Her doctor wants to put her in a clinical trial. She will get this product for free. I looked it up. I read all the info. It is supposed to help with weight loss and she's about 275.

She is presently on Humalog 3 times a day and Levimir one time a day. Her doctor took her off of Januvia and Glyburide saying "It's not helping you at all"

Her sugar can go to 260 in the a.m. (she knows about liver dumping). Her post prandials are all over the place. And when she gets up in the a.m. and it's 89 she starts to shake.

So her sugar readings are all over the place.

She is 67 years old, has an arrythmia and is on heart meds as well as high blood pressure meds.

Recently her stomach is hurting her and they are going to do a cat scan.

Her own doctor said to her "Why on earth do you want to go into a clinical trial, we don't know anything about this drug and it's side effects (which it seems can be hypo episodes).

So I came here to ask if you think she would be a good candidate.

She won't consider any bariatric surgery and I'm thinking 3 shots of humolog, 3 shots of Symlin and one shot of Levimir A DAY??

Isn't this a lot of injections?

Any comments are welcome.

Thanks much

Melody

I don't know much about this drug other than what I have read.

Basically it is for hard to control patients. The weight loss is there but not huge.

From what I see, patients using this drug can reduce the doses of the insulin used. It is also possible to get low blood sugar attacks from this drug, so patients have to be prepared for that.

I don't think patient acceptance is high with it. I seem to recall it causes alot of nausea.
http://www.rxlist.com/symlin-drug.htm

None of the interventions we have for diabetes are "pleasant" IMO. The only thing one can really do is control food intake.

Controlling food intake?? That's the one thing this person is NOT able to do. I was in her house one time and she was cooking 18 lamb chops in a skillet. I said "oh are you having company?" she said 'No, I always cook like this".

That was 15 years ago.

I really think it's VERY hard to be able to do what I have done. Completely change my brain as to what I put in my body. I have done the studying (it helped of course that I was in the Accord program).

But if a person is only interested in cooking, The Food Channel and other such things, one will never change one's brain.

We have prescriptions thrown at us right and left. All to make money, all to keep us DEPENDENT on those prescriptions.

But in the cases of Type 2 and if it's weight related, and if one is determined to at least do all that one can do to keep one's blood sugar under control, well, I guess that is the best we can do. This is how I live my life.

You would not believe the number of people that I know with diabetes who look at me and say "how did you lose weight and how are you controlling your diabetes, and I simply tell them what I do and the answer is usually (and I really do hear this).

Their response is:

"Well, that would not work for me, and you can't prove that would work for me"

I always said "Who said you have to do what I do, you simply asked me a question and I told you what works for ME!!!!"

Happens every time.

It's getting to the point where I can't tell anyone my truthful blood sugar reading when I wake up. Let's say I am in the company of 3 diabetics and one says' "Melody, what was your blood sugar this morning"?

And god forbid I say 'it was 119" Now (between you and I)I know that it should really be close to 100 but I'll take 119 any day over 260.

So when I answer 119, they get a mad look on their face and they say "I KNEW you would say that", Because theirs was 127.

It's like a contest. Who the heck wants it to be a contest? It's not a contest. It's my LIFE we are talking about. It's THEIR life.

They are having a contest???

So from now on when I am asked I will say "Oh it was okay, and when they persist", I now say "I really can't remember, so I don't think it was that bad"

For some reason, that seems to satisfy them.

Good Grief

I think controlling carbs (and thus some weight) is important in the beginning. But when the pancreas fails, then not much can be accomplished and injectable insulin has to be the solution.

Eating sensibly will allow for less insulin, but people at the end of their lives often, only have food as a comfort. So getting thru that barrier would be difficult.

The pancreas can be damaged by drugs..some cause pancreatitis. Autoimmune disease can attack the pancreas too. Many new drugs also cause diabetes... the atypical antipsychotics, and new evidence that Paxil + Pravachol (statin)taken together does too! So one can diet forever and if they are damaged this way, the diet will have only limited effectiveness.
So many variables can lead to diabetes.

It is great you could do what you did Mel. But you are correct that people vary in their will and determination. Some will fight and not even take certain nutrients in the face of a severe deficiency! I think TV is a big culprit too. The new flat screen TV we just got makes food look SO good. OH.... I find it hard to fight that myself!

We are being flooded with commercials with all these high fat fast food, and the Applebees commercials, and the Outback commercials and the Pancake Places with their mile high pancakes with butter and sausage.

It's a wonder that we are still alive.

This morning I had to stop at my local bakery to get a small loaf of Semolina Bread so I can make a fresh sprout tuna sandwich for Alan for dinner. I only use half the loaf (it's not a big sandwich) but I stuff it with sprouts and my Wild Planet tuna. I then wrap the other part of the bread and use it tomorrow or I'll freeze it.

As I'm standing in line I am looking at a display case of pastries. ( I am not now, nor have I ever been an Italian Pastry person). In the past, when I weighed 300 lbs I was a foodie, but not a pastry and if I went to a wedding and they had the Venetian hour, you would never catch me at the Italian pastry part of the table with the cannolis and the Napoleons. Not my thing.

I would be on the French pastry side with the mousse and other french stuff. But that was 40 years ago and since you can't buy French pastries in an Italian neighborhood, well, thank god for that or I would have weighed 400 lbs instead of 300 lbs.

But this morning as I am waiting to be served, I'm watching all the people on line. And I'm watching what they are ordering.

