Diabetic Recipes
This morning was the first in the roughly two weeks that we've been in our new house that I actually had time to sit down at the kitchen table to eat a bowl of oatmeal instead of quickly slapping some cream cheese on a bagel and scarfing it down in the car during my one-hour commute. Let me tell you, bolusing while driving is not easy.
In fact, it's so not easy that I had quit taking Symlin. Well, I take that back, I quit a long time before I started my eating-while-driving routine. It was sort of an accident, but not one that I hadn't done several times before. During our transition from Missouri to Arizona, the kids and I lived with my parents for a little over a month. Dad loves to cook for us, but doesn't eat carbs. Neither does Mom, really. I, however, am a carb craver. Not to mention that in order to take Symlin I have to eat at least 30 grams of carbs at once. That wasn't often happening, so I gradually stopped taking Symlin at dinner time. And then it turned into not taking it at lunch either for no other reason than I didn't want to.
Once we moved into the house, I also had trouble fitting Symlin into my life when I really didn't have a routine. Furthermore (yes, there's more!!) I was getting accostomed to not visiting the facilities as often. It was nice to not have all the energy wiped out of me from constant trips to the bathroom. And then, I had gotten to the point where I just wasn't taking Symlin at all; I stared at the unopened yellow boxes nearly every time I opened the refrigerator. They weren't begging me to be used (although I continued to think about how I had already paid for three months worth!).
So this morning when I sat down at the table, after I had taken the Metformin and before I bolused for the oatmeal, I briefly considered starting back on Symlin today. Thinking that most of the chaos of moving had died down, the chaos of starting a new job had died down, we
were starting to see some sort of normal and that I would have the brain power to devote to something "new."
But I had started taking Symlin mostly as a weight loss and appetite suppressant tool. It definitely killed most of my appetite, but did nothing for the weight loss part (neither did I, frankly, because I continue to eat even when I'm not hungry). Although I haven't taken the drug in several weeks, my appetite has stayed mostly at bay.
I am now at a crossroads, though, about whether to take my chances with the choice to start again or leave it behind for good.
I always err on the side of trying to take the minimal amount of medications necessary. If you don't really feel a benefit, then I question its need. If it works for you then it becomes an easier answer.
When it comes to weight loss...ya gotta wanna.
Keep going....Peace, Bob
www.joyofdiabetes.blogspot.com
Oh my gosh, you sound just like me! I have been on Symlin for about 9 months and I'm trying to decide whether or not to stop taking it completely. Within the last year we have relocated, I started a new job, we bought a new house, and we are doing all this with a four year old. I am also going back to school for an Ed.D in August. Routine is not a word in my vocabulary at this point in time!
I can't take it at dinner because it makes my BS crash (down into the 30's sometimes) without even bolusing (I'm on a pump). It has helped with suppressing my appetite, but not at all with weight loss. I, like you, started Symlin in hopes of losing a few pounds.
My A1c went down a few tenths of a point and my nurse practitioner was really proud of herself for recommending Symlin and even said, "See how it's helping your A1c?" I told her twice that my A1c is down because my blood sugars are swinging from the 30's up into the 300's. Then, when I correct for the 300 and bolus, I fall back too low again. I reduced the dose of Symlin and even have cut my correction doses of insulin but it has been a roller coaster ride!! My A1c "number" is not better because of "tight control" but the doctor (and NP) are pushing me to stay on it anyway.
I feel that I can do just as well on an insulin pump alone. I also have two months of Symlin in the fridge that I've paid for! Sometimes I think that may be the only reason I'm taking it!
I know that Symlin has been a wonder drug for some. I'm just not sure that the up and downs in bs, the dizziness and the hassle of making bolus corrections for the Symlin, along with the extra injections are really worth it for me personally.
Best wishes in making the choice of staying on it or leaving it completely. I really do understand the ambivalence!
Lynne
Hi Michelle, I sympathize with your Symlin dilemma. I took it for four years, beginning when it was in the last stage of its clinical trials, and it did do a great job for me in helping me to simply digest my food better. It helped suppress my appetite and I lost about 30 lbs over 2 years. I am a Type 1, though, and I wonder how it may affect us differently.
Anyway, I stopped taking the Symlin because I am now trying to get pregnant and it isn't approved during pregnancy. I have to say that since I stopped, a lot of strange stomach troubles have also gone away. I used to have a stomachache each night after dinner and would burp a lot, an abnormal amount. I am not missing that side effect at all! I am monitoring myself to see if I start gaining weight again, but then if I become pregnant soon that will be all part of the deal ... Good luck in making your personal choices, I completely understand and don't know what I will do after pregnancy, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it ...
Wow--I don't often go here, but this really fills the bill. I'm a type 1, on a pump, taking symlin and wondering if it's doing any good. Actually, I understand about teh stomach stuff, but didn't "connect" the burping...and yeah, maybe the frequent trips to the necessary room. Sigh. Also, no weight loss. I'm TOLD it's supposed to help with after meal highs, b ut I'm not so sure it does that, either. I was on it when it needed syringes, and gave it up because it felt prehistoric. The pen is a little better. I can onl get it 1 month at a time, sigh.
I'll know my more current A1c in 2 weeks; I'll check back in.