My BG control has been fairly good with glipizide and a couple
of herbs.Control is not quite as good with glipizide alone or herbs
alone.
My initial decision is to evaluate insulin for 3 months and then decide
whether I will continue with insulin or revert back to my previous regimen.
Even if I revert back,my pancreas will have gotten a rest from Glipizide
My initial concerns were:
1.Not real crazy about injecting myself in the belly
2.Seemed that timing of injections would be inconvenient
3.Seems like the good insulin products are very expensive.That's bad
for me because my company doesn't provide health insurance and I
can't do Medicare yet
I read the Using Insulin book by Walsh.
All of my initial concerns about insulin turned out to be bogus.
I discovered with the help of WalMart and a Canadian Pharmacy that I can
have a good insulin regimen for approximately 40 dollars per month.
Here's what I do:
I inject myself 4 times a day-once before each meal and once before bed.
I use a Novolin Pen 4 to inject Novolog before each meal-convenient and
painless.I use a syringe to inject NPH insulin(from Walmart).The syringe
injection is painless.The NPH has completely corrected the dawn effect.
My control has gone from fairly good to excellent.
My only concern at this point is whether I will have weight gain.
If that happens,I will have to revert to previous regimen.
A few parting points:
1.I still do medium carb diet.I have to be careful that premeal injections
match the carbs I consume.That's not real difficult.
2.If I so choose,I can eat a meal that would have not been possible with
my previous regimen.All I have to do is selct the correct insulin dose.
I won't make a habit of this but I have done it once.
That's it for now
Eddie

Eddie,

What was your last A1C number?

Before insulin:

what was your average high and low?

any extreme highs or lows?

After you've been on insulin a month I'd like to ask those same two questions and one more question....

At the end of that first month on insulin, what impact did it have on your exercise regimen?

Good luck and keep us posted...

Ron

Ron
My last A1C was 5.3.
I don't do averages anymore.
I've only been on insulin 9 days.
No extreme highs or lows.
Not much of a glucose effect from exercise yet but I
keep a glucose gel tube handy.
We'll see how my little experiment goes.
Bye for now
Eddie

Well Eddie, you've got an analytical mind, so I'm sure you're keeping things fine tuned...

I worry about my psych all the time when I'm taking anything and imagine, it would be moreso if I went on insulin
Do you notice if either of these two things are happening:

1. you tend to let yourself eat more carbs then before cause the insuling covers it so well...
2. you're needing to eat more carbs than before to avoid hypos.....

Ron, rightfully raises a few questions.

When I first started with diabetes I found that diet (low to medium carb) and exercise could control my glucose quite well.

I am definitely insulin resistant. Are you? What doses are you taking of your basal insulin? What is the ratio of units to carbs for your Novolog. I used the Novolog pen and Levemir pens for well over a year.

As Dr. Bernstein would say I was injecting industril dosages Levemir 40 units in the AM and 40 units in the PM. I needed 1 unit of Novolog per 5-6 carbs.

If you stick to small numbers of carbs at each meal you will do fine.

However, you will have a tendency to enjoy a large carb meal now and then as you have already stated. This is where it can get risky with how much Novolog to inject and this is where you will start to experience lows that you never experienced before since you will take liberties.

Thus, I always had glucose tabs in my pocket.

Now, since you are near ideal weight you probably do not have the same dosages. You probably need a lot less. You probably have to be very careful with the Novolog pen I would suspect. 1 unit of Novolog may in fact be a lot for you. You will discover this.

I don't know if you have Dr. B's book. He had a lot of good information on the use of insulin as well; just a thought.

My best A1C was with insulin 5.2.

Here you are with 5.3 prior to going on insulin. I would think you were doing quite well, no organ damage, good control.

I thought about the give the pancreas a rest. Quite frankly, what gives the pancreas a rest in the low carb diet.

Best wishes,

Ralph

So are you doing this all on your own or with the help of a health care professional? Keep us posted on what's going on.

Ron
At this point I am pretty cheerful about my insulin usage.
On a daily basis,I usually eat fewer carbs than before.
I will probably allow myself a couple of treat meals a month
and cover it with more insulin.
A lot of people develop fulltime bad eating habits thinking
that insulin makes everything okay.I won't make that mistake.
Becky
I have always been in control of my diabetes regimen-no
doctors allowed in that area.MY GP doc is a very good
guy who allows me to use him as a tool for tests and
prescriptions.That is not to say that we don't discuss things.
None of my insulin related stuff is prescription.
Ralph
I average 20 units of insulin per day-8 units of basal NPH at
bedtime and 4 units of Novolog about 15 minutes before each
meal.The basal dose is always the same.The before meal dose
varies depending on carb content of meal.I am using 1 unit per
5 grams of carbs.I usually don't do snacks.
Bye y'all
Eddie

Eddie how do you get Insulin without a Dr. precription?

I have been dissapointed, my Dr see's a 7.2 A1c and tells me to take 3 months, lose 20 lbs lower cal 1200 and lower carb, not over 50.
I have always wondered if I would do better with some kind of Insulin.

Ralph
Your basal insulin should,on a daily basis,be only about 50 percent of your daily units.It appears that Levermir dose was way too high.Basal is only used to cover bad FBG numbers(
probably due to liver shooting out too much glucose).
Basal insulin is too weak to cover postprandial BG.
HisMouse
Walmart sells insulin and syringes without prescription.
The Walmart insulin is first generation stuff but,used correctly,
it works well.I started out on Walmart insulin(produced by
Relion/Novolin) and it worked well.I switched to Novolin Pen 4 and Novolog from a Canadian pharmacy.Don't think about using insulin without reading Using Insulin by Walsh.
My Canadian pharmacy is www.northwest pharmacy.com.
Cheers to all from Hot Humid Houston
Eddie

Eddie, thank you wouldn't venture off and do it on my own..

Eddie,

That is what I needed to get my basal BG readings and my FBG under 100 and into the 80s.

Now I am off of all of that stuff.

My weight is coming down and that will be my ultimate long term solution.

Weight loss equals better control of diabetes.

Right now I am very happy with FBG readings around 120-130 each morning with daytime readings ranging from 100-125.

They will come down. I don't go above 140 anymore.

My weight reduction will bring these numbers down. These numbers are confirmed with my current A1C of 5.6

Best wishes to you,

Ralph

Ralph
Sounds like your weight reduction has had a very positive impact for you.Best wishes to you also.
Bye for now
Eddie

Eddie - congrats on your luck on using insulin. I started a lot earlier in the process (also Walmart OTC, but only Regular) I have not found it too diffucult to never go to the "just use more insulin in order to eat more carbs". I did discover on a cruise with the family that I did a lot better breaking my weight lifting into 3 or 4 sessions instead of all at once. And to my amazement had to eat more bread to raise lows than I would ever have guessed. Anyway insulin doses are down, as well as BGs.

robll,

can you explain how you think spreading out the weight lifting into multiple sessions worked differently? HOw far apart were the sessions? What changes did it make for you in dosages and in control? Are you staying this way now?

I'm curious, aren't I?

Ron

I will start a new thread on my "cruise" experience later today or tomorrow.