Peace Within Our Souls by Jaye Lewis

Hello friends,

Have you ever felt as though you open your mouth only to change feet? Well, that was me yesterday. Remember me shrieking accusations against my doctor? She’s a minimalist I cried. Well, sometimes she is, but yesterday afternoon, she really came through. I am now on two drugs for my diabetes: Januvia at breakfast and Glumetza with supper. My blood sugar immediately came into line.

Now, remember that any change in medication, especially after weeks of inadequate treatment, can cause problems. For me it meant waking at midnight with a blinding migraine. Grabbing a couple of wrist-rub anti-nausea meds ― I do throw up violently, you know ― I headed for the couch, in the living room. Gosh, it felt like my head would explode, and I’ve been fighting it all day, today.

But my feet are better, so, recognizing that every step forward, often means a half-step back, I can weather this storm. In the meantime, I am, through the aid of my laptop, prowling through growers’ catalogues, lusting after lilies, my favorite flower.

I finally was able to order the double Tiger Lily that I’ve been drooling over for about three years. Sometimes it’s carried and sometimes not, but it seems that it has always been sold out. Ah-ha! But this time I bagged it. These are rare bulbs, a mutation of the original Tiger Lily. I’m not certain why these breathtaking bulbs are called “Tiger Lilies.” Yes, they are spotted, but then shouldn’t they be called “Leopard” Lilies? A notorious lily mystery.

So, now I’ll leave you, friends, with this little notation and a picture of my Tiger Lilies, that will always be my favorite. Sometimes, when life hands us adversity, it’s healing to be able to turn to the things we love, so that we many re-coop our perseverance, summon our strength, and find the peace within our souls.

With love,
Jaye Lewis
http://www.entertainingangels.org/
http://www.entertainingangelsencouragingwords.blogspot.com/

Diabetes Treatments. A Ping-Pong Game by Jaye Lewis

Hello friends,

When I was a little girl, my grandmother came to stay with us. In those days, and for many years after, there was only one treatment for diabetes. Insulin. Insulin is a wonderful drug, which controls the sugar released by the liver, and the glucose created by the foods you eat. However, insulin has a down-side, also. It can make you ravenous, and you just may eat yourself out of house and home. I remember watching my grandmother give herself a shot of insulin. She did it matter-of-factly, just as she did everything. I was fascinated, but afraid, because I knew that one day I would have to do the very same thing. That was over fifty years ago.

Today, things are different. Beginning with the drug Diabinese, which my father was on in 1981, there has been an abundance of diabetes drugs, which have made it onto the diabetes treatment stage. I have been on four of these drugs.

My first diabetes drug was Avandia, which is not recommended as a “stand alone” treatment. Usually Avandia is prescribed as an assist to another drug. I went off of Avandia under the care of my doctor. The next four-plus years I spent on a treadmill and a VERY low-carb diet. It worked remarkably well. I lost close to 40 pounds, and I brought my A1c down from a high 7.5 to a 6.2. Ask your doctor about an A1c test. It is the best barometer to illustrate just how well your diabetes is being managed.

Around a year-and-a-half ago, I began to pile on the pounds. The searing pain in my feet made me unable to get on the treadmill, for weeks at a time. I knew something was going on. So off to my doctor I went, and I discovered, after testing, that my diabetes had changed. I would no longer be able to control my blood sugar with diet and exercise alone. I was devastated. I was over sixty, and life seemed hopeless.

As the pounds piled on, I began to look at myself as a most unattractive woman. I could not imagine my husband wanting to look at me, and when he told me that I was beautiful, I didn’t believe him. Oh, how I love my husband. I love his face. I love the warmth of his eyes, and I love his laugh. He is the best man I have ever known, and the most honest. However, because my self-esteem was now in the toilet, I just didn’t believe him. I’m ashamed to admit that.

With my A1c climbing, my doctor put me on Glumetza. Basically, Glumetza is a more improved version of the drug Glucophage, one of the earliest and safest drugs to treat diabetes. By that time, I had another problem. Asthma. And prednisone. Prednisone shoots my sugar up beyond belief. I once checked my blood sugar, on prednisone, and the reading was 680! I should have been in a coma! But much of those readings are false highs, yet still very dangerous. Now, I didn’t know what my blood sugar actually was.

From Glumetza, I went on to Byetta, which is given by injection. Byetta slows the digestive process to almost a halt, in my case. As a result, with a perpetually full stomach, my acid-reflux kicked into gear. I threw up. A lot. And I did not see a dramatic reduction in my blood glucose levels.

