I need insulin to stay alive. It's just therapy to keep going. What I can do is make sure that I keep my blood sugar down to a reasonable level. I can exercise, and I can eat properly. And insulin plays a very big part in that.
Now, I'm down to 162 pounds, and have dropped from taking seven meds a day, down to one med, after blood pressure and cholesterol began dropping dramatically, and my body began producing insulin, thus reversing the insulin resistance and that problem too has been eliminated,
We were talking about Hurricane Katrina. If we were down there and his pump got wet or his insulin was in that 90-degree heat and wasn't any good . . . how sick he'd be.
It is our hope that the availability of inhaled insulin will offer patients more options to better control their blood sugars.
We were able to significantly reduce weight gain. The insulin resistance was less, and the blood pressure fell.
Because I don't produce insulin, I have to put insulin into my body, which means that I have a pen with a needle on it. I have it with me. You have to stick it in your thigh, or your arm - a lot of different spots you can put it.
Many people who could benefit from insulin are fearful of injections, so they delay treatment five years or 10 years, placing them at risk for serious complications.
It's just painful. You have to carry insulin which needs to be refrigerated. It's not convenient.
I'm pretty fit, naturally. I do moderate exercise, and I try to eat pretty well and I think it has an effect on me. But hey, I'm putting on the insulin tire like everybody else, but that's just a function of getting older.
With the glucometer, I always know how much blood sugar I've got, so I can adjust my insulin or the food I eat.