Hi Annie,

I know just what you mean. I took oral meds for years, and figured I was a veteran with Diabetes. But after a while the meds weren't working well enough and I had to start insulin. I also stayed on the orals at the same time.
When I got the insulin, it was called Lantus. It was an injection pen. All I had to do was screw the needle on the end, dial up the dose with a knob on the pen,and inject. The doc told me he had samples and would show me how, but it turned out he didn't so I was on my own. I went to the rx to buy the lantus, and didn't even know I had to buy separate needles. I did not know which ones, so ended up buying the smallest ones they had, figuring it wouldn't hurt as much. It was weird the first time, but after that became much easier.

As far as the diet, be prepared, as insulin made me add weight. The doc said it was the Lantus, so now he switched me to something else. But the diet does not have to be any stricter than your regular diabetic diet. As long as you are consistent with about the same amount of calories and carbs daily, you should be OK. This new insulins are once a day, and stay pretty level throughout the day. You measure your BG in the morning, and inject enough to get you around 100 the next morning. You start with a small dose, and add 1 unit daily until you hit 100. Pretty easy.

Good luck. Forget the will.

I appreciate hearing about your experience -- that doesn't seem so bad. Re: diet, I can't keep a decent diet; that's where the attention deficit disorder comes in (if you don't have it it's hard to explain what kind of life people with ADD live). But at one point I had cut back seriously on my food intake and was normal at least once during an average day (usually in the afternoon), so I may be able to get back to that diet level again.

I really appreciate knowing that, in a pinch, I can probably figure things out for myself, especially with help from DS and with some internet reading. Thanks for the encouragement.

Way back when I was first diagnosed with type 2, I took a week long class in diabetes knowledge and maintanence. They had nurses drs and dieticians give seminars, and I learned quite a bit. I took notes, and 15 years later I still refer to those notes. Perhaps you could find a class in your area?
Or course there is a ton of info on the web, and feel free to ask me anything. I may not be a health professional, but I've been living it for quite a while.

Have you experienced low blood sugar episodes while taking glipizide and not eating enough?

The only diabetes ed classes offered are not where I can get to them. But I have a strong science background and a good (layman's) knowledge of biochem and nutrition -- I can practically write a 1200 calorie low-carb, low-fat diet by heart. And I know enough to read labels -- very important! But my unstructured life and lack of impulse control (both part of the ADD) always do me in. I did manage for nearly a year to stick to low fats and very low carbs, but I was always higher fasting and never normal except in mid-day, 2 or 3 times a week. It doesn't help that with my unstructured life I almost never cook myself. Having a mental disorder definitely throws a monkey wrench in the works.

Re: low blood sugar: I remember 1 low blood sugar episode in 5 years or more. I can fast for 12-16 hours and still be high, even taking my meds. I'm guessing I've nearly lost the capacity to produce insulin myself, so I know injected insulin is probably needed (unless the doctor can come up with some med I haven't tried yet -- and I don't think there are any left).

My sister always said that when she went on insulin she did much better. I'm sort of clinging to that.

I was taking glipizide and it stopped working too. When I started insulin I kept taking actos and glipizide. The glipizide drove my numbers too low, so I had to cut it out. I mean twice I woke up disoriented in the middle of the night, tested at 45. Had to eat in the middle of the night, ruined me for the next day. But when my numbers were a little high, I would take just a small amount, 2.5 mg, and it helped.

Hopefully your sister can help you get going.

I was lucky, I already knew how to give injections as I'm an LPN. However, when I started on insulin, my doctor had me see the diabetic educator/nutritionist. She helped to make sure I was doing the injections right. It's one thing to give them to others as opposed to giving them to yourself. If your doctor's office is a good one, they should work with you and teach you everything you need to know. I started on oral meds too and they stopped working. Some of them worked to well and made my blood sugar drop to much. I'm now on two different insulins. As for your diet, your diabetes educator will help you with that also. Each one has a different way of teaching you to eat to help keep your blood sugar in control. I'm learning to eat by counting carbs. I find that I get very hungry sometimes and I can't eat as it will affect my next glucose check. I'll be happy to talk to you more about this as we learn how to eat properly. Even though I'm a nurse, it's far different when dealing with it yourself.

I was on oral meds for quite a while and had to switch to insulin. They taught me right there when they put me on it and it is real easy to learn. I take a shot with every meal. You have to be consistent with your food because you could get some low sugar readings and have a reaction such as shaking and sweats as some of the symptoms. I didn't do any different diet but you should stick with one so you won't have so many highs and lows. I watch what I eat but I sneak some bad things in there only once in a great while and I take extra insulin when I do that. Insulin to me is no big deal to do but is a pain in the ass when you eat out.

They ALWAYS have someone show you how and they often require additional boot camp classes to make sure you've got it down.

In general I find insulin to be a lot more flexible than pills -- if you want to binge you can take more insulin for it. It's nice because you're less forced to eat or not eat than you are by the pills.

In general the diet is less strict, as far as I can tell -- but there is always the additional temptation to eat more and "just take more insulin," at which point you start to get seriously fat.

Thanks for your encouragement. Instead of insulin my doctor added Januvia, but if that doesn't help enough it'll be insulin. Down here they really don't always have people to show you things (medical practice is really different down here) but I've got the internet and also this group, so hopefully if/when it comes to that I'll make out okay. After hearing from you all I'm much less afraid than I was -- thanks again!

i believe byetta is a 30 dose injectable pen

I started insulin injections last week with the pen and the dietician showed me with saline and fake skin how to administer the injection at my last visit. It's not hard but does help if you have a little how to instruction.