Hey all,

Just wanted to come in and let you all know my dr put me on a new diabetic medication, called Januvia

He said it is supposed to be really great. Took my 1st dose today so we'll see.

Just wanted to share.

I've been scanning your posts to get to know you a little bit. Linda, I am totally a 'cat person' too. I just had to give one away b/c of mean husband (not really, but not a big a fan of cats as I am). I have one left -Bean. She is a tortoiseshell and SO sweet.

I am in Atlanta, so it is so funny to hear about the 'winter wonderlands' you guys are experiencing. It's as likely to snow here in Nov as it is in July!

Misa

By the way, what do dh and dd stand for? I got that they are husband and child, but can't figure out the letters. I thought maybe 'damn husband', but dd? :)

Good Morning . . . sugarbabes. The sun is shining in Atlantic Canada this morning so, of course, it's pretty cold.:(

Finished my Christmas shopping yesterday. Ended up at Tim Hortons for some gift certificates . . . and so I celebrated by eating 10 Tim Bits at 70 calories and 10 carbs each . . . oh why do we treat ourselves so badly sometimes (but they sure tasted wonderful at the time). . . anyway the BS shot up to 11.2 (202) before dinner, so I took an extra Glyburide before dinner and my usual bedtime insulin and this morning it was back down to 4.5 (81).

ROSETTA . . . :hug: . . . Good to see you and glad to hear things went pretty well for you over Thanksgiving and that you are still coping with the :devil: -landlord.

MONET . . . :hug: . . . Not to worry, girl, we all need a good rant now and then and we all understand how frustrating it can be to control this disease and how difficult it makes losing weight. Hang in there . . . together we can do it.

SASSY . . . :hug: . . . Good to see you, too. thanks for the information, I'll have to look up Junuvia on the net . . . must admit I've never heard of it and, of course, it will probably be years before it's available in Canada . . . we don't even have Byetta up here.

MISA . . . :hug: . . . Glad to see you found us. Think you will enjoy it here.

BTW (By the way), regarding DH and DD . . . the first D can be whatever you want it to be (Darn, Dear, Darling, Dearest) and you figured out the H is for Husband . . . the second D is for Daughter and you obviously can have an S for Son (or maybe, Sister). You will also see GD/GS (Granddaughter/Grandson), SIL/BIL (sister-in-law/brother-in-law). There are many, many of these little short-cuts and you'll become familiar with them over time. Never be afraid to ask . . . somebody always has the answer. There is a sticky out there somewhere that has a big list of these acronyms. I can't remember just where it is, but I imagine our fearless moderator, Monet, can point you in the right direction.

Anyway, everybody, have a great day of moving and shaking and heading in the great downward direction to better health. See you all soon. :carrot:

Thanks Linda, that makes sense about the acronyms - there are so many affectionate 'd' words!

Something that is bugging me - when I try to eat less, i.e. more "diet" like, less burgers and fries - my blood sugar teeters on low, so I end up eating like 3 granola bars a days to counter the lows and that adds about 450 calories to my intake! I know that I need to adjust my insulin for the diet, but its hard to get it right.

Yesterday, I had a low right as I was conveniently passing a Subway that had fresh baked peanut butter cookies. I only ate one but 2 more are sitting on my counter beckoning me as I type this. If I hadn't been low, I would not have justified going in there and getting those cookies. And of course 3 is a better "deal" than 1!

This what I am doing to try and lose weight:

- Keeping track of calories/food eaten each day
- Trying to have 3 small meals plus 3 snacks a day
- Trying to avoid fried food, sugar, and white bread
- Trying to drink more H2O

Problems:

- Going out to eat too much and hard to make good choices at restaurants
- Letting myself get too hungry to have any self-control
- Snacking after supper
- Half of my caloric intake is after 5:00 because I'm busy at work all day, so eating is easy to curb, but at night... watch out!
- HATE to exercise - my job includes a good bit of walking/activity, but I don't do any extra exercise

BTW, I heard that if you drink water with lemon all day, it will help you lose weight. Haven't tried it yet, because I'm too lazy to cut lemons at work, but sounds easy if I ever get around to it.