You should have seen what was in the display case. I wish I had my Flip camera because NO ONE COULD RESIST THESE THINGS. The only reason I am not even tempted is because my brain changed and when I look at this stuff I only see SUGAR AND FAT AND BUTTERCREAM FROSTING AND WHERE IT GOES INTO MY ARTERIES.

I don't see the taste, I see the results.

But the people on the line were ALL over 200 lbs and I gather they were buying for the upcoming holiday.

I have seen cakes before but nothing like these masterpieces.

Holy Cow

Some of these cakes were $50 and in the other display they had apple turnovers, and croissants with enough butter to make one land in the hospital.

No wonder we are all suffering from Diabetes.

I casually remarked to the person next to me "This is a diabetic nightmare"

She laughed and said "yeah, but who cares"


Who cares??

OMG!!!

I'm not saying we need to go all green and everything

but....

WHO CARES???

Mrs. D.

While we are on this topic of diabetes I need your expertise.

What is your input on this case.

32 year old alcoholic (who will not stop drinking beer) and who recently was diagnosed with diabetes. He never checks his sugar. He has been hospitalized 5 times with severe pancreatitis and is giving meds and then, when he's better, he's discharged. No one can get him to go to rehab because he's over the legal age. No one can do this. He also has cirrhosis of the liver.

At his last hospitalization, they released him with diabetic meter, diabetic meds (novalog) and I have been told that he is to take one shot of this insulin a day.

I have never heard of a person having to take one shot of Novalog a day.

This is a short acting insulin and I know COUNTLESS diabetics who take this before they eat ANY MEAL.

So how can he be told that he only needs to take one shot in the morning before breakfast.

At least this is what he is telling his mother. At the hospital his sugar was over 300. His stomach is always swollen when he has these hospital stays.

They give him Librium and then they release him when he's better. This has been going on for 2 years now. But he's been drinking for 15 years.

Yesterday, his mom went to visit and he had his friend there and the friend took his sugar and it was 300. Of course the mother started yelling "it's the beer, it's the beer".

of course, it's the beer but it's HIS responsibilty, no??

He won't take his sugar but he'll let someone else take his sugar.

He did take a shot of insulin and 15 minutes later his sugar went down.

So we have a 32 year old man with pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and now a diabetic.

My question to you is not about his going to rehab. that is not happening. Very sad.

My question is "Can a person who has pancreatitis, and type 2 diabetes and his sugar can reach 300, is it true that that person only has to take one shot of novolog a day? Or is he NOT telling his mother the truth.

I think it's the latter. But I really don't know anything about when people take short acting insulin.

Thanks, and I'm not passing on this info. They don't want it and I'm not offering it. I just want to know.

I know when to keep my mouth shut.

Thanks much, Mrs. D

Maybe it is not novalog. Or he was not taught correctly. Or he doesn't eat except for breakfast--- and drinks all day instead.
Major denial... major problems. People who drink heavily tend to get low blood sugar spells... that may have something to do with his regimen.

He won't be around much longer. That is his choice. His liver will fail, his blood will stop clotting and he may bleed to death before the sugar gets him. Cirrhosis in a 32 yr old is a bad sign.

We know a young guy who has had pancreatitis already from drinking. He has 3 little girls. He stopped for a while, was in the hospital once, and now is back on the beer.

Lifestyle problems are so common. You should see the alcoholic stats for Russia! Far worse than here.

There is a condition called pyroluria, which causes tremendous anxiety and many with it develop alcohol dependence to self medicate (it is genetic). It is fairly simple to fix:
http://www.drkaslow.com/html/pyroluria.html

I read everything you wrote. I understand everything you wrote. This guy is making such bad decisions. I feel for the parents. As all parents try to do, they are trying to save him.

I told them to go to Al-anon meetings but they are having none of that.

I guess some people believe in these things and others, well, they have to do what they have to do.

When he came home from the hospital she said he is on Novolog.

She did not say Levimir or Lantus. And the fact that he took a shot of it and his sugar came right down in 15 minutes, well...I think it's Novolog.

Anyway, thanks for your input. It must be very difficult to see one's adult child destroying their life.

I should know. Been doing this for 9 years.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

Oh, you'll LOVE this. This morning, the little Italian people who live downstairs contacted me and said "I smell gas".

of course I go running downstairs, I smelled gas, called the appropriate people, they came switched off the stove, then the gas company came, said it was a broken hose in the back, and now they wait for a repairman to come and fix the problem. So now they have no working stove for the moment.

You should have seen her face. She's 80 or so and all she does is cook. She's also a diabetic, she's a tiny thing and she loves her pasta. She knows it's bad for her but she laughs and says "I was raised this way" So I shut my mouth and she eats what she eats.

I broght a little electric burner down to them so they could COOK until their stove gets fixed. They were extremely happy.

They just knocked on my door to say thanks and she hands me this BIG plate of .....wait for it.......

Rice, beans, corn, in some lovely smelling concoction.

I mean, RICE, BEANS CORN?????

I said "oh wow, thanks" She said 'you can have a little bit"

I just said "Oh I know, and thanks so much"

She was beaming.

I tasted one tablespoon, it was the most delicious thing I ever tasted and it's now wrapped in my fridge, and I'll share it with Alan and other people later on today. Of course, I won't go near it because it's RICE, BEANS AND CORN.

lol lo lol

There are ads on TV now for Novalog 70/30 flex pen. Maybe this is what he is using? 70/30 is a long acting mix.
Perhaps this is what was given.

Ah, I never knew this.

It would explain a lot.

He has to stop drinking if he is going to survive and I don't see this happening.

Very sad, Mrs. D.

Thanks much for ALL your input.

I am now going back to my sprouts, they do give me my joy in life.

lol