Going on insulin was my choice.
Glucophlage made me nuts. I didn’t get a stomach upset, and I did lose a bunch of weight without effort. However, my blood sugars weren’t going down, my anger level was very high which is not good in the high school classroom, the high sugar was making thinking difficult, and life in general wasn’t good.
I went to my cousin, after some nagging by my mother. I haven’t talked with her in decades, and didn’t want to impose. I finally emailed her, and the good news, is that she is a pharmacy phd and teaches pharmacy. The better news is that she specializes in diabetic patients with at risk with cardiovascular problems. Sounds just like me, doesn’t it?
I sent her my numbers and expressed my dissatisfaction with glucophlage, and she suggested that I do both insulin AND glucophlage. They have done that with very good results with her patients at a local VA hospital and she said that I would probably only be on insulin for 3 months.
My doctor was SO thrilled I was ready to go on insulin, and he nixed the combination idea. He said he wanted me on Humalog 75/25 mix and gave me a coupon for 5 free pens. He also gave me a kit that Lilley makes for new insulin pen patients. It includes a video. He really doesn’t want me on another diabetes medication if we can help it.
A couple of “got bit’s” here Check with your insurance as quickly as possible on how they want to handle needles. Humalog insulin does not come with needles, and the needles run over $30.00 a box. Of course, thats for 100, which last around 50 days. However if the doctor writes the script, you pay the co-pay, not the full price. FYI: going through the mail order service really helps. It’s $40.00 for 90 days, and they send me 200 needles for that. Playing the insurance game is a whole other set of entries.
I made an appointment with the diabetes educators to learn how to inject myself, but I did go ahead and give it a try before I saw them. The video and the package instructions were enough to get me going.
Injecting is not that bad. Frankly, I won’t go to the nasal spray insulin, because I really hate nasal sprays worse than I hate injections. The liquid drips down your throat, you’re never sure if you got enough inhaled, and it’s just a mess. I know, I was there with asthma for a short while. (Another entry…later).
And boy did my blood sugar go down and my blood sugar is now in correlation with what I do. I still didn’t have a way to adjust insulin due to stress, etc. but that came with the sliding scale, which I started two weeks later.
Frankly, I don’t mind insulin at all, and it is MUCH easier on the body than any of the pills. I also feel like I am in control of things when I am on insulin, rather than the medication controlling me. It’s probably all a head game, but head games often get me through the day.