My very first day as a diabetic I was put directly on metformin 500mg twice a day and then a shot that was somewhat new and called victoza. I assumed it was insulin and was very upset it just seemed like too much at once, however my PA informed me that it was not insulin and that it was to help lower blood sugars and control an amount of weight loss possibly. I think this was the only positive thing about the entire life changing appointment. Still in the end I told my mom that I didn't care if I lost weight or not, I had the perfect wardrobe and that my weight didn't bother me. However as a type 2 diabetic weight loss can control your entire diabetes and some can even go off of medicines which would be ideal of course. Therefore I started all the medicines. By January my PA doubled the amount of metformin and increased my amount of victoza. My blood pressure was higher than normal therefore they put me on lisinopril which would also help my kidneys. I had lost weight but the side affects of the metformin were brutal. I had the nausea constantly, bouts of I guess what you would call anorexia, where I would not eat anything at all and cry when people would try to get me to. My stomach killed me constantly it felt like my insides were being ripped out of me. There would be the diarrhea then constipation, this drug was just miserable. Sometimes I wonder if it was the medicine that was killing me or the fact that I was spilling keytones.
Finally in July after my appointment with my specialist she put me on Novolog and Levemir. I remember in the meeting she asked me how I was feeling. I told her I felt completely overwhelmed, but what she really meant was how physically I was feeling and I told her I had constant stomach pain and bouts of dizziness which I had, had for about 6 months both signs of spilling keytones. I remember when she first walked in she flat told me they were probably going to admit me directly into the hospital and needed more blood work drawn stat. All I could think of was "I feel fine, like I have for months now" After my "stat" blood work came back she informed me she was okay with me going home, however we were in Wichita which is shopping central for us small town folk and I wanted new scrubs! Mom feeling bad for me took me to Red Lobster where I took my first shot of insulin. After lunch we went to the mall and I was soaked in sweat. Granted it was July and the hottest summer EVER but it was just constant, checked my sugars and they were in the 200s which hell was better than the 400s they had been in. The next morning when I called in to report my sugars I told them about the sweats and shakiness which to me was strange due to the fact that my sugars were still high. (I had never experienced a low blood sugar ever at this point) they told me that my body had been so used to high blood sugars that at this level my body would still react as if they were low. I had to call the office and report blood sugars everyday for at least two weeks, it was such a pain....
In November I went to see my normal PA and she had just met with her drug rep who told me that he had a lot of doctors using an old regimen known as 70/30. A shot you took just twice a day kinda like metformin. You did't need to inject it with meals or even take a long acting insulin. I would take it at 8 and 8... that next morning I bottomed out to 39 and the next morning after decreasing the units I bottomed out to 37. After the medicine was adjusted correctly it was a dream drug, it gave me so much of my freedom back and I loved it.
In the end my specialist preferred I stick with the novolog and levemir however at this time they wanted me to try another injection on top of the other two called symlin. Honestly, I never saw this one work for me at all... A month after taking it all I had was a $300 dollar shot that I had an allergic reaction to that gave me terrible welts all over my abdomen. I let the doctors know and they said to just stick with the other two.
So as of now I take about 10 units of novolog with every meal and then 3-5 with snacks. At 8pm I take 16 units of levemir daily. Along with that orally I take lisinopril and then xanax for those not so fun mood swings. The other day one of my co-workers commented on my somewhat large medicine bag that goes with me everywhere more than my purse even, he said I was too young to have that many medicines, he was not rude about it whatsoever just stating a TRUE fact, I am too young to have this many medications but its all about survival.
In the end being on a lot of medicines just flat SUCKS this is not what I wanted or what I ever thought would happen but sometimes that is just how life is. I found a quote that I feel helps when I am having those down days, it says "You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it"
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