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.

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It's ironic that even the most obscure things we hope for can come true. I can't tell you how many times I've thought to myself how much easier it would be to lose weight (or manage my blood sugar) if I could just completely lose the desire to eat or if I could feel just a bit queesy all the time to discourage my mindless eating habits.

In contrast, I can't tell you how many times yesterday I said, "I'm not taking that damn medicine anymore." (READ MORE)

Nausea? Check.

Potty problems? Check.

Lack of appetite? Check.

Feeling full? Check.

Happy with Symlin? Check.

I know, you think I'm crazy, but really I'm not. Promise.

This morning I clicked up to the highest Symlin dose--60 mcg. And by lunch you know where I was. But, at least that aspect is subsiding some. I'm starting to realize more consistently what I really wanted from Symlin: the effects on my appetite and desire to eat.

Most mornings it's a struggle to choke down my oatmeal breakfast. And even more of a struggle to convince myself to have a snack mid-morning. Sounds miserable, you say? But this is a drastic change in my habits pre-Symlin. Lunches and dinners I'm seeing similar benefits, namely eating much, much smaller portions and not snacking before bed. Oh, get this: The Mr. suggested we go to Dairy Queen last night for some ice cream and I was nauseous just thinking about it. (READ MORE)

Yesterday I revealed to the world that Symlin is giving me tummy trouble, to put it mildly. Just for grins, I got on the scale this morning and I'm down 4 lb. since the weekend. Most of this, we can assume, is, ahem, water weight (bwahahahaha!).

Yesterday was better than the day before, but today has been worse. I'm not nauseated and my appetite continues to diminish, but my tummy is making terrible gurggly noises and sending me to the potty more than I'd like. At least once today I thought about emailing Dr. C to tell him I can't handle it anymore and that this is no way to live or lose weight. (READ MORE)

I'm officially off Symlin. I was on the fence for a while, but I'm definitely done with it. I have a brand-new Symlin pen with pen needle attached sitting in my purse waiting to be used. It's essentially wasted now. I'm OK with that. I don't like to waste money or stuff (I'm such a pack rat), so this is really a big step for me. You'll remember when I did pretty much the same thing toward the end of my Byetta run.

The two main reasons are this: I'm tired of the tummy trouble and I eat even when I'm not hungry. The last roughly month of not taking Symlin have been mostly tummy-trouble-free. And it's been a nice change of pace, frankly, to not be constantly wiped out from having diarrhea. Going shopping -- going anywhere, really -- was also taking a chance on having to find a bathroom in an emergency. With three kids in tow. And did I mention it's not fun to rush to a PUBLIC bathroom? (READ MORE)

Bernard Farrell

I spoke with my pediatric endo today about my new diabetes community venture. First, I want to give a great big thank you and shout out to him. He is doing amazing things in the diabetes community. Thanks for being the best doc and putting up with me, Morey!

We talked about new treatment options that are coming into play. One of the ones we discussed is using the hormone amylin to control postprandial blood sugars. Amylin is a naturally occurring hormone produced by the beta cells (the ones that produce insulin). The body gives amylin with insulin when glucose is consumed. They have found that low levels of insulin are typically accompanied with low levels of amylin.

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