Diabetes just plain sucks

I've been trying for days to conjure up some triumphant message about my newest challenge.  Something like, I have type II diabetes, hear me roar! But, it just ain't coming.

Diabetes sucks.  Well, maybe it's just Metformin that sucks.  Metformin is the typical front-line oral medication for type II diabetes.  After being on the lowest beginning dose for a week, I called my doctor to plea for the most aggressive treatment possible.  I'll fix her little red wagon, she thinks.  Let's double her dose.

Ugh. Nausea like I've never had before.  Worse than any stomach flu.  Monumentally worse than anything I remotely experienced during chemo.  I'm sure it's payback for the morning sickness I never had when pregnant with the twins.  We're talking, leave me alone and just let me loll around in my bed all day nausea.

I withstood this for four days, and based on the advice of some of my new online diabetes buddies, I called my doctor today to ask if I could try the extended release version, which is supposed to be gentler on the stomach...plus, being January, our family hasn't come anywhere near to reaching our medication insurance deductible for the year, so the $243 for the 30-day supply of Metformin ER will move us closer to that particular financial goal.

OK, so maybe there's a little bit of a silver lining to this cloud.  Nobody can argue that being committed to eating a healthier diet is a bad thing.  Daily exercise helps bring down high blood glucose, and that's certainly not a bad thing either.  Inevitable loss of excess weight, certainly a good thing.

The true triumph will be finally getting my PET scan...and perhaps getting served up a bit of a lesson in patience.

But still, diabetes just plain sucks.