That is probably the fluffiest way I can describe how the last three weeks have gone for me and now I find myself in that awful emotional limbo where I’m not quite sure what to do next.

There is good news, though.  I have been injection free for a few weeks now (which may be fueling my misery) and as long as I can remember to take my meds, things are ok.  Can’t seem to drink (good for me) and when I do it metabolizes so quickly I am left sitting sober surrounded by bubbly, loud and incredibly irritating patrons.  Did I mention I’m a bit crabby?

The rest of the news isn’t so bright.  Christmas sucked, my New Year holiday ended on a shit note and I am starting to doubt some of my recent decisions.  It’s like 2012 came along and suddenly scraped off the rest of the glamour of living overseas.  Then it punched me in the face and told me to get up and fix it.

So now I have some big decisions to make.  And I don’t wanna.

So, for the last week and a half I have been riding the wave of goodness that is Metformin and no jabs and let me tell you, now that the intense nausea has worn off and I can eat a full meal, life is good.  Not good, great!
I don’t have to worry about secretly injecting in public, I don’t have to inject after every carb and I almost feel like a non-diabetic.  My blood sugars have been awesome and I have experienced TWO low blood sugars in the last week.  Awesome.  Awesome.  Awesome.  On Monday night I will start to reduce my Lantus and will continue to cut down my intake every two weeks.  After 8 weeks, if all is well and my body can handle life without Lantus, I will be completely free from injections.  I am not expecting this to be the case as it may be that MODY-2 is not the only factor in my Diabetes, but I am still incredibly hopeful to see what the next few months bring me.

I am so so so grateful to my Endocrinologist for beginning this experiment.  He has given me a freedom I never expecting and may never have experienced if I had not made the decision to live in New Zealand for the next year.  It really only takes one person to change a life.

Speaking of life changing experiences, have you heard the Cinematica Podcast yet?  It’s a film review podcast based here in New Zealand and yours truly is the cutest host on the show.  Part web master, part weather girl, I am (one of) your guide(s) to what’s on at the movies.  Have a listen, leave a review, and tell your mother about it!  Visit www.cinematica.co.nz for episodes and info.

This afternoon I took my last injection of Humalog insulin.

After 14 years, today was the last.  I have begun a new oral medication called Metformin, which works by increasing insulin sensitivity in the body.  I will continue my once daily injections of Lantus (long acting) and after two weeks, depending on the results, I will start to decrease the dosage until hopefully, I am needle free.
14 years, people.  What have you been doing for 14 years?  What if you could give that up?  What if you were suddenly given a magic cure?

I am not sure how to dictate the happy dance I have been doing all afternoon, so suggestions are welcome.

This little bud is on its way to becoming my first homegrown zucchini!

My sugars are definitely higher than last week, but they are coming down much faster, so I think something is working. It’s pretty exciting to go to bed with a 17 and wake up with a 7 from a Lantus injection alone. It also means that I wake up in a good mood, which helps immensely.

Another interesting find is how long exercise continues to work within my body. If I go to the gym and burn a minimum of 300 cals, the effect will last close to 24 hours, controlling my blood sugars and preventing any peaks during the day. For the first two weeks of the experiment I was hitting the gym every other day, so it will be interesting to see that change now I am cutting back to 3 times per week. Unless I open a can of whoop-ass on myself three times a week of course…

I also wonder how my blood sugars will change when my partner returns as my diet and routine will inevitably change and with the added excitement of finding and moving into a new flat, things may go a bit topsy turvy for a wee bit. Hopefully in my favour.

Keep sending good vibes to my pancreas. It seems to be working so far…

It’s week two and my blood sugars are great. They are starting to come down and I’ve even had a few 6′s and 5′s. Bam! Take that insulin dependence. I even feel less prat-like writing down my daily meals and testing in public. So with everything going so well, I think it’s time to reduce my insulin again.

From tomorrow onwards, this means I will be taking no more than 3 units per full meal during the day. How exciting is that? For me at least, if you have a working pancreas, watch out, because I am on my way to (almost) becoming one of you. But I will always be true to my DP roots. Represent!
As props to my Diabetes crew, let me share the most important discovery I’ve made this week:

Red wine does lower your blood sugar- so drink up! For your health.