Next I was put on Januvia, which is a drug meant to assist another drug, so that your diabetes can be controlled. My doctor is a minimalist, and her trial and fail view of treatment, sometimes makes me crazy. I WANT MY DIABETES CONTROLLED!!! Get it over with!

So, right now I am in limbo. It’s like being between two worlds. The bottoms of my feet burn like I’m walking on hot sand, yet I must walk in order to keep my blood sugar in control! That is why I say that Diabetes treatments are a ping-pong game. Back and forth. Up and down. Ping and pong. Ping-pong.

I called my doctor this morning, and I left a detailed message with her nurse. I said my blood sugar is not in control with Januvia alone. Last night, before supper, my blood sugar was 177. That’s way too high before eating. It makes my hair stand on end. Since I have Glumetza on hand, I took that. We’ll see how well my blood sugar reacts with Glumetza alone.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for my impatience. I just want my diabetes controlled, so that I can enjoy the years I have left to live. I want to live my life to its fullest, without always worrying about what is happening to my heart and my blood vessels. I can’t bear the thought of losing a foot, simply because my blood glucose is out of control. Please, Father, let me hear back from my doctor, today, with a better treatment to control this disease which holds me in chains. And yet, as Jesus taught, by his own admission, not my will, but Thine be done.

With love,
Jaye Lewis
http://www.entertainingangels.org/
http://www.entertainingangelsencouragingwords.blogspot.com/

A New Day by Jaye Lewis

Hello friends,

Today is the first full day on my new diabetes medication. My doctor had given me a sample pack, to see how my body would react. You see, when it comes to medications, I am a puker. I’m a lot like our big old mutt, Jessie Boy. My forehead gets a bit concerned. I feel saliva beginning to gather around the edges of my mouth. I stretch my lips into a ghastly smile…then…yak-yak-yak-yak-yak! So today it’s good-by Byetta and hello Januvia!

Byetta is a successful medication for about 66% of those who have been introduced to it. I believe that under different conditions than mine, it is a good medicine, and well worth the research that went into it. However, for me, and about a third of others, it was just not a choice that fit.

First of all, Byetta, in the words of their pamphlet, “slows gastric emptying, there-by reducing the rate at which meal derived glucose appears in the circulation.” Translated, that means food stays in your stomach 4EVER! Okay, probably about four hours, at least that was how it was for me. I was nauseous all the time; my acid reflux was over the roof; and, at night, I was aspirating my food. Nothing like breathing in a plate of spaghetti!

That is only for starters. My next biggest problem is that I am on a LOT of medication; for my heart, for neurological issues, for asthma, for arthritis, and for fibromyalgia. I’m sure I left something out, but you get my point. So, what do you think happens to medications when one is on Byetta? They go into the stomach and they stay there 4EVER! Medicine that is fast releasing doesn’t have a chance. All my other medicines were ineffective at best. Switching around my medications did nothing to alleviate my situation.

My pain levels hit the roof. I could barely walk, I had migraines constantly, and I threw up, nearly every day. To quote a sentence from my journal: “I had ‘this-this-and this’ for breakfast, and I vomited for lunch.” True entry, minus the “this-s.” For someone who tries not to dwell on food, all I thought about WAS food, especially the food that was gurgling around in my digestive tract.

The Byetta injections were not a problem. It’s true, since I do go on prednisone from time to time for my asthma, I bruise. Large bruises. And, I bleed. A lot. Yet still I learned to inject myself, and most of the time I had no ill effects. So, if your main concern is to control your insulin levels AND control your appetite, I would certainly discuss Byetta with your doctor.

Now, off with the old, and on with the new. I am now on Januvia, which is a pill, taken once a day. The rest is up to me. Eating healthy and exercise. For me, that means my treadmill.

I’ve missed my treadmill. It’s been a long time. I have diabetic neuropathy in my feet, and sometimes it is like walking on cactus; while other times it is what I call streaking pains in my lower legs and feet; then others, like having a horrible sunburn. I’m on several medications for that, and they are working.

So, today is the day that I begin anew. It’s like taking an old ball gown out of its wrappings, hoping that it will still fit. It’s like any good thing that time and circumstance has allowed to slip away from you; like a long-lost friend with whom you are reunited. So, have a wonderful day, my friends. There’s an old friend awaiting me, and I’ve miles to walk again.

