As I mentioned before, my family on my father's side are almost all diabetic, mostly type 2 but we've got a few type 1's as well. I was diagnosed with diabetes on June 2nd, 2010 when I went in to the emergency room knowing what was wrong (I was expecting it so I checked my blood sugar on my mother's meter). At the time, my A1C was at 11.9% and my blood sugar was pretty much "stuck" in the 275 range even after 2 IV bags were emptied into my veins and I was given a Metformin. It took an overnight stay to get my blood sugar under control. When I left the hospital, I was put on insulin and I accepted it despite much yelling from my hospital roommate that it was a bad idea because "once you're on insulin you never get off it." I needed to get healthy and I was determined to prove her wrong.
To begin with, I was given 30 units of Novalog (10 units before each meal) and 30 units of Lantus before bedtime. Later the Novalog was increased to 12 units before breakfast (because I was more resistant at that time), bringing me up to 32 units daily. I was seriously aiming to get rid of the needles as I'm terrified of them and so I set about changing my eating habits completely, making sure to carefully consider how many carbs I could consume during each meal and during a full day. Also, I cut out an immense amount of sugar from my diet, opting for sugar free alternatives whenever possible.
By July 8 I was taken off the Novalog, switching to Glipizide XL 5mg in the mornings and 1000mg Metformin before lunch and dinner. My second A1C test on August 24 I was down to 7.1%, which is a huge improvement for slightly less than 3 months. My doctor was ecstatic as was I. On my September 13th appointment I told my doctor that I didn't think I needed the Lantus anymore and she trusted my judgment. I was right. ^__^
Now, I'm (damn) proud to say that my recent A1C test done on January 3, 2011 shows that my A1C is now at 5.3%!!! (The reason for my previous post.) I've been taken off the Glipizide and I'll now be starting my day with a Januvis 100mg instead. Of course, I immediately celebrated by eating more cookies than I should, but it's okay to do that every once in a while, lol. Mostly, I'm pretty proud and happy that my doctor said I could be the "poster child for well-controlled diabetes." The challenge now is to keep going and not to ever let myself go back to where I once was. The current battle has been won but I've got a life-long war to fight ahead of me.
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