At the end of this month, I'll see my endocrinologist for the first time since leaving the hospital with that adorable little bundle of joy. Prior to getting pregnant, I started taking insulin and I'm still on it. When I see the doctor again, I'll have the opportunity to change things up. Now that I'm done breastfeeding, I can go back on oral medications and put the insulin behind me.

Today, I started questioning if I really want to do that. What are the pros and cons of oral meds versus insulin? The obvious is a pill versus a shot, but after 15 months on insulin, I really don't have a problem with needles. Insulin is natural and the only real side effect is low blood sugar. Most oral meds have much worse side effects, like upset stomachs, headaches and rashes, in addition to hypoglycemia. (READ MORE)

He's the doctor. I'm the patient. He's a medical specialist. I'm a health writer. He's a diabetologist with 40-some-odd years of experience under his belt. I'm the diabetic who's lived with this disease every day for at least four years. But still, he's the expert and I pay him for his expertise, right? I should trust him, after all, he did earn it keeping me healthy through a diabetic pregnancy and ensuring my blood sugar stayed perfect throughout labor and delivery.

So when my endocrinologist asked me to humor him yesterday, I had to at least entertain the idea. All of my debating about whether to stick with insulin or try something else was in vain. My doctor has decided I don't need insulin after all. I don't need oral meds to stimulate insulin production either. All I need is to keep taking the metformin I started back on a few weeks ago. (READ MORE)

So I was at work the other day and one of my co-workers and I had the, "diabetes talk". Let's just say she acted as if she knew all about diabetes. I was sitting there humoring her as she dove into topics of nutrition, exercise, and stress. And right as I was about to completely tune her out and continue what I was doing, she caught my attention with a few words that I HAD NEVER heard associated with diabetes. Chromium Picolinate.
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Since getting my hands on a review copy of Jenny Ruhl's new book, "Blood Sugar 101: What they don't tell you about diabetes" (Technion Books), I haven't been able to put it down.

Finally, an intellegent book about type 2 diabetes that tells it like it is and offers practical advice without talking down to me or engaging in quackery. Reading it, I feel like I did when met best friend Sue in middle school or when first found Diabetic Mommy. There's someone else who gets it! (READ MORE)

Sometimes I am shocked at how invisible diabetes can be. I was having practice at church the other night for the contemporary band when my Bass player asked us to pray for him.

"Of course! What is going on?"

He explains to me that he is having surgery on his eye to drain fluid in it and would just like us to keep him in our prayers. He started telling us about how he had this same surgery on his other eye and that it worked really well so he his hopeful that this surgery will be another success. I asked him what causes the problem he is having.

"Diabetes." (READ MORE)

millenium_nyati's

What kinds of exercises, hobbies, or activities do you enjoy doing and what kinds of things do you do to navigate around blood sugar issues? This was my random thought of the day so far, so I thought I would share it with you guys and see if you would tell me your stories in return.

Personally, one of my most favorite passions is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I am training about 5 times a week or so, it makes me feel great and I love it. But one thing about Jiu Jitsu is that it's very intense and it's difficult to find the balance between having good sugars and being able to participate fully, say for example, like any non-diabetic person would.
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