The Insulin Experience: Week 2

As my second week of insulin comes to a close, I feel like I am no longer in control of my body. Blood sugars are still all over the place, including a few really unpleasant lows this weekend. I have put on 3-4 pounds in two weeks, all of which seems to have all gone straight to my abdomen because my waist measurement has increased by an inch and a half. I wouldn’t mind the weight gain if it was a) better distributed and b) wasn’t such an obvious side-effect of the insulin. My well-tuned sense of hunger also seems to be lost in the shuffle.

Today I made enough Mediterranean chicken salad to feed me lunch every day this week, so perhaps eating the exact same carefully weighed, mid-low carb meal for lunch and breakfast for the entire week will help shed some light on the situation. I haven’t yet decided what to do about my beloved breakfast – do I change it or give it one more week? I started eating my current breakfast when my breakfast of over 2 years (whole 7-grain bagel with cream cheese) suddenly wasn’t cutting it with Starlix. I cut the bagel in half (to about 2 oz), and added some protein in the form of salmon and 1 egg, 1 egg white scrambled, which comes to about 30-36g carbs depending on the weight of the bagel. Starlix could handle it fine – insulin not so much. The only luck I seem to have with it is by splitting my bolus up into half the dose before and half during or after, but even then I’m still lingering in the 130s all morning (and now have twice as many bruises ). Possible options: a) cut the bagel down to a quarter-bagel, b) ditch the beloved bagel all together or c) try cranking my A.M. carb/insulin ratio up to 7g carbohydrate per unit.

It’s hard for me to admit that this whole thing isn’t going as swimmingly as I’d hoped, but with a week and a half left before I see my PA, there is still plenty of time for things to turn around and for me to be back in control of this mortal vestibule.