Mouthwatering Monday

Well I just realized that yesterday’s post didn’t post, so I hope it doesn’t affect my NaBloPoMo!

Quick update on the Victoza (in case people are actually reading my blog for the purpose of seeing how it is going). I moved up to the 1.2 mg dose of Victoza on Saturday night and I will definitely say that I’ll be pushing it to just before bedtime from now on. I’m definitely feeling the “slight nausea”. I had been trying to decide if it was just coincidence and I was just coming down with something but I don’t think so. It seems like about 45 min after I take the shot I feel kinda queasy. I felt that way last week while I was ramping up and I definitely feel it now. I’m hoping that it goes away, because that was kinda the big thing for me NOT wanting to take it. My weight is still within range of normal. Since starting it I had gained 3, lost 4, gained 2, which means that I’m 1 pound up from when I started it, but we’ll see how that continues!

Now to continue to the 30 Days of Diabetes Blogging suggested topic for today:

“Mouthwatering Monday: What is your favorite entrée, and how does it affect your blood sugar?”

I love food. This is clearly one of my issues. But since going on insulin I’ve been really making a huge effort to eat better. I do ok sometimes, other times I don’t. My favorite entrées generally include tons of carbs, which are obviously not great. I love cereals and pastas and breads and potatoes. I love desserts.

Its hard for me to pick a favorite, especially since it varies so frequently. It depends on if I’m thinking of everyday foods, or only special foods. It depends on breakfast , lunch, or dinner. It depends on fast-ish or homestyle cooking. One of my favorite foods that is actually pretty good for me is the Fuji Apple Chicken salad from Panera Bread. I’ve only just recently become a salad person, so I’m still really picky about which ones I like, and that one is good and also leaves me feeling like I ate enough.

But then another thing I love is Chicken Fried Rice. Which is just sooo bad, all over the place. And it just wouldn’t be the same with substitutions, so when I do eat it, I just deal.

I guess the thing that actually affects my blood sugar most though is pasta. Even if I try to cover it right, it always really hits me harder than I expect.

I guess food is still a learning curve for me! :)

best way to exercize!

So we got a Kinect for the Xbox yesterday. It is so cool! We got the Adventures game that came with it, we got Dance Central, and we got the Sports one (which we haven’t even gotten to try yet). I have to say that I am very excited for it! My whole reason for wanting a Wii (which we didn’t get) was because I wanted Wii Fit so that I could have something fun to do for a workout so I could start exercising.

The Kinect seems like it will definitely do the job for a workout! We played the Adventures game together and it was lots of fun and we both were breathing heavy afterwards, and then we did the Dance one and…. well… if I can figure out how to dance then it will be a great workout. I’m a horrible dancer, and totally klutzy, so me trying to figure out these dance moves, even with instruction, is difficult at best. But even so, it was fun to just TRY to do the moves!

I’m really excited to start getting some exercize though! With my schedule for work and school right now it seems like every single day is just so busy. By the time I get home, get some homework done, and get dinner moving, its already late. I think my brain tries to overthink thins though. I don’t want to eat too late because that’s supposed to be bad for weight loss and stuff, and I don’t want to exercize too late because that’s supposed to cause problems sleeping, so on some days I just don’t know what to do, so I just sit and watch tv or play WoW, although that’s rare these days too.

But we’ll see how it goes! Hoping to drop some pounds so that when the time comes that I want to have a baby I’ll be in a good weight range. Of course, it will also help with the insulin amounts I hope, so that I don’t have to take quite as much.. which will be really helpful if the pump goes through.

Yay!

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!

Wordless Wednesday (on Friday)

Wednesday the 3rd was “Wordless Wednesday” on the suggestion list for 30 Days of Diabetes Blogging,and their helpful suggestion was to post a pic or a video about the three most important things that help my diabetes management. Its not Wednesday, but does that really matter? :) So here goes!

 1.

 Obviously my meter is one of my most important tools. It tells me if I should or shouldn’t eat, and what, and when, and how much insulin I should take… etc etc etc

 2.

I am a freakishly devoted logger. Even with my meter having nice storage capabilities with graphs and time stamps and all kinds of records, I log everything. Everything I eat goes in there. That way if I remember eating it and can look it up, I can also see how it affected my next reading. Every number goes in there, from BG tests to insulin doses to BP readings while at the docs. One thing that its REALLY done for me is the reason they recommend keeping a food journal. Its shown me what I eat and when so I can see where my problem food areas lie.

 3.

And of course, the bestest guy I’ve known (aside from my daddy!). Dustin was already in my life when I was kinda forced to make the big changes to my diabetes care. He learned right along with me about counting carbs and stuff, and of course he’s the one who has to deal with me being super cranky when I get low. So yeah, he’s a pretty important part of my diabetes management  :)

a very linky post

Among many others, the Diabetes Research Institute is focused on finding a cure for diabetes.  A fun way that YOU can help their campaign is by donating to “Be Part of the Cure”.  Not only will you be donating to help find a cure, but with just a $10 donation, you can upload your picture to go on the C-U-R-E banner, which is just pretty cool.  You can even search the photos to find yourself or anyone else you might know!  If you donate a minimum of $50, you get a mousepad with the CURE mosaic on it.  In addition, the first $25,000 will be matched by Animas and Lifescan, so there’s another reason to donate!

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out the video at BigBlueTest.org, developed by the Diabetes Hands Foundation.  If they reach 100,000 views, Roche Diabetes Care will donate $75,000 which will benefit Life For a Child and Insulin for Life.  What that boils down to is that every view of the video will translate to a weeks worth of insulin for a child who can’t afford it.

AND!

On November 14, Diabetes Awareness Day, be sure to do the Big Blue Test!  Help raise awareness about how important testing and exercise are for all diabetics.  Here’s what you need to do: 

1. On November 14 at 2 pm, test your blood sugar.
2. Get active for 14 minutes.
3. Test again.

4. Go to BigBlueTest.org and input your results.

That’s it! Click some links!