It was GOING to be Wordless Wednesday...

While we were in Las Vegas over the summer, we ate at this really nice place, and I really really wanted to get a picture while we were there but for some reason I didn't have my camera or my phone on me at that particular point in the trip.

The reason for the picture was that there in this beautiful restaurant, with beautiful place settings and ambient lighting, sitting next to the silverware on the linen napkin, and awaiting the dish of pasta that I was about to eat, was my insulin pen.  And it just amused the heck out of me at that point.

So I couldn't title this post Wordless Wednesday.  And while this is the opposite of "a picture is worth a thousand words" hopefully my words can draw the picture for you.

D-Blog Day: 6 things people should know about Diabetes

What is D-Blog day, you might ask?
D-Blog Day was started back in Diabetes Awareness Month 2005 by Gina Capone. Its focus is “to help unite diabetes bloggers and create awareness about diabetes.”

This years topic is: 6 things you want people to know about diabetes.

ONE: Your Diabetes May Vary. (thank you for the phrasing!)
Every diabetic, whether they are type 1 or type 2, will have some things that are similar. Everyone with diabetes needs to watch what they eat and get enough exercise. Some type 2’s take insulin. Some type 1’s take the same oral meds that type 2’s take. But EVERYONE’s diabetes will vary, sometimes greatly, from others. I can eat a bagel and not even think twice about it, but even a small slice of pizza kicks my diabetes butt. Other people can eat tons of pizza but fall over at the thought of a bagel.

TWO: Food is not just food anymore.
Paying attention to what you eat is an important part of diabetes management. Its not as simple as “don’t eat sugar”. All diabetics should pay attention and eat healthy. Some may count carbs, others may use an exchange program, some use who knows what else. If you are taking insulin as part of your diabetes medication, you probably have to calculate and do math for everything you put into your mouth. You CAN eat sugar, you just have to think about it first!

THREE: Diabetes is for life.
Once you have diabetes, you have it forever. For a type 2, this is important because while you might be able to completely lose your symptoms by eating well and exercising, you will always have diabetes. You might be able to hold off those symptoms for a very long time, and you might be able to have normal blood sugars, but you will always be a diabetic.

FOUR: Insulin doesn’t make your diabetes “worse” than someone else’s.
Insulin is a medication used to treat diabetes. Some people use it, some people don’t. Some people REQUIRE it. But that doesn’t mean their diabetes is worse.

FIVE: Moods may swing along with your blood sugar
Me, I get super cranky when I’m low. Other people have mentioned being depressed when they’re low, and cranky when they’re high. I think its important for people to know that if you’re acting like a jerk, or an idiot, or sarcastic, or moody, there might be a reason for it, and to chill out until you can fix it!

SIX: If you have diabetes…. You can do it!
While being diagnosed with diabetes can be very very very overwhelming at first, it DOES get easier! You will learn how to do all the stuff you’ve been told to do, whether that’s taking insulin injections, counting carbs, starting an exercise program… whatever… you will get used to it, and it will become easier to deal with, even if it will always be a pain in the butt.

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!