Saturday, September 21, 2013

Doctor's Visits Again

Went to the doctor.  Because, you know, I do that.  Kind of a lot.

I went to the dentist too, but I was so ticked off after I left and I didn't blog it, and the bottom line is I really need a new dentist.

He said he got a lovely little note from the CDE about me.  I took that to mean that I harass her way too much.  (He didn't say that, I just feel guilty about it). But hey.  I am a new pumper.  I am entitled to harass people until I get things set right.  RIGHT?

He was very confused looking at my numbers.  Which made me feel better, because I get very confused looking at my numbers.

"Why are some nights really high and others really low?  And here's some that are perfect.  I am not seeing a pattern here.  Your days are good, though."

Yeah, me neither.  And if we could figure out the night time thing, that would make me happy.  REALLY happy.

"You seem to go high at midnight."

Yep.

"But not always."

Yep.

"Have you noticed a trend if you eat specific things?"

Nope.

"Huh.  Here's a 261.  But the day before at the same time you were at 63."

Yep.

And round and round we go......it's very hard to set insulin levels when there's no pattern.

We've had various theories about the nighttime highs.  We used to think the Levemir was wearing off, and that's why I went high.  Now that's not a thing, because I'm not on Levemir anymore.  We used to think maybe it was the fat and protein from dinner, and an extended bolus would fix it.  It hasn't seemed to, plus midnight is about 5-6 hours after I eat.  So who knows?  Not me. Not him.

I blame goblins.

The bloodwork came back.  He called today (Saturday) while I was in the grocery store to give me my results.  Nice man.

A1C was 6.4.  Nice, and surprising, because I have had so many more highs since I started pumping, and serious ones too - up in the 300s. Kinked cannulas, poor absorption, and just basic "I don't know what I'm doing" highs.  But things have calmed down since the beginning, which really just feeds the theory that the a1c is far more heavily weighted by the more recent numbers.  Also, lots of lows.  Diabetes is always a party.

And then, the cholesterol.  The %&*! cholesterol.  Actually, he just ordered an apoB test.

"We really need to put you back on a statin."

"But the Lipitor made me insulin resistant.  I couldn't get below 200 to save my life.  And the simvastatin (Zocor) didn't work well enough for you."

He scrolled through my history.  Looking at what the simvastatin did, etc, etc.

"You know, if it weren't for the diabetes, I wouldn't treat this. You were at 110, and we want it below 100."

I am so tired of hearing that.  If it weren't for the diabetes, we could treat your test results like ANY OTHER NORMAL PERSON.

I told him that.

"I know. I know, I'm sorry.  But I really would feel better if you were on a statin."

So he prescribed 5 mg of Crestor.  I am unhappy about this.  I know someone who went on Crestor and it seriously messed with his memory.

I was so happy to be off the statins.  The thought of going back on them is depressing.  My HDL is awesome.  My triglycerides are awesome.  My VAP test comes back good every time.  All my cholesterol is "fluffy"  (pattern A).  So I have a lot of LDL. I really don't think it's going to kill me.  However, I didn't go to med school, and so I have Crestor staring me in the face.

My PCP and I have been fighting about this forever.  And my endo is normally on my side, saying without a family history of heart disease, and all the other goodness, we don't need to be overly aggressive, and yet he always seems to come back to "but we do need to treat."

I'm grumpy.

So I bought doughnuts at the store and ate them on the way home.  I had to celebrate the A1C anyway. I'm sure that's good for my cholesterol.

2 comments:

  1. Oh how it bugs me when doctors try to look for patterns. I've had that same conversation you did, only they didn't know about the variables: the types of meals. the miscounted carbs, the sneaked snacks (not saying you do this, but I did). I feel for you, and wish I knew the answer.

    As for the statin, I would really question the "if not for the diabetes" part. Why treat it any different with you than someone else? If your cholesterol is that marginal, I say treat the big thing (diabetes) and hopefully the little thing will fall into place. Don't treat the little thing if it will completely screw up the big thing. It's about prioritizing, not counting how many things you can "fix". So frustrating...

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    Replies
    1. Totally with you. I will probably give the Crestor a trial period. But if it messes with my sugars or my memory, it is out.

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