the one about the new endo

I just started with a new endocrinologist last week. Actually, I never had an endo before, just my PCP, so I guess “new” is a relative term. I also completely forgot to take a picture of the waiting room so I’ll have to do it when I go back. Which will be in less than a week.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a type 2 but I also take multiple insulin shots a day. I’ve also talked before about my multiple drug regiment (2 diabetes pills a day, 2 types of insulin, cholesterol lowering drug) so I won’t go into all that stuff again. One of the drugs I was taking was Januvia which was supposed to help my beta cells work better when they were supposed to, like after eating. And it did! My mealtime insulin doses when down both when I restarted the metformin and also when I started the Januvia.

I told my endo that I want to eventually get pregnant, and while I’m not there yet, I’d like to have my body prepared so that it can handle the pregnancy good. So here’s what we are going to be working on:

1. Better diet and exercise. I’ll be seeing a dietician next month to learn more about food, cause that’s an area that I’m really lacking in knowledge on. I’m also supposed to start/keep exercizing.
2. I’m apparently an EXCELLENT candidate for a pump, even as a T2 (which can cause some difficulties sometimes), so I’m going to be checking out some pumps with a demo from the pump lady at the clinic next week. My choices apparently are Animas Ping, Minimed Revel, and Omnipod. (I might talk about this more soon, so any opinions are more than welcome!!!)  Even if I can manage to get my diet and exercise in control, my endo thinks (and I agree) that I’ll most likely need insulin during pregnancy anyway, so this will get me started.   If I’m going to be poking myself as part of my diabetes management, I’d rather do it every 3 days than 5 times a day, so I’m VERY excited about the pump. Now to see if my insurance will cover it. Or rather, HOW they will cover it.
3. I’m going to stop taking the simvastatin for my cholesterol (even though it worked so well) because its not going to be best for pregnancy. I’m supposed to start taking 1200 mg of Omega-3 Fatty Acids everyday instead. I haven’t researched this yet, so again, opinions anyone?

And then here’s the confusing thing. All this stuff about whats good for potentially eventually getting pregnant, but I’ve been put on Victoza, which is replacing the Januvia, but which I will NOT be taking while pregnant. So umm.. what was the point? I think I’ll be going OFF the Victoza when/if I get approved for a pump.

BUT!

I am excited about the Victoza! This is an injectable drug for type 2 diabetics that is similar to Byetta. It’s job is to make my beta cells work the way they should. That’s why they had me stop Januvia, because its pretty much the same thing. However, this is supposed to be better than Byetta and easier on the body because its like a 97% match to your body’s hormones, whereas Byetta was only like 50% or so (disclaimer: I don’t have actual facts about he Byetta!!). It can still have similar side effects like nausea, headaches, etc, but maybe not supposed to be as bad. Here are the good things about Victoza that I like. It is supposed to:

1. Push my beta cells to work better and release the right amounts of insulin when I eat, lowering BG levels.
2. Tell my liver not to release more glucose when its not supposed to be.
3. Help with weight loss! Yay!

So I started taking it last week and doc wanted me to do the 0.6 mg dose for 7 days so that the drug is introduced to my body and stuff, and that means that tonight I’ll be starting on the 1.2 mg dose, which is where I’ll want to be staying. I have not had any real side effects except a LITTLE bit of feeling funky. Not quite nausea really, but funky. And on my scale I’ve dropped 3 pounds. That might or might not be coincidence. So I’ll keep updating!