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/
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/
