Type 1 Wanna-Be

A couple days ago I was talking about how disappointed I was that I met my first real life pumper and she was very condescending and acted like I was stupid for being interested when I’m “only” a T2.

I tried to relate this story to a T1 that I know and was amazed at the response.  Since this was a fellow diabetic, I was expecting to hear something along the lines of disbelief... instead this person actually responded with a statement about how crazy it is when a T2 tries to compare themselves with a T1. 

I believe the line was "its not like they have REAL diabetes!". 

I hesitated, trying to put an actual sentence together in my head, and finally said that I was a T2, does that make me not a REAL diabetic?  Like counting carbs and trying to exercise, and watching what I eat, and taking meds... that's not REAL?  And she said, well, you're not REALLY a T2, you take insulin.  I doubt that there are very many T2's who take more than MAYBE Lantus. 

Well, that's probably true.  And I have no good answer for that.  I agree that its odd that I have to do MDI's to have controlled diabetes.  My doc initially put me on insulin because I really should have gone to the hospital.  I'm sure I was probably supposed to come off of it sometime.  And I think that's why my doc put me on the Metformin and Januvia too, to try and help me get off the insulin, or at least the Novolog.

But I guess it seems like the insulin is kinda doing the trick... the pills both help my own body's insulin actually do its thing, and that probably keeps the insulin amounts I inject down a little bit.  Which really is odd, thinking about it.  If my body IS creating insulin (c-pep test confirmed it), then why aren't the pills alone doing the trick?  I'm sure if I came off the insulin I'd skyrocket, even if I ate completely correctly.  Is it because I'm overweight?  I don't know!

But I digress... I've gone way off topic.  I was completely shocked at the response I got about T2's not being REAL diabetics!  Maybe as a T2 I'm not as much a part of the community as I thought.  I mean, I don't see very many T2 bloggers out there.  Its like its not a REAL disease, so why bother blogging about it? 

So I will just press on, and blog to my little hearts desire.  One day, a newly diagnosed T2 who gets shoved on insulin might need to read something, even if its just to know there is someone else out there.

But that's why sometimes I feel like a Type 1 Wanna-Be.  Its like, if I'm going to be stuck with this disease and having to take MDI's, then I'd like it to be for a darn good reason.  I want to be able to know that I take insulin shots for a reason, and not just because my doc put me on it because she didn't know any better.

Vegas!!

So I spent some time in Las Vegas earlier this month!  I had never been there so it was very exciting for me! 

The first thing I want to say is that it was very very very hot!  I mean, I already knew that it was the hottest month of the year.  What I hadn’t anticipated was exactly what that meant.  Not exactly anyway.  It was also the hottest week of the year thus far, AND, it was hotter than normal by about 5 degrees.  It was pretty much 109 the whole time we were there.  It was so hot that later in the day (and into the evening), you would be walking and when you stopped it would feel like your shins w\ere literally on fire, because of the heat reflecting off the pavement!  It was so hot that it felt like I had just preheated my oven and then leaned over to put the dish in…. and then just stood there.  

The most interesting thing about the heat was the wind.  Here in Michigan, even on the hottest or most humid day, if there is a breeze its at least a little bit of a cooling relief.  Even if all it does is dry the dripping sweat from your body.  In Vegas, there is no sweat really, because its burned off immediately, and there is very little humidity… but the breeze has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER!  It actually got HOTTER when there was a breeze!!  It was very strange.

So we basically spent our days exploring the strip which meant that you’d walk for about a regular city block and then you’d duck inside whatever was next to you to get into the air conditioning.  That was usually a casino so it was pretty fun to explore all the different types of places and spend a little on the different slots. 

I lost 9 pounds in the first 2 days because of all the walking that we did!  Yay!  I gained it all back again though, so it was a short-lived yay!

The complete geeks inside of us were totally excited when we found a Stargate slot machine at the casino across from us (and later at our own hotel casino).  And we actually started out pretty good on that machine, winning more than we had on any other (granted we had only been there for half a day at that point).

