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)

First, an apology: I left you hanging a month ago with part two of my diagnosis story and haven't written the rest of it. So, I'm sorry, and here's what I hope to be part three of four.

I went through nearly two trimesters of my third pregnancy managing my blood sugar with Lantus, good food choices and exercise. Sometime in late September 2005, my blood sugars started not responding well enough to what I was doing, so my educator added Novolog to the mix. I loved it.

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I thought carefully about what I would wear today, and reconsidered several times. I applied my makeup with an eye toward the wow factor. I wasn't trying to show off, I just feel incredibly good today and wanted to reflect that outwardly.

Truthfully, I couldn't wait to get to my appointment with my endo. Truthfully, I've been waiting for this for some time. Truthfully, if I were still on Byetta I think I would have dreaded this day. Truthfully, with a solid month or so of excellent blood sugars thanks to Novolog and a fairly decent walking schedule, I was proud to report to my endo about how well I believe I'm doing. (READ MORE)

Twice this week I've literally said "Oh crap! That's this week? Once was for a birthday party for No. 1 and once was the realization that my next endo appointment is Tuesday.

I'm feeling rather confident going into this appointment. OK, actually I think I'm being a little too cocky. I sort of feel like my A1C is going to be the most amazing drop from a 9 that anyone has ever seen just because I've started walking more and the Novolog is really, really helping my numbers. And I know this because I'm actually testing more than once or twice a day. I need to sort of bring myself down to size, but I really doubt that will happen until I get the results of my A1C test.

In the time that I saw Dr. C last, I have started and stopped Byetta, developed terrible TERRIBLE seasonal allergies that a steroid shot didn't even touch, started nasal allergy medicines, found myself walking at least five days a week, and rather enjoying the control I seem to have taking Novolog. (READ MORE)

I threw away my Byetta pen yesterday. It was easy. I just took it out of the cabinet and chucked it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I don't think I'll ever want to go back to Byetta.

I hate to say that because I really thought it was going to be a saving grace for me in the weight loss department. I'm just not so sure that it was my allergies that were making my blood sugar go so wacky lately. I mean, I'm sure allergies played a part, but I'm not so sure they were the sole culprit.

There are just so many variables to diabetes management that I'll never really know for sure, but since I've gone back to Novolog I've noticed a dramatic difference in my numbers. And, I'm still taking nasal steroids, which I thought were going to send my blood sugar off the deep end, for my allergies. I am walking more consistently than I was on Byetta; however, it became difficult to count on a morning walk when I didn't know where my blood sugar would be at 6 a.m. (READ MORE)

Even though I started hating Byetta toward the end, it still offered me at least one redeeming benefit. I held on to Byetta a lot longer than I should have mainly because it zapped my appetite. From roughly a week in I was hardly ever hungry. In fact, I found myself routinely having rabbit food several meals a day and feeling just fine about it.


I feared the hunger almost immediately, and within days of giving up on Byetta for a number of reasons, I started to experience that dreaded hunger once again. I even did some Google research on appetite suppressants hoping that I could try to have the best of Byetta and Novolog with some herbal or OTC remedy. (READ MORE)