I find diabetes VERY confusing.

I've battled weight all of my life. I finally lost enough to have a body that passes for normal, while I still don't weigh normal. I can live with that.

My diet is spot on so I'm not worried. I don't cheat. I don't feel the need. I like what I eat and my sugar ranges from 85 to 119 in the a.m. And the other day it was 105 in the afternoon. So whatever I'm doing and eating (walking and sprouting) and eating my salmon), well it works for me.

But I have realized that when I went off insulin for that 6 weeks my body lost some weight. I know that insulin is stored in fat cells. I can understand that much. So when I don't take insulin, and I watch what goes into my body, my sugar went up but I did lose some weight. But I went back on Lantus and so far so good.

So here is where i get confused. I have a friend who used to weight 175. She is tall. This was 5 or so years ago. She got dizzy, they took her sugar and it was 300. So they put her on meds. She LOST a lot of weight, and now she weighs about 115. She is 53 years old by the way.

She does not diet. Her doctor is telling her to stop losing weight. She says 'I'm not trying to lose any weight". She is on 10 of Lantus, she is on Janumet, she is on other orals too. AND SHE LOSES WEIGHT?

I remember when I used to be on Metformin and I couldn't lose an ounce. I also didn't watch what I ate but that's on me.

So I got into the ACCORD program some years ago, saw a nutritionist, got off ALL oral meds, went on Lantus and it took me like 4 years to lose 50 lbs.

I never understood this. I asked my doctor 'why the heck is it so hard for me to lose the rest of my weight" and he said 'Well, you are 63 years old, you look perfectly fine, so don't worry about what the scale says "

Yeah, easy for him. He then said "You would have to go to the gym every single day to lose the rest of the weight because you are 63 years old"

I understand this. But how come my friend is losing weight and she's not trying AND HER SUGAR IS UNDER CONTROL. One morning it was even 74.

She does the fenugreek seeds like I do.

She also smokes, but we are working on that.

I know metabolism plays a part here but I was under the impression that if a person was diabetic because they weighed 175 and then they lost the weight, and their sugar stabilized, then why are they still losing weight even when they don't diet.

I looked up the symptoms of diabetes and one of them was weight loss. It explained that the body is in starvation mode and that it burns fat and muscle for energy.

So how come that didn't happen to me all these years?

And then I have a friend who weighs 300 lbs, is a diabetic for 15 or so years, and she's type 2. And she is on SO much meds I can't believe it.

She takes 80 Levimir, and 3 shots of humulog a day plus orals. And each morning when she wakes up her sugar is over 250.

When she told me this I said : 'holy cow, you are not scared about this?" and she said: "Well, nothing I can do, I'll never be 120 in the morning but I'm worried about what happens down the road."

Down the road??? Jeez.

So someone please explain:

1. How a person can be on all that meds (and I don't think she's eating tons of cake every day, she does watch), so how can she be taking 3 shots of humalog and 80 units of Levimir and oral meds AND STILL GET UP AND IT'S 281??

I don't understand how this could happen

And the other friend, why is she still losing weight and she's not dieting?

I don't understand the ups and downs of diabetes.

I guess I have to be lucky that my sugar is 85 in the morning.

I'm doing well, and that's great but I really would like to understand what is going on when other people have the same condition that I have.

If Mrs. D or someone could explain in simple terms why I don't lose weight like my friend does, and why my other friend is on SO MUCH MEDS and still can't get under 250, well I'd sure like to understand this.

Thanks much

Melody