Hello all. I've been lurking here for a week or so and finally decided to take the plunge and join. My name is Steve, I'm 42 and was diagnosed type 2 back in 2002. When I was younger, probably in 1995, one doctor told me I was pre-diabetic and I blew it off. In 2000 I was hospitalized for adult respiratory distress syndrome, which I think really triggered me into full blown diabetes. 2002 I got the news, and the doctor put me on Starlix. Again, didnt take it seriously and kind of lapsed. Went to a new Doctor who put tried me on every medicine. Did Metformin (awful), Glipzide, Januvia, Byetta, and some others I can't remember. He kept trying to get me on insulin but I refused. Finally after trying and giving up and trying again, I gave in and took the insulin. It was working for me, but I stopped. Wouldn't you know, I end up in the hospital again this time for a massive boil on chest and one on my back - ends up I have MRSA. Why did I get MRSA? Because I was stupid and wasn't taking my insulin and compromised my immune system. My A1C was about 13.9 at that time. Within 3 months I got it down to 8 or so, and then 3 months after that 7.2, and then it went up to 9 at my last checkup (clipped). So for the past two years, I've been on top of my insulin, and in the past few months I completely revamped my diet to reduce my insulin use since that 9 really hit me in the face. Currently I use 50 units of Lantus daily in one shot - I found splitting the dose didn't work well for me. I was taking about 70 - 90 units of Novalog daily, and I have cut that down to about 20 units or less. My goal is to drop down from 238lbs to 200, and so far in two months I've dropped about 12 lbs. I also want to drop my insulin usage to zero if at all possible and maybe reach 180 lbs. My diet is mostly protein shakes (3 carbs), fruits (which luckily don't affect my BG much, if at all), nuts, some veggies, beef, bacon (& bacon jerky!), and eggs. I'm a picky eater so it's tough especially since I'm Greek and love bread. I do allow myself one larger meal that may have more carbs each day at this point which could be pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, waffles, french toast, etc. I typically try to offset the carbs with some sort of fats or something low GI to slow down absortion. A little fruit before a meal helps me with that. Its been the only way I can keep my sanity while on this new diet and it gives me something to look forward to each day. Some people seem to think I'm nuts for doing that, but a) I dont want to be a prisoner to my diet, b) If you knew my diet before hand you'd see what an improvement this is and c) It's my life, and it works for me.
So, thats me. I think I rambled enough.