Here's what Suave has to say, and I have to agree:
Yes Symlin does burn like none other. You can feel it going into your skin and its like little globs of lava that are pretty painful.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Symlin Week 1
This is an email response to inquiries about my Symlin experience. I sent it to the Camp AZDA DC Google group:
I like how we can use this list as a forum for Symlin and other drug experimentation. Let us continue to do this!
If you're not interested in taking Symlin, feel free to delete this email. It's lengthy and probably boring for you. Here is my week 1 report.
I have taken a more conservative approach than Suave has with the Symlin experimentation. I've been on it for almost a week now. I have been really scared to go low (and I don't want to experience an hour of lows like Suave) and so I was purposely keeping my blood sugar high while trying it (and by "high" I mean 140 to 170).
For the first three days, I tried doses between three and six units. I almost barfed at six units.
I experience a mild bout of nausea at 5 units, which lasts about two hours, but that is also the dose that keeps my blood sugar completely stable within 2-3 hours after eating.
So I'm going to stick with 5 units per meal for the next few days. I've also discovered that if I take insulin 20 minutes AFTER eating, the blood sugar ride is really really smooth. I do not need to square or dual wave as long as I wait 20 minutes after eating before taking insulin.
The nausea should soon subside, and my near perfect blood sugar control after only 6 days of using Symlin has really impressed me thus far.
Symlin BURNS at the injection site. Worse than Lantus. Suave, do you experience the same?
Here are my reports. You can assume the following conditions:
1. I have decreased my basal rates by about 10%
2. I take 5 units of Symlin exactly TEN MINUTES before a meal
3. A meal is defined by as at least 30 carbs or 250 calories
4. I start feeling nausea 5 minutes after injecting Symlin. Nausea persists for 2 hours.
5. I eat the meal.That takes about fifteen minutes.
6. 20 minutes AFTER I eat, I take insulin. I do not decrease my meal bolus.
The results for the last two meals are as follows:
Meal #1
starting bs: 110
ATE PASTA with spaghetti sauce
post meal bs: 124
1 hour later: 117
1.5 hours later: 94
2 hours later: 84
(I completely freaked out at this point and took three tabs because I thought I was going to go low. My sugar went up to 200. Turns out, I did not need the tabs. 1 tab raises my blood sugar 35 points, so by taking 105 points worth of glucose and going up to 200, I did something really dumb. If I'd waited another 30 minutes, my bs probably would have gone back up to 95 according to my calculations)
Meal #2
starting bs 84 (ate one tab)
30 minutes later I was 110
I temp basaled at 75% for one hour because I was scared to go low
2 hours later I was 134
Took symlin and ate carb-rich soup
post meal bs: 144
I was between 144 and 154 for the next 2 hours
After two hours, I got up to 174
Then I came back down to 114 after 1.5 hours
I drank a bunch on Saturday night. I did not take Symlin that evening because I knew I was going to be drinking. I was mildly hungover on Sunday, and I was low all day long. I would take glucose or juice and my blood sugar would immediately rise, but it would go low again within the hour. Seems like there was some residual Symlin in my body interacting with the residual alcohol and it made me low all day. I will not take Symlin again if I am going to be drinking, and I will remember to lower my basal rates for the alcohol, which I've never really had to do before.
I'm just really really scared of going low and not coming back up again, so I'm going to try and stay safe.
I like how we can use this list as a forum for Symlin and other drug experimentation. Let us continue to do this!
If you're not interested in taking Symlin, feel free to delete this email. It's lengthy and probably boring for you. Here is my week 1 report.
I have taken a more conservative approach than Suave has with the Symlin experimentation. I've been on it for almost a week now. I have been really scared to go low (and I don't want to experience an hour of lows like Suave) and so I was purposely keeping my blood sugar high while trying it (and by "high" I mean 140 to 170).
For the first three days, I tried doses between three and six units. I almost barfed at six units.
I experience a mild bout of nausea at 5 units, which lasts about two hours, but that is also the dose that keeps my blood sugar completely stable within 2-3 hours after eating.
So I'm going to stick with 5 units per meal for the next few days. I've also discovered that if I take insulin 20 minutes AFTER eating, the blood sugar ride is really really smooth. I do not need to square or dual wave as long as I wait 20 minutes after eating before taking insulin.
The nausea should soon subside, and my near perfect blood sugar control after only 6 days of using Symlin has really impressed me thus far.
Symlin BURNS at the injection site. Worse than Lantus. Suave, do you experience the same?
Here are my reports. You can assume the following conditions:
1. I have decreased my basal rates by about 10%
2. I take 5 units of Symlin exactly TEN MINUTES before a meal
3. A meal is defined by as at least 30 carbs or 250 calories
4. I start feeling nausea 5 minutes after injecting Symlin. Nausea persists for 2 hours.
5. I eat the meal.That takes about fifteen minutes.
6. 20 minutes AFTER I eat, I take insulin. I do not decrease my meal bolus.
The results for the last two meals are as follows:
Meal #1
starting bs: 110
ATE PASTA with spaghetti sauce
post meal bs: 124
1 hour later: 117
1.5 hours later: 94
2 hours later: 84
(I completely freaked out at this point and took three tabs because I thought I was going to go low. My sugar went up to 200. Turns out, I did not need the tabs. 1 tab raises my blood sugar 35 points, so by taking 105 points worth of glucose and going up to 200, I did something really dumb. If I'd waited another 30 minutes, my bs probably would have gone back up to 95 according to my calculations)
Meal #2
starting bs 84 (ate one tab)
30 minutes later I was 110
I temp basaled at 75% for one hour because I was scared to go low
2 hours later I was 134
Took symlin and ate carb-rich soup
post meal bs: 144
I was between 144 and 154 for the next 2 hours
After two hours, I got up to 174
Then I came back down to 114 after 1.5 hours
I drank a bunch on Saturday night. I did not take Symlin that evening because I knew I was going to be drinking. I was mildly hungover on Sunday, and I was low all day long. I would take glucose or juice and my blood sugar would immediately rise, but it would go low again within the hour. Seems like there was some residual Symlin in my body interacting with the residual alcohol and it made me low all day. I will not take Symlin again if I am going to be drinking, and I will remember to lower my basal rates for the alcohol, which I've never really had to do before.
I'm just really really scared of going low and not coming back up again, so I'm going to try and stay safe.
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