BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Diabetes switching from oral meds to insulin

I am a type 2 diabetic with poor bg control. Part of that comes from my dr. writing the wrong prescription (6 months ago and the second time he has underprescribed me) and part of it comes from my lack of will power to stick to a diet. I see my dr. next Wed and I am concidering asking him to put me on insulin. I took it before I was diagnosed type 2 during my last preg (15 yrs ago) and I remember feeling really good. I also strictly adhered to the diet and lost 60 lbs. What I am wondering, has anyone here switched from oral meds to injected insulin and this making you feel good?

Hi vnBecky,

I am a type 2 who has previously bene in control and now am struggling. My doc put me on Byetta (an injectable but not insulin and on Levemir, an injectable insulin. I also take Metformin and a little glyburide. The Byetta made me sitter than a dog eating from a trash can! I was nauseated all the time and randomly threw up without any understanding of when it would happen. I guess many people "get used to it" and the nausea goes away; it only got worse for me and i finally convinced my doc that it was the Byetta doing it and he let me stop. The Levemir i have no problem with and i love it! A part of me wishes i could just be on insulin only but i know there are disadvantages to that. My doc prescribed the Levemir because my BG's were too high in the am upon waking. With the Levemir i wake up feeling good and my BG's are great. And i have no side effects.

pat

Hello Pat, ty for replying!

I have read in another forum about ppl becoming sick on Byetta. I doctor through the VA and I am not even sure if Byetta is available there. I would like to try it just to see if it would help me lose weight! I just recently began to look at diabetic websites and I am suprised to see ppl taking both oral and injectable meds for bg control. I never thought about that. I am monitoring a site where a recently diagnosed type 2 on metformin went to the dr. earlier today and asked to be switched to insulin. He was diagnosed about a month ago and has never seen a number lower than 180. He is seeing numbers in the 300's, which is what I have been seeing the past couple of weeks. As I said in my 1st post, I have been underprescribed and have only been taking metformin and I have been missing my glypizide for over a month now..but when I see my dr. next Wed. I am just gonna ask to be put on insulin. My new yr.s eve goal is to get a hold of my numbers..then worry about losing weight. I would like to lose 70 lbs total and would be happy just to lose half of that this year. Keep in touch and if I dont hear back from you, I will be posting next week on how my dr.'s appointment went. Nice chatting with u.

I saw my dr. yesterday. A1C was 8.4, up from 8.0 What got him upset was that my liver enzymes were up slightly for the first time in about 10 yrs. I had a liver transplant 22 yrs ago. So, I am off Metformin and on Lantas and Novolog. I began Lantas last night and my bg this am was 261. High but lower than the lower 300's I have been having in the mornings for the past 2 weeks. I am looking forward to seeing the numbers trend on down.

Hi back vmBecky,

I would enjoy keeping up the chat. Please just bear with me if i'm slow responding as i sometimes "flake out" and it may take a couple of days for me to get back to it. I'm glad your numbers are better and i hope you feel a little more hopeful in general. Please be sure that when you eat you are eating protein with veggies and grain (and not much grain). And be careful with things like pasta, potato etc as these will jack your bg way up and they take longer to digest. Same for potato.

This is going to sound strange, but i'll put it out anyway. I have several "leftover" (not opened) injectible pens of Byetta that i would be willing to give you to try. Thing is this: i would ONLY send it to your doc at his bus address just to be safe. Yo can talk it over with him (or her) and if your doc agrees but can't get it for you let me know and i'll send it. I order meds in advance through a mail in service so that's why i have some left over. If you don't want to do it that's perfectly fine. It's a really strange offer and probably not totally appropriate but someone might as well use it cuz i surely WON'T!!!

Hugs,

pat d

Hello Pat!!!

That is such a SWEET offer but I have to pass. I have been reading a Byetta forum and I am intrigued with some of the posters weight loss. I did ask my doctor about prescribing it but I doctor with the VA so FAT CHANCE of me getting something like Byetta, lol. Seriously though, the VA has been very good to me.

So, today is my 3rd day injecting. I am working on adjusting my doseages. For some reason I am going low after lunch. I will get it figured out. The hard part is not eating whenever and whatever I want. When I am on the computer I am fine but if I watch tv then I am always thinking about food. I want to figure out why that is.

Hope that you are enjoying the weekend. Take care and hugs 2 u.

Hi Becky,

I'm glad you are trying insulin. You even *sound* better!

I can relate to the eating-while-watching tv thing but then again i consider myself a "food addict." My tendency is to eat anytime, anywhere and anything. I have over 25 yrs off alcohol and i had 7-8 yrs eating only at mealtimes with NO flour or sugar. Then i decided to go a different direction (not a good thing!) and now i am struggling again. I see how obsessed i am with food whereas before i really did just eat for "fuel." I guess i'm saying this cuz i personally don't think i'll ever understand why i eat when, where and how i do. I just know that food takes on a life of its own that isn't related to health for me. I've been in food programs and they have a saying i find really true for me: "we make food black-and-white so we can live life in living color." I think when i'm "in the food" *it* is what is living color and all else is blah to me. Sigh!

pat

Well it has been a week now that I have been injecting insulin. Although my bg is still high I am feeling a lot better. I think I have only seen it above 300 once since I began injecting. I am trying to keep it under 200 and a few days ago I woke up and went to bed with it under 200. I am slowly adding insulin to gain control of my numbers. I will see the doctor next Wednesday and I hope that by then I am closer to normal. Getting a hold on what I eat and when I eat is still a problem also. I did eat out for bfast the other day and I took my insulin with me. Kinda wierd injecting while sitting in my jeep. Tonight I am going to take a few extra units of Lantas (long acting insulin) to try to knock down my am bg's. Gaining control of my type II diabetes is my resolution for the yr. Looks like it might take the whole yr to find the right amount of insulin to take to be within the normal range!

Becky,

Nothing about being diabetic is easy, that's for sure! But you do seem so much better, more hopeful for sure. It really helps to feel better i know. Having such high BG's is really miserable. Keep letting us know how it's going.

pat

It has been almost 2 weeks since I began injecting insulin. I began with fasting numbers hovering around 300. My goal was to get them under 200 the first week. In the past two days I have had numbers under 160. My goal is to get them under 150. I have done this by adjusting my doseage of insulin and exercise. Diet is a big issue for me. I am working on that! Today I feel amazing. It feels good to have a goal and to have the tools to works toward it. I will see my doctor on Wed. and this time I am actually looking forward to it!