Misa

Hi again MISA . . . :hug:

Sounds to me that you are heading in the right direction with what you are trying to eat. I know what you mean about it being difficult to get the right balance between your Insulin and your carb intake. You might want to discuss the situation with your doctor . . . it might be that regular shots would be easier to modulate than the pump. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, those scarey "hypos" have been one of my major problems, too and I've been doing a lot of cutting back on Insulin, Glyburide, and Actos recently. Just keep trying, you'll eventually find a happy place that works for you. My only other suggestion (obviously not one that I follow all the time :p ) is to make sure you eat only "good" carbs and spread them fairly smoothly across the day.

Those evening hours are terrible for me. too. All I can say is WATER / WATER / WATER is much better than food at that point. Of course, you'll be up and down to the bathroom throughout the night ;) and that can be very bad if you can't easily fall back to sleep.

A carb snack that works well for me is air-popped popcorn or Orville's mini-bags of "smart pop" which are 100 calories a bag. I usually don't like those 100 calorie portions because they are so small that I just want more, but with the popcorn you get a nice volume for your calories.

BTW . . . just water is great for both weight control and helping to flush the excess sugar through your system, also. I really don't know if lemon juice in the water has any weight-loss benefits but any kind of acid tends to lower the glycemic index of carbs that you eat at mealtime . . . so if you like lemon in your water, go for it, I guess. I do know that lemons have a fair amount of natural fructose (more than you would think for something so sour :dizzy: ) but I can't imagine the amount you'd add to a glass of water would have any significant impact.

I imagine you'll get a few tips from some of the others, too . . . hope it all helps. See you later, gater. :carrot:

Good morning ,,just a fast drive by to say hi and out the door for work,,,,Monet,,,I like your rant,,,not that I like that you are having problems,,,just so nice to see someones else feels like I do sometimes,,,because it makes me feel like a whinner,,,glad to hear that the pounds are coming off again,,,hope you feel better tho,,,,

Meowee,,,CHRISTMAS SHOPPING,,,ha ha,,our closest wal-mart is 65 miles one way and I will be there christmas eve,,,ha ha ha,,now that is sick,,,Good for you tho,,,I just could never get it right,,,,always the last minute for me,,,

Have a wonderful day,,,it was below zero this morning,,lots of snow,,and is suppose to be like below 20 tonight,,,,burrrrrrrrrr,,,later friends,,,Jeanne

I took the dogs out for a walk today...a glorious walk. I had been avoiding this outing with the dogs since the last time I almost got run over by them going out the door.

But I went to PetSmart yesterday and pleaded with the people who work there for a solution on walking Cooper (aka Tasmanian Devil). I have already bought 5 other collar contraptions, each touting their ability to control the uncontrollable dog to no avail.

Well lo and behold, they had something called a "Gentle Leader". I had seen it before but dismissed it because it looked so thin and totally not up to the job of harnessing this explosive energetic dog of mine. Well this guy demo'd it for me and I went ahead and shelled out the $24.99 hoping for a miracle.

I got one. A miracle! Now I know why it is called a "Gentle Leader". It is the most gentle walk we have had to date (since last April).

It is basically a "head" collar, not a "neck" collar. Cooper is so strong that his neck and shoulders pretty much over power our walks. But if he so much as pulls on this "head" collar, it quickly tightens a thin nylon strap around his muzzle and he gets a dose of his own strength. When he pulled, his head snapped around immediately. That got his attention!

I am so excited, now I can walk my dogs again!

"Well no wonder?"... I stopped into the Vet office while walking the dogs and put Cooper on the scale. Last time we were there he was 65 lbs. He is now 82 lbs. NO WONDER MY KNEES HURT WHEN HE BODY SLAMMED ME LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN!

Morning everyone.. it snowed again and we had to shovel the steps this am.. sl was 112.. not bad considering i ate late last night and also had a c chip cookie..i try not to eat after 7 pm..and i dont have a bedtime snack as it just made my sl higher in the morning and it was just an excuse to eat cuz the dr said to so i did:?: ive found i dont need it.. i like the 100 cal popcorn to meowee( if i do snack)..im almost done with my christmas shopping too.. i started several months ago as being on a fixed income i have to spread it out..its so nice to see all the posts..wtg to all the loosers..i hope to get real after christmas.. i dont even try during the holidays..give your smiles away((((((hugs)))))) rosey :wave:

Hi there . . . I'm here again . . . looking for something to do to keep me away from the kitchen for a little bit longer, so I'm drinking more water and typing again . . . it definitely helps the time go by. ;)

MONET . . . Absolutely I get nauseated when the BS goes too low . . . along with shaky, sweaty, disoriented, and short-tempered. You are not alone my dear and the 'hypo-effect' may have more to do with the nausea than the Byetta. Although that 67 (3.7 in Canada) is not 'officially' low, I know I start to feel jittery at that level.

