Apparently I made a BIG mistake... diabetