spread over 1.5 hours) and reduce my insulin intake by 50%. So far that has been working great for me but I know that I have a long way to go...
My basal rates are what is causing trouble for me now and I'm just really eager to lower them becaue I know my weight gain has a lot to do with that too. Keep posing your results and I post mine - maybe we can work on it together!
