My Symlin Progress

Posted by Cari Roorda

Well, it looks as if I am getting used to the Symlin. My side effect of nausea has improved dramatically today. I am still on the second "titration dose" for type 1's, which is 5 units or 30 mcg before each meal ( traditionally 3 meals a day but I have had to add it another time as I tend to eat smaller amounts more often, and really notice in the post-meal blood sugar spikes when I don't take it). I've found that injecting immediately when I start to eat helps a lot with the nausea and with making sure that I don't get too full too fast. I was taking it before sitting down and then as life goes, I would get busy with something else and by the time I sat down to eat I was sick and had absolutely no appetite. Anyway, if tomorrow morning goes as well as the last 2 days have, then it will be time to titrate to 7.5 units or 45 mcg, before I top out at 10 units (hopefully by the end of the weekend). I think I have an idea of what you Byetta users are experiencing,so now I can empathize even more. I can definitely see the postprandial (post-meal) control and it is so exciting! Especially now that I have my Dexcom CGMS and can see in real-time what my blood sugars are doing with a new reading every few minutes. I tell you, I was hoping to be cured by now, but we've really come a long way, and I feel very fortunate to not only be a diabetic in this day and age, but also to be a Diabetes Educator with access to the latest information and upcoming technology. It is my mission to pass this on to my patients so that you can all benefit from the recent advances in the tools for diabetes management.
Also, tonight I started riding a bike again! My husband thought that it would be a good family activity for us to get bikes this year (which it would be if we made more time for it). So after about a month of my new bike sitting in the garage, I decided to join my husband and older son for a ride. It was a blast! By the end of the ride I was able to ride the bike with my 2 year old on the back in his seat. When I first tried it was really hard to balance but I got used it it quickly. I forgot how much I used to enjoy riding. Now that we live in town I have the perfect place to ride. We even rode through the cemetery and I realized I must be getting to know a lot of people here in Orange City when I knew most of the last names on the head stones. I must say though, I am not in ideal shape! I have a lot of conditioning to do- It did help to learn how to use the gears...I was riding in the hardest of settings for about 5 minutes (Ha-ha!) before my husband showed me how to switch gears. I am getting the hang of that now.
Ciao'!