Living with Diabetes and Lapband

Made a quick mention of this, this morning.   I’m at my lowest weight since the lap band process.  That means I am more than 40 pounds down from my heaviest.

It is STILL frustrating.  I don’t lose in a smooth progression.

My biggest problem is stress, and I am on the downside, I hope of a very stressful situation.  I haven’t slept all night since spring break.  I am having trouble even going to bed, as I anticipate problems.  Last night I finally forced myself a little before 12:30 pm.  Even skipped the computer, but woke up around 5:00 am and just laid there for a while.

I might try sleeping pills tonight, but I don’t really like the way I feel the next day.

Best news, it is does seem to have affected my insulin usage.

 This is one of the reasons why I choose insulin over an oral drug.  Also the oral medication wasn't working fast enough for me. 

More than 6 million people around the world have taken the drug Avandia (rosiglitazone) to treat Type II diabetes. But a new study published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the drug is linked to a higher risk of heart attack and death.

Source: Diabetes Drug Linked to Heart Attacks - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com

Medco has been jerking me around, yet again, over Protonix.  During spring break, I went to see the primary care doctor to see if there was something different we should about my GERD, since I was almost out of Protonix and to let him know we were playing the Medco game.

He is fed up with, decided I needed to be scoped anyway since it had been a while, so he sent me to a gastric doctor (I think I've posted about this, sorry for the repeat).

So I saw the gastric doctor.  She decided I also needed a gall bladder ultrasound since gall bladder stones can cause a backup of bile, looking like GERD.  She also gave me a medication, Carafate which is supposed to help if it is bile reflux.

It doesn't seem to help.

She also prescribed Reglan which set off all sorts of red flags because it counteracts Symlin.  I tried it for a few days, it doesn't seem to help.

Then the Endo said to back off on the Symlin -- so I went to 10 units.  Amazingly enough it didn't seem to affect my blood sugar.

I have had to make another change to the Symlin, unrelated -- I've been having trouble with crashing in the evening during my new workouts, so I've changed my evening meal, so that I take no insulin and no Symlin.  I can't decide if that is helping or now, and I'm still low at night.  That means I still need to eat something before I got to bed which DOES affect the reflux.

Anyway, back to the Medco games.  Gastric doctor prescribed Protonix, 2 x time which is the only thing that helps.  Most of the time.  I still get break through depending on how much I have to eat to fix the nightly low.

So Medco needs an authorization for Protonix, because it isn't Nexium.  Then they need a second authorization for the amount of Protonix, because it's an extra amount.

So the gastric doctor had to fill out both authorizations -- and I think that is where everything got screwed up at the primary care physicians.  The good news is that I'm authorized for the extra dosage until October and I'm authorized for the medication until April.

I had the sonogram on Friday and am supposed to get the results back tomorrow.  I'm getting scoped tomorrow, early in the morning.

All this, because Medco has to play games on GERD medications.

The Charlie Weiss case and the warnings they give is one of the many reasons I've not gone for the weight loss surgery thing.  I've been looking at the articles on his case, and I'm not sure he has a malpractice case and I am not sure he should be suing.  You are warned going in that things can go wrong. 

Link to Close Concerns Weblog: A Godsend or A Scare: Results Can Vary Widely with Weightloss Surgery

It will be interesting to see what happens -- I just injected my first dose of Depo Prevera. I don't like the needle, it's thicker than a diabetic needle but not bad.

This is a lower dosage so it will be interested to see what happens with blood sugar, periods (right now, I don't have any), break through bleeding (don't have it), and acne -- occasional breakouts near time to inject, though didn't this round.

Grab A Cuppa Grand Rounds! // Emergiblog

Get on the scale daily to keep lost pounds off - CNN.com

Losing excess weight is often easier than keeping it off. A new study shows that stepping on a scale every day, and adjusting eating and exercise habits accordingly, can go a long way in helping dieters maintain a weight loss.

Every time I've been successful I weighed pretty close to daily. Though I can get obsessed and it does sometimes bad fire.

Tundra Medicine Dreams: Grand Rounds, Vol. 2 No. 52

I contributed this round. I addresed the "hope for a cure" issue.

And there is at least one Type 2 diabetic who believes that oral medications are for the birds and that insulin is the only way to fly.

Very Old, Very Healthy Diabetic

Diabetes Mine: Who Needs Patient Studies When You've Got PCs?

This is right up my alley literally. Since I teach computer science, I do keep up with the field.

I certainly don't think that simulated clinical trials will replace real ones, but they will help rule out bad treatments early. Remember the clinical trial that has ruined the health of the healthy volunteers in Great Britian? If a simulated clinical trial could eliminate such problems, you'd see more people participating in the real ones.