Hi Mrs. D.

I find the whole weight issue completely baffling. I became diabetic (type 2), because I was morbidly obese. Didn't know I was. I was in the hospital with pneumonia and they took a blood test. They came to me and said 'did you know you are diabetic, your sugar is 365??"

I said "who's diabetic"??? I had no symptoms, wasn't thirsty, etc.

They put me on diabeta, glyburide, (but I never stopped eating, and topped out at over 300 lbs at one point. I was really on a self destructive course.

Only when I went to Cornell, saw a nutritionist, and followed that program, did I begin to lose weight (no easy feat at my age, believe me). It was like I had NO metabolism.

When I stopped the oral meds, and began the Lantus, well I began walking, and doing a lot more to control my health. Only then, did the readings significantly get lower. I remember once asking the doctor "is it true that diabetic meds make you gain weight?" and she said (quite uncomfortably), "well, yeah, because it's stored in the fat cells".

I then said "then how on earth can you expect overweight diabetic people to LOSE WEIGHT when the meds CONTRIBUTE TO WEIGHT GAIN??"

She just looked at me and said 'yeah, I know, it's a struggle".

See, nobody had the wisdom to tell me (when I was first diagnosed), that "Melody, these oral pills might contribute to your gaining weight, or to your not being able to lose weight". No one said one word.

I went on about my life thinking that if I took my meds, my sugar would be just fine. Didn't happen. I even went to a doctor about 15 years ago when my sugar was 265. She put me on glucophage. It didn't do a thing. Now I wasn't eating ice cream sundaes or anything like that but I was eating sandwiches, and chips, and drinking lots of diet soda with nutrasweet. That much I remember.

Would you like to know what that doctor told me when I went there for my monthly diabetic check-up?? She said "I don't know, maybe in your case, your sugar is SUPPOSED TO BE 265, maybe this is NORMAL FOR YOU!!!!"

Now being a lay person, not knowledgeable in ANY THING MEDICAL, why on earth would I question this?? I didn't.

Only when my NEXT primary care physician told me "you really should get off all this oral crap and go on Lantus". That's when two days later I joined the Accord program. I was put in the conservative group (in the diabetic study part of it). That was the turning point for me. Started walking, started eating WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO EAT!!! It came off slowly but it came off. And it's continuing to come off. That's the better way I believe because it stabilizes. I don't gain weight, and lose weight, etc. etc.

I look perfectly fine, and I feel perfectly fine so in my case, it's a good thing that I lost the weight. I can't imagine any doctor thinking it's okay for anybody to weigh what I weighed.

I think the weight gain (for the type 1's), well they might mean, if the person weighs 120, then that person might be better to weight 135 or so.

The type 1's that I know are all skinny as beanpole and eat like horses.

The guy down the block from me is Type 1, takes 5 shots a day, never checks his sugar, tells me "I know my body", I like to eat my pastries", (he lives for italian pastries). He's about 5 feet 10 and weighs at the most 145.

He has had several operations for diabetic retinopathy, works full time and LOVES TO EAT. But he's skinny as a beanpole.j

In Type 1, it's a whole other story with the weight thing. This guy couldnt gain a pound if his life depended on it. I know him for 7 years now. Speak to him all the time. He still won't test himself. I don't say anything, I just listen with fascination thinking "this guy can eat cannolis, italian pastries loaded with cream and sugar, and this guy is skinny as a beanpole".

And I have to watch every morsel that goes in my mouth.

It's all about metabolism, no????

P.S. His daughter weighs about 300 lbs. Go figure.