I've got it together...

I’ve been feeling pretty good lately!

I feel on track with my future career. I am going to finish school and have this career under my belt. I’m sick of always having something be in the way. Be it class schedules vs. work schedules, or me not being SURE that I’m in the right career path, or me not having the funds to get it moving. I’m sick of waiting for it! I want to be officially doing something that I will enjoy, as my actual job.

And I’m on that path. I start my Business Communications class , which is my final pre-requisite class, next Tuesday, one week from today. I’m also taking a refresher in Medical Terminology (not because I need the class or grade, but because I’d rather have all those terms fresh in my head). I officially start the program this winter, and as long as everything goes on schedule I’ll be finished in June of 2012! Yay!

I feel in control of my Diabetes. I saw my doctor last Wednesday and will be heading in to have my lab work done in a couple of days. Fasting blood work always throws me off because I do better at it if I can do it first thing in the morning. In that regard, I had to wait till a day when we will almost definitely not be busy.

I wasn’t able to get another A1c done because last time I was classified as “in control” because my A1c was under 7%, so my insurance will only cover it after 6 months. I wish I could have known what it was though, since I started the Januvia 2 months ago and the Metformin (again) 3 months ago and I’d like to see how its going. But I guess “in control” is good!

I am also getting the lab work done to see if I have LADA, or type 1.5, or whatever you want to classify it as. If it comes back with positive antibodies, then that’ll be that. At least I will know if I’ll be on insulin forever or if I might be able to come off and just be on pills or nothing.

I’m very happy with my love life. As I posted yesterday, I’m with the man that I know I’m supposed to be with, and plan to be with forever. Even after almost a year and a half, and most of that living in the same place together, I still miss him when I’m not near him, and my heart still flutters when he smiles. I am more content now than I have ever been at any point in my life. Being with Dustin makes me feel safe and warm and fuzzy. :)

So yeah.. I’m doing pretty good, I think :)

Januvia update

I have not kept up on the blogging like I wanted to!!  I was hoping that I’d do it, but…. I’m slow…  :)  So…

Without wasting any MORE time, here is the update about my meds….

First, a quick recap…

Januvia is different than any of the other meds I take.  The Lantus and Novolog insulins I take provide me with insulin since my body’s own insulin isn’t doing its job or there isn’t enough of it.  Metformin helps my body make use of the insulin that it makes.  Januvia is supposed to help the insulin in my body react to food the way its supposed to.

I started taking 100 mg of Januvia once a day, per my doctor.  For the first week I felt a little bit sick to my stomach.  I’m still not sure if I just had a weird week or if it was the pill.  Since then I have no had any issues with it that I can see or feel. 

I have not miraculously lost any weight (bummer!), but I have also not gained any.  Again, I have no idea if this is because of the pill (doubtful).  In addition, I have been able to raise my insulin to carb ratio from 1:4 to 1:6, which means less insulin per injection, and longer time between prescription refills!

The interesting thing though, is that I really don’t know if the change in carb ratio is due to the Metformin or the Januvia.  I started the Metformin about a month and a half before the Januvia.  I don’t know how to really tell without removing one of them from the lineup though.

I will not be going back to the doc for another month, so I don’t know what the effect of the meds are having on my a1c.

After about a week I got a letter from my health insurance telling me that they allowed this prescription to be filled “to make things easier on me” but that they won’t be filling it again because it hasn’t been proven that Metformin doesn’t work for me.  Basically I felt like it was telling me that in order to allow me to take both of these medications I would have to stop taking the Metformin, get really sick for 3 months, and then that would prove it. I was like… well that just doesn’t make sense!  First, why would filling it once make my life easier?  All that’s making me do is have to talk to my doctor and possibly have a battle with my health insurance to allow me to continue with it.  What if my doc had really felt this was the ONLY thing that would work for me (instead of just wanting to see if it hells)?  Then I would be stuck without meds while they figure it out?  I would have rather they flat out say NO! and then I can fight it, without getting all excited that it seems like they’re working and then have it taken away from me!  I guess this would have been more of an issue if I was ONLY taking Metformin and it had actually failed and I didn’t have any backup plan.

I knew that that might happen though, because other people had noted that they had issues with it being covered.  And granted, its not covered WELL… its still not a generic, so it still costs me a lot of money to get it.  But if I can lower the amount of insulin I need to take and possibly even remove the NovoLog, that would be one less prescription to fill anyway!

So I contacted my doc and she contacted the insurance company and apparently everything went well, because she sent me a letter telling me that the Januvia is covered and they didn’t even have to battle! 

And I went and refilled the prescription and they refilled it without any questions.

And now, a week later, I got a letter from my health insurance telling me that they allowed this prescription but….... sigh … I guess I’ll be calling my doctor again…

new med!

So I'm going to keep track of my meds a little bit here. Mostly I want to keep a running track of how I'm feeling on new meds.

Currently I am taking:
- NovoLog: rapid acting insulin, every meal at a carb ratio of 1:4 and 1:15 for lowering a high (approximately 50/day maybe)
- Lantus: long acting insulin, 45 units at bedtime
- Metformin: pill, one 500mg pill twice a day
- Simvastatin: cholesterol pill

Today my doc prescribed one 100mg pill of Januvia. From what I can tell from reading the slip, and talking to my doc, and reading stuff online, Januvia is "a once-daily prescription pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes." according to the Januvia website. According to my doctor (I think), it should help my body know when its eating so that it can secrete the right amount of insulin. This is not the same as Metformin which apparently helps my body actually get the insulin moving and doing things, and helps with insulin resistance.

I also found out today that insulin resistance is one of the causes of not being able to get pregnant, and Metformin is prescribed for it. So just in case, when the time comes, I'm all set :)

Anyway... while this pill is supposed to be pretty good, some of the side effects seem to be ranging from really annoying to downright scary. They include headaches (sinus mostly), nausea, diarrhea, constipation, bloating. Those are the ones that I'm not happy about. But the other ones are scarier! Like pancreatitis, or some crazy skin infection that makes your skin fall off. Really!!

Point being... I'm going to be paying close attention to how I feel over the next little while. This stuff is supposed to start working in like 2 days, and is really supposed to be incredible, lowering blood sugars for regular daytime readings by some really good amounts. Not doing much for basal rates, but if I can cut out one insulin and 5 injections, I'm game!

As long as my skin doesn't fall off!!