With love,
Jaye Lewis
http://www.entertainingangels.org/
http://www.entertainingangelsencouragingwords.blogspot.com/
http://www.jayelewisdiabetesdiary.com/

Diabetes. It's Not the End of the World by Jaye Lewis

The diagnosis was diabetes. It wasn’t my preferred diagnosis to explain my symptoms: blurred vision, weakness and fatigue, bruising, sudden weight gain, and overwhelming thirst. I also have a family history of diabetes, and adult onset asthma, which was treated with prednisone, did not help. I ballooned to nearly 200 pounds.

In my childhood, my mother did all she could to help me understand how to delay, or even defeat diabetes. Healthy eating choices and sustained exercise, even walking, is your best defense against the disease. Because of her wisdom and knowledge, I was able to delay the disease all the way into my fifties.

One day after suffering through a long period of illness, I suddenly realized that I had not escaped my family genetics. I called my doctor, and I told her I had diabetes. I was sure of it. I suggested a fasting blood breakfast test. Simply put, a breakfast test requires that you have your finger pricked after fasting the entire night before. Once they’ve established your fasting number – mine was 115, while 80 is normal – then you go out and have a big breakfast. Now, here’s the catch: from your first bite or drink of orange juice, you begin the count of 2 hours. Then you must be sitting in the doctor’s office at exactly 2 hours ― announcing your arrival to the nurse ― to have your finger pricked again. If your number is high — mine was 256 — then you have diabetes. But only your doctor can make the diagnosis.

My doctor still required me to have a glucose tolerance test. Now that’s more than a finger prick. That’s vials of blood. First, they take your blood to discover your fasting number. Since mine was pretty high, they should have called my doctor first, but they didn’t. Instead they gave me the most gosh-awful tasting pretend orange soda to drink, and let me tell you, I just gagged that stuff down in one gulp. Sipping delays the inevitable, and it can cloud the results of the test. Well to make a long story short, my top number was 302. I had diabetes.

When my doctor read the number, I thought she was going to cry. She so wanted me to avoid this disease. I wanted to put my arms around her, because she had done so much to help me get well, just from my asthma.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I can handle this. It’s what my family does. It’s who we are.”

“But I don’t know if I can handle it,” she answered, with a sigh, “and it certainly is not who I am.” It was obvious that she really cared about me, and I will never forget her care and concern for me.

She prescribed 1/2 an Avandia, daily, and ordered me to eat an 1800 calorie diet. Avandia worked for awhile, but then I started having sudden drops in my blood sugar. From 120 – pretty steady – suddenly down to 60. I blacked out in Wal-Mart. I collapsed on the stairs at Church, causing more than one person to suppose that I had a drinking problem.

Why me? I asked God, nearly every day, reminding Him of just how faithful I was. I told Him, in case He forgot, just how many times a day, that I had spoken to Him as my true Father. I informed Him that I had always believed I was one of His favorites. I suppose that the next sentence was, “Now DO something! The heavens seemed remarkably silent.

I was angry that my tests were positive. I was relieved that my tests were positive. I finally had an answer. I finally knew what my problem was, but I also wondered, why had I bothered to watch my diet for fifty years? Why had I walked thousands of miles over my lifetime just to avoid the disease? Why had I bothered to do any of the healthful things, that I had done? Just look at how God had struck me down!

“WHAT DO YOU WANT OF ME???!!!” I cried. God’s illumination and understanding did not come quickly. It has unfolded, slowly, and I’m still learning.

I believe that one of God’s answers to me, is you. In traveling this journey to understand, perhaps I can help you. Perhaps you are standing where I was. Perhaps you feel anger and confusion. How could a loving God allow this? You’ve been good and faithful. You don’t deserve this. GOD! WHERE ARE YOU NOW THAT I REALLY NEED YOU???!!

I’ve been there. I’ve been you. And sometimes, even now, with so long a road behind me, I still cry out to God and ask WHY. He has given me some answers, and He has left many questions unanswered. I will share with you what I know about diabetes and God. I hope you will join me in this journey, so that we may walk this road together.

With love,
Jaye Lewis
http://www.entertainingangels.org/
http://www.entertainingangelsencouragingwords.blogspot.com/
http://www.jayelewisdiabetesdiary.blogspot.com/

Hello Friends!

This is a new venture for me. Having written often about my triumphs, trials and testimony on diabetes, I felt it was time to share even more, including my research on new medications, recipes, funny stories and photos. I hope that my continued journey of hope will be of service to you, my friend! - August 16, 2009