JEANNE . . . I'm really not as marvellously organized as you might think . . . Since I make a lot of Christmas gifts, I'm working on things all year round, and so don't have that much left to get by November. Additionally, I so hate the crowds that start to build at this time of year, it spurs me on to get it done early. My final incentive is the fact that a lot of the people I give to are a long way away (Ontario and Alberta) and so I have to get things packed up and into the hands of Canada Post fairly early in December.

VIKI . . . Congratulations on taming your 'savage beast'. My SIL uses something called a "Haltie" for her dalmation. Sounds a lot like what you are describing, but Jacko isn't nearly as big as Cooper.

MISA . . . Forgot to mention something in my earlier post . . . RUN (do not walk) to the drug store and purchase a supply of Glucose (or Dextrose) tablets to carry in your purse at all times. They are definitely not as tasty as cookies, doughnuts, or energy bars -- but they work really fast and, although not calorie-free, a lot better for you (each tablet is 4 or 5 grams of pure, fast-acting sugar and 3 of them will usually offset the negative impact of the 'hypo' until you can get some decent food into yourself) -- besides since they don't taste too great, you are never tempted to over indulge.

Oh, almost forgot again . . . just a little point of interest . . . 1 gram of pure glucose will raise blood sugar level by approximately 3 points (US scale) for the average person. That's about .167 of a point on the Canadian (and everybody else) scale.

Well gang, it is getting on for 7 pm, my water is gone so I guess it's safe to have dinner now. If I eat too early, I know I'll be ravenous before bed again. See you all tomorrow -- keep on doing the good stuff. :carrot:

Hi ROSEY . . . :hug: You were posting while I was typing. Glad to hear somebody else is just about done with the Christmas shopping . . . I was beginning to feel like a freak. :D

Have a great evening way up there in the frozen North . . . It is so nice to have a buddy that lives further North than I do. ;)

MEOWEE - Thanks for all the tips! So much valuable information and I REALLY appreciate it. I will definitely get the glucose tablets and try them instead of my usual Sunbelt granola bars. I have had glucose tabs in the past and only used in emergencies. So that's a good idea. Also, I only have two Christmas gifts left to buy - you are not a freak - it is almost Dec!

MONET - Thanks for the acronyms. I enjoyed reading them and can refer back when I don't know something. Also, I get VERY nauseated when my blood sugar level gets very low. It is the worst feeling and hard to get anything down. I think that is where the glucose tabs work well because they dissolve in your mouth and work immediately.

VIKI - I laughed out loud at your dog story!

Sleep well everyone,
Misa

I'm about to blow everyone's mind, including my own. I had a horrible night last night. My blood sugar went up to, no lie, 560!! This is what happens when the pump quits working in the middle of the night.

That's my all time high after 12 years of being diabetic (type 1). It is 262 now and I feel thankful to be alive. I'm up at 6:42 AM and just needed to vent. Also need to compliment my sweet husband (sh?):) who was up with me at 3:45 AM praying for me.

I'm calling the Dr. today to try to get back on Lantus and Humalog injections. By the way, this has a lot to do with my pump brand, I think, so if you are thinking about getting an insulin pump, most people love it. Don't want to discourage anyone who is considering a pump, because when it works, it does give you better control. I got a "trendy" brand and regret it. I wish I'd gone with the old standard - Minimed.

If I go back on injections, I have to be more disciplined about the way I eat (i.e. no white food, no sugar, no fried, and smaller portions), so that my A1C gets better. Last one was 7.2 :(, one before that was 6.8 :).

Thanks for listening,
Misa

BTW, I realize 6.8 is not ideal, and my goal A1C is 6.0.

Clarifyingly,
Misa