Yup, not surprised

[nadinbrzezinski]

after almost 20 years of this crap and a year of we could not get this under any kind of target or control with just pills... in the morning starting insulin.

I initiated that conversation... not the doctor. You do not want to know where the 1AC is... but kidneys, nerves, heart and brain matter to me. So the vial is in the fridge, the syringes are ready... and so is the sharps. Got the tablets too. It's easier to control things with 4 gram sugar tablets than with the old standby... OJ or Coke.

One thing a lot of patients do is be in denial. My dad took three long years to finally accept the jab. I knew it was not responding. Enough years in EMS to know better. It is what it is... with diabetes. We all will end on it anyhow.

[Spirochete]

1. I went on insulin

when I had my heart attack, 10 years after being diagnosed. Now I'm on two different kinds of insulin. Only good thing is - now I have the cool pen injector, so I don't have to eyeball the stuff into a syringe. This is good, because my eyesight is bad, and I have to do 4 shots a day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. We are starting with the standard syringe and vial

I think the doc wants to make sure one works before the pen

[Spirochete]

5. I've only been using

the pens for about a year. Much easier. Just dial in a number, and stab. lol

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I know, I know dad had pens

I still remember all that technique from ten years in EMS. So... tomorrow morning get breakfast ready and then stab

[TexasProgresive]

2. I had really good control for years

But like you said if you live long enough with type 2 you will start jabbing yourself. I think I am using Lantus 5 years now. Save your eyes, kidneys and toes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. xactly

Why I did not fight it

[TexasTowelie]

7. I've been on insulin since 2002.

My weight before I started using insulin was about 165 pounds (I'm 6' 1&quot . Then I dropped to 117 pounds before I could be spared from work to go visit the doctor. My blood sugar was above 600 and I was admitted to the ER because I was so ill that they thought I was going to die. I've been on both short term and long term insulins and never was able to get things under control. At times I went hypoglycemic and finally they put me on an insulin pump.

Unfortunately I lost health insurance when I became unemployed in 2010 and could afford the pump system that I was using so I'm back to syringes again. I'm up to 183 pounds, but I'm having both low and high blood sugar readings, my HA1C at the last check was over 13 and besides the neuropathy problems I suspect that I'm also coming down with MS. I'm back to the doctor on Monday, but since I'm on indigent care the quality of care is lacking.

I hope that you can get your blood sugar under control soon since it does diminish the quality of life and the ability to hold a job if you don't. I believe that my medical problems eventually cost me my last job due to the effects on my attitude and my inability to work the 70 and 80 hour work weeks on a constant basis.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Yeah, it is also a quality of life issue

I am hoping it responds. Though part of it is a slight weight issue that is not responding either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well doing this before and after each food

I mean the blood testing.

I can see the trends starting to turn... still, it will take time.

(And I do remember the technique and it was not as much pain to take the circus to breakfast today)

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I know levels are better now.

This will work. And it is not that bad.

[IDemo]

11. I'm entering my 51st year on insulin

When I was young, I had to boil a glass syringe each morning to sterilize it, and the needle was quite a bit bigger than today's microfine size.

I tried a 90 day supply of the pens a couple years ago and couldn't wait to get back to the syringes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. I don't mind them

Just for travel it's easier to take the pens

As a former medic, in a developing world country, I am way too familiar with boiling them too.



Ah AIDS. It was not just getting people to wear gloves. It included sterile one use everything.

The glass syringes with needles that were older than Moses were quite the museum pieces

[IDemo]

13. Peeing in a glass instead of a finger stick for BG checks

Not as painful, but not real useful in comparison.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. True, true

they still sell the strips. I remember that was state of the art as well, at one point

I remember when I first brought a glucometer, one of those free ones that my sis got at a convention in the States for dietitians, to the ER. I got them a lot of strips, we got them donated. It was like a different universe for the doctors. Getting replacement strips became an all consuming adventure, but one worth engaging in.

It is amazing, how far technology and medicine has advanced.