ObesityHelp

Mine is cured/in remission. Has been since the day of my DS surgery, long before I lost any weight. I don't understand the confusion. DS helps Type 2, not Type 1.

neither of my sisters have had the DS.  Both have Adult onset diabetes - one sis controlling hers with diet and exercise.   I was confused about the term "insulin dependent".

Does DS help Juvenile (Type I) diabetes? If not, why not?  What is the difference in the mechanics of the diseases that make 1 not effected?

You are right in that "juvenile" or Type I diabetics produce no insulin.  I was 15 years old when diagnosed with diabetes and weighed 102 pounds; was not overweight.  Diabetes runs in my family.  My great-grandmother started it, then I was the next to get it.  My daughter, now age 11, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 3.  She does not produce any insulin either and weighed a whopping 28 pounds when diagnosed.    Genetic testing was completed and she carried the gene that leads to diabetes.  Again, the inherited things.   I had the DS 10-17-06; I have lost 52 pounds, from 207 to 155 and yes, even though my diabetes will never be cured; I have decreased my insuin requirements dramatically and feel that I will continue to do so as I lose more weight.  I used to take 30 units of Lantus every evening; I now take 17 units; I used to take 20 or more units of Novolog before every  meal, I  now take anywhere from 3 to 5 units, depending on what I'm eating, basically if I eat any carbs I have to increase the dosage to 5 units. My father has adult onset diabetes, diagnosed at about 42.  He liked food too much.  He started out on diet and pills, but couldn't get himself to stop eating what he liked to eat and therefore he had to go on insulin and is still on insulin to this date at almost age 70.  So, like your sister, he probably wouldn't have had to go this route if he would have watched his food intake. This has gotten so long.  By the way, I hate diabetes too! Karey

Wow!  You have had some awesome results with your DS and Diabetes!  Going from 160 Units per day down to 20 Units!!  INCREDIBLE! 

My biggest fear is that I will end up with Diabetes.  My Grandmother had it, and my sister has it.  Grandma was heavy set, but I wouldn't say MO.  My sister is SMO, and was diagnosed with Diabetes at age 40.  I'm 37 now, and don't want to follow her footsteps! 

At any rate, thanks for sharing your progress!  It give us all hope!

Some of that confusion is why they use Type I and Type II these days.  Juvenile diabetes is generally Type I, but with the increase in childhood obesity we are seeing more Type II diabnetes in children.   Adults can also get Type I if something attacks the islet cells in the pancreas.  As you say Type I is always insulin dependent while Type II can be treated with just diet, oral drugs, insulin, or a combination of the three.  Therefore, Type II may be insulin dependent and I have known Type II patients who took over 150 units of insulin daily.  Some people with Type II can also burn out their pancreas and become Type I.  It can be confusing and I think I just confused myself. Anyway, I was on a combination of Actos, Metformin, and Amaryl before surgery and my doctor was thinking about switching me onto insulin.  After surgeyr, I continued a low dose of Actos for 3 months and have been drug free since.  My last A1c was 4.2 so I can be considered "cured".

Type I diabetics produce no insulin whereas most Type II diabetics still produce some insulin.  Weight loss almost always helps II because the less extra fat we have, the less insulin resistant we are.  The DS has perhaps more success than other weight loss surgeries because it changes how food is digested in addition to causing weight loss.  My PCP actually said that they are investigating whether or not the DS might help type I diabetics with insulin control, but as of now, there is nothing that can place a type I in remission. Type I and Type II diabetics are at risk of the same complications related to blood sugar control but, according to my doc, type II's can control their blood sugar with diet more so than type I's *****quire insulin injections (or inhaled insulin, which is still experiemental).  Type II diabetes progresses and it sometimes becomes necssary to take insulin to control blood sugar, but not always.

Not all Type II diabetics are overweight, though.  I have an uncle, slim, athletic, eats fairly decent who was diagnosed 4 years ago, so I guess you never know!

Juvenile diabetes or Diabetes type I is where the pancreas doesn't produce any, or only produces terribly small amounts of insulin.  People with this will never get off insulin unless they come up with a reliable pancreas transplant or they get the stem cells going to town.  And yes, sometimes Type II burns out the pancreas from overuse and it shuts down. Type II diabetics typically produce a LOT of insulin.  Before they're actually diabetic, most of us become insulin intolerant.  This actually leads to a great deal of weight gain (insulin creates hunger.  The insulin actually takes the glucose out of the bloodstream and "ushers" it into the cells where the cells use it for fuel.  If the cells are resistant to insulin, they leave the glucose in the bloodstream and all that insulin just circulates with it, making people hungry!!) Like lower than average blood pressure IS a good thing and reassuring.  Lower than average blood sugar is not a good or reassuring thing.  People who have incidents of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia, are NOT at less risk for diabetes.  In fact, this is one of the signs of pre diabetes, or insulin resistance.  The insulin in the blood stream builds up and builds up and something or other tips the balance and the blood sugar suddenly gets ushered into the cells and there's your low blood sugar.  It's not a good thing.  And contrary to popular belief, tight control of glucose does NOT always stave off the full-fledged diabetes, nor does it keep the diabetic problems away from a diabetic.  I thought that, too.  Using me as an example:  I had my diabetes controlled for probably about 20 years with diet and exercise.  I got double pneumonia in 2000 and that seemed to have just reset my whole body.  I went on oral meds and then insulin.  And with the meds, I again had very tight control - I never have had an A1C glycosylated hemoglobin over 6.2 and some of them have been in the 5.9 range.  Anything below 7.0 is considered good control for a diabetic.  Although there is talk now that lower is much better, but 7 is traditionally considered OK. But even so, I've got diabetic retinopathy.  I'm almost completely blind in the left eye.  I've also got kidney failure, but I also took way too much IBU for endometriosis (I know - not smart) and some kidney-harsh blood pressure meds.  I asked my endocrinologist about it, because I really thought I shouldn't have such horrible problems since the blood sugar wasn't scraping at my blood vessels all the time.  He said that's just the progression of the disease, sometimes. Love Dennie