*****FROM ABC NEWS MEDICAL UNIT*****
Hi kayford01 and thank you for your question. Here is an answer from Paul Strumph, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation:
Why do you gain weight as soon as you go on insulin?
With uncontrolled type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the blood sugar rises to a level that is above the "renal threshold". This means that blood sugar enters the urine instead of being stored as energy (and weight) in tissues.. As a carbohydrate, sugar contains 4 calories per gram. If the sugar is in the urine, and not stored in the body, then the calories are not being retained by the body, and are leaving the body in the urine.
When diabetes becomes controlled, the blood sugar is not as high as before, and the sugar enters tissue as stored energy (and weight) instead of entering the urine. The weight "gain" seen in better control of diabetes is due to calories which previously couldn’t be stored, becoming stored.
Insulin and other therapies for diabetes do not "cause" weight gain, they allow the calories you eat to be stored appropriately. If you eat more calories than you need for daily energy—you will gain weight if you are a person with well-controlled diabetes, or someone without diabetes.
I wake up hungry every morning since I started on insulin.
It is important to establish if the hunger is associated with a low blood glucose. Too much insulin can cause a low blood sugar reaction. Frequently people feel hungry during or after a low blood sugar reaction. If this is what is occurring, and adjustment in insulin dose may be required. Check with the health care professional who is prescribing your insulin.
NOTE: Top medical experts on diabetes treatment answer more questions like these on our OnCall+ Diabetes website: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesTreatment/.
*****FROM ABC NEWS MEDICAL UNIT*****