Friday, April 16, 2010

My Symlin Journey

 When I started on symlin nearly 2 months ago I was incredibly concerned about the nausea since that was the single reason I dropped out of the clinical trial the first time I was on symlin. The second time I was on it I experience some nausea but nothing like the first time. One month in I was happy to report that I barely had any nausea. A few weeks later I went up to the maximum dosage, 60mcg.

It has now been a little over a week that I have been taking the maximum dosage of symlin. I'm happy to report so far so good! Had somebody told me back when I was a part of the clinical trial that I would be doing so well on symlin and, gasp, happy to be on it I would have thought you told me the world was flat.

I'm incredibly insulin resistant and have been since day one of my diagnosis. Because of this insulin resistance I was willing to try symlin again. The incredible thing is my insulin requirements have drastically dropped.  My basal rate is still pretty high (from 11am to 10pm it is 3.7 units/hour) but my insulin to carbohydrate ratio has really changed.

Before symlin: Breakfast 1unit to 5 carbs (1:5)  Lunch and Dinner 1:4

60mcg of symlin: breakfast 1:17  lunch and dinner 1:15

That is a huge difference for me. A couple days ago I was talking to my mom about all this and she said that she remembers when I went on the pump in 1992 and started carb counting I my ratio was 1:15 but quickly changed to 1:10.

Not only are my insulin requirements going down but so are my numbers. Like drastically coming down. My one week average is 113 mg/dL which is fantastic. My biggest issues are lows after eating. I can't really treat the low because then I rebound and go high. If my number is too low before a meal (80s or bellow) I don't give myself symlin. Luckily, I haven't gone terribly low. My Dexcom has helped a lot with that because I can physically see what is happening with my blood sugar and act accordingly.

My appetite has also decreased, which is a pleasant side effect. The thing with symlin is if you overeat in the slightest it makes you feel disgustingly full. I am optimistic that this is helping with my weight loss goal.

On Monday Steve and I went out to dinner. We opted for Indian. I went to give myself the symlin and realized it wasn't in my purse. So I was careful about counting the carbs I was eating and watching my numbers. Tuesday morning I woke up high (180-220). It was the first time in a week or longer that I was over 160. It showed me exactly why I should be on symlin and how much it is helping me .

I'm well aware that symlin is NOT for everyone but it has been great for me. In about a month I'll have my A1c retested and hopefully it will be lower (based on my meter averages I can guarantee it is lower) which I attribute to the symlin.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for this! I'm really thinking about it but I wanna see where my A1C is in July. Then I'll make a decision with my doctor. It's nice to hear from someone that's on it that it's working though :)Great job!

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  2. I was never able to get Symlin to work well with me, so I've gone on Metformin, which is working pretty well, though I've had a rough last week but I think that's mostly from overeating on a few treats. :( I'm glad Symlin works for you! It burned too much when I took it and left me with bruises. Hope that your A1C comes down too!

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  3. I really like Symlin most of the time. I'm trying to take it more often, but it is hard. The shots sting me too (like Allison said, it burns), but it is tolerable. I just keep making excuses not to do it. Not sure why. I almost always have better bg's when I use it, and certainly eat less.

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