I had a ton of fun playing a combination of video roulette and regular roulette.  Basically you sit at your own little video screen and place your bets by poking the screen with your finger, and after 30 seconds the dealer in the middle would put the ball in the wheel just like with regular roulette.  It was nice, since I never play table games and always look like an idiot squished in with 5 other people and not knowing what to do.

We also did a lot of stuff that wasn’t gambling.  We saw the Cirque de Soleil show Zumanity (which was an adult show) and that was incredible.  We were glad we weren’t sitting down in front because they involved the audience a LOT (in jokes and stuff mostly).  We saw the volcano erupt at the Mirage, and the fountains at the Bellagio, and the Sirens show at Treasure Island. We rode the roller coaster at New York New York (which kinda sucked, actually).  We went to the CSI Experience which was in our hotel.  You were able to choose a crime scene and then examine it and do research for it (pre-made research).  It was kinda cheesy, but very cool!

I tried to convince my boyfriend that we should get married while we were there, but he wasn’t having any of that….  yet… :)

I completely forgot to get a picture of/with the Welcome to Las Vegas sign though!  I was so bummed!!!

I also missed seeing a couple of friends that moved out there quite a while back… I didn’t realize they were back from their own vacation, so I didn’t even mention it!  Bummer!  Next time though…

So next time we go back I want to:
1.    see the Hoover Dam
2.    swim in one of the fabulous pools
3.    visit my friends
4.    get a picture next to the Welcome sign

Disappointed

I went to a birthday party yesterday for my friend’s son. 

First, I was very glad to get to see some of my old friends that I haven’t had a chance to hang out for a while.  That was a lot of fun!

Second, I realized that since I quit smoking on January 4 (yay!!), I have not faced such a huge challenge as I did yesterday.  Almost everyone was a smoker.  The habit of smoking with these same people was pushing at me horribly and driving me nuts!  I finally at one point went inside to use the restroom because I didn’t want to just stand outside NOT smoking!  Grrr…  but yay!!!  Gotta keep reminding myself of that “yay”!

Third, I met a person in real life who wears an insulin pump!  I actually have a friend close by who just got a pump but I haven’t gotten to hang with her in a while and thus have not seen her pump.

Regarding this third point… I was disappointed that this diabetic of 24 years who has been pumping for 12 was not the kind of diabetic I’ve come to know through the online diabetic community, and I was quite disappointed. 

I realized that although my mom is a T1 and I know other people who are diabetics, I didn’t truly realize what it all meant until I was almost hospitalized with DKA and started taking multiple daily injections and keeping tracking of my numbers. 

Then I found Kerri’s blog and was so fascinated with what I was reading! Even though I’m a T2, here was something that I could relate to.  I went all the way back to some of her earliest blogs (yes I did and it was a LOT of reading!).  I learned a LOT more about my own diabetes even though it was different, and I found other people who related other things they knew, and then I started my own blog.  And although I do state in title that it’s about anything that pops into my head, it ends up being mostly about diabetes.  It’s a community that I enjoy being part of.

So even though I sometimes feel like a T1 wanna-be (more on that later), I’m still a diabetic who takes multiple daily injections of insulin and if that’s the way its going to be forever, then I’d definitely consider pumping.  And the OCD part of me loves knowing my numbers and would love to know how my BG’s trend and would love a CGMS (really?  I would love one?  yes that’s a little sad…).  So I was kinda excited to meet a pumper!  I jumped over and was like WOW is that an insulin pump!?!  And what did I get in return?  A look.  Like, wow, are you two years old?  That was the look.  So then I felt I had to explain why I thought it was cool.  And that’s kind of difficult when you’re a T2 and “shouldn’t be taking insulin in the first place whats wrong with you” (again, more on that later),  but I don’t want to stick myself with a needle all the time for the rest of my life if that’s what it comes down to, so I was excited.  How disappointing to run into someone who acted like I was an idiot.  I don’t really know for sure since I’ve never met any other D-bloggers, but I just don’t feel like that was the reaction I would have gotten.

By the way, I wasn’t actually THAT over-enthusiastic about her pump, but she made me feel like I had been!

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…

feeling crafty!

I got really annoyed that I couldn't find any cute and fun hair clips, so I decided to make some...
Just thought I'd share!

Cool eh?  :)