I have several questions: Since I have diabetes, my body weight keeps going up. How can I stop this? I take my injections as usual and my metformin. I’m now overweight and embarrassed. I have seen thin, older women who have this disease. When I get older, will I slim down?

I have diabetes because both of my parents have this diseases. Will my children have the same disease?

Because of your age, I presume that you have type 1 diabetes. You probably know that this means that your body does not make insulin adequately. In type 2 diabetes, the insulin present does not work efficiently. Sometimes people with type 1 diabetes have some of the insulin resistance effects of type 2 diabetes.

You probably also know that the key to controlling blood sugar, no matter what type of diabetes you have, is keeping a good balance of calorie intake (food), calorie use (exercise), and insulin requirements. If the main way that you control your blood sugar is to use insulin, with less attention to eating properly and exercising more, you will gain weight. And, it is common to gain weight rapidly in the first weeks to months after being diagnosed and treated for type 1 diabetes.

The older person you saw who is thin may be thin because she eats right, exercises right OR she may be in bad control of her diabetes.

If you possibly can, you should meet with a nutritionist or dietitian who specializes in diabetes to help outline a meal plan and exercise plan for you in order to balance those. Then, with the help of your diabetes doctor, perhaps your insulin doses can be adjusted so as to not gain weight so rapidly.

Both type 1 and 2 diabetes can be influenced by heredity. So, the fact that your parents have diabetes may certainly have played a role in your development of diabetes.

DS