I am type I diabetic and am curious as to why weight loss is a symptom to look for. I've never had anyone explain to me why diabetes affects weight - is it the high sugars or the lows that cause you to lose.

I am type I diabetic and am curious as to why weight loss is a symptom to look for. I've never had anyone explain to me why diabetes affects weight - is it the high sugars or the lows that cause you to lose. It is your body dealing with uncontrolled levels of blood glucose. In Type I glucose isn't moved into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, the body's cells starve for nutrients and other systems in the body must kick in to provide energy for many important bodily functions. The build up of sugar in the blood can lead to an increase in urination (to try to clear it from the body). When the kidneys remove the glucose through the urine, they also remove a large amount of water, causing dehydration, this causes part of the weight loss. The loss of sugar in the urine means a loss of calories which provide energy and therefore many people with high sugars lose weight, even though they are eating and experience hunger.

You lose weight due to the loss of fluids through frequent urination but you also lose weight due to changes in your metabolism. Rapid weight loss with diabetes is caused by high blood sugars.

Like the other poster said, when you don't have the insulin to wrap around the glucose, your cells become starved for energy. As anyone who knows about starvation can tell you, your body will get rid of muscle before fat as you hold onto fat when you go into starvation mode.

Initially, you lose water weight and become dehydrated. After that, you lose muscle mass. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it can mean a significant loss. I was 240lbs in Feb of 1995. By August of that same year, I was 158lbs. This would have been great I guess if it were not for the fact that I couldn't walk! I had lost so much potassium that I got constant cramps in my legs. I also had strange rashes and wounds that wouldn't heal... Not fun

Keep in mind that high blood sugars also raise your metabolism and that aids in weight loss. In the 1st century A.D. a man by the name of Arateus described diabetes as "the melting down of flesh and limbs into urine"... You literally waste away.

HTH

Body has to burn fat to survive once the fat is gone it will burn muscle. The by product of fat burning is acidosis if left unchecked can cause the blood to become acidic and you can die

Actually, with diabetes, your body will hold on to fat and burn muscle. When the body feels that it is starved, burning fat is the last resort