More updates soon. I’ve had way too much caffeine this evening, so don’t mind the blather.

Low blood sugar! Woo hooo!

My brain has acclimatized and my moods have thankfully evened out in spite of my higher blood sugars.  I seem to be sitting around 11.0 most of the time and I think it helps that I head to the gym every other day- damn you workout competitions…
The interesting bit is how my body seems to sort itself out overnight.  I can go from 13 – 7 or even 6 in my sleep.  This would most likely be a result of the Lantus I take before bed, but I am hoping it’s also a sign of my body taking my blood sugar into account when performing its nightly repairs.

Tomorrow will mark the one week point, or halfway for this first step.  So far I am happy with the results and I hope things progress in the next week.  It will be interesting to see what happens when my boyfriend gets back and life adjusts.  But that is ages away.  The Abu Dhabi Film Festival ain’t gonna run itself.

In exciting food news I discovered a takeaway shop behind the gym that serves roast dinners.  ROAST DINNERS.  Hello post workout protein.

So I am heading into my 20th hour of the “Pancreatic Stimulation” experiment agreed upon by R (my endocrinologist) and myself.  Week one will start with decreasing my Humalog (fast acting insulin I take after every meal/ carb that passes my lips) by 50%.  Yup, jumping right into this one.  Depending on how it goes I will either continue at the same level, or if I see any improvement, will decrease by a further 50% and so on down the calendar.  Although with the low dosages I currently take, it should only be 3-4 weeks until I remove Humalog from my daily routine.
After we track the progress of this removal, and if we think things are going well, we will look at decreasing my Lantus (long acting 24-hour insulin).

Now the exciting part is, even if we find my blood sugars are still a bit too high when insulin is removed, there is the opportunity to try oral medication in place of injections.  My Dad, from whom I inherited my GCK mutation (see previous and rather confusing post) is on a cocktail of oral meds for his Diabetes but my Mom (who also carries a genetic form of Diabetes) is on injections and oral meds to help increase sensitivity to the insulin injections.  I don’t think it’s necessary to explain the excitement of potentially decreasing or completely stopping 5-10 needle jabs per day.

So how do I feel in the beginning hours?  Crabby.  As I warned before, I tend to get really cranky when my blood sugars meander above 8.0 mmol/L and man did I feel it yesterday.  And today.  I am trying to chill out and remind my mind that it’s okay and there is no need to get our panties in a knot over a slightly elevated blood sugar, but when your vital organs are used to sitting in the 6′s, they start to raise a fuss pretty quick.
Another thing I have to remember is that in order for this to work and to properly track my natural insulin response to foods, I need to eat as I was before, and not pander to my blood sugar levels.  This is harder than you may think.  Your body knows what it wants and doesn’t want and trying to counteract that natural inclination to listen to your body at the kebab shop tends to make me look like a bit of a spazz… I have never been able to control my facial expressions while thinking.  It’s one of my more attractive qualities.  I am also writing down everything I eat as well as my blood sugar before and after noshing.  Taking notes in a kebab shop also makes you look like a spazz.

So cheers to the adventure.  And Ian, you’ve been forewarned.  But I still love you…

One of the advantages of insulin control, is having the chance to eat what I like, when I like, and as a blossoming foodie, this is pretty darn good.  But if I could have the chance to reduce the number of injections I have to take I am on board!  So please take this as a small forewarning- if I seem irritable or have funny mood swings or just seem a bit sad sometimes, it’s probably because I am adjusting to a lifestyle change or straight up have a high blood sugar.  Or maybe it’s because I had to give up Cinnamon Crunch for breakfast.

So here begins my journey.  It may be short lived or it may change the way I live, but either way I will keep blogging the adventure in hopes of finding some good and spreading the love and knowledge to all my DP crew.

Be sure to tell your pancreas you love it.

Side note: I included “jeans” in the title because thanks to the ridiculous Get Game Fit competition at my gym I have been working out like a pro and trying to win an international trip which has resulted in all my jeans being too big.  Now I can see the advantage of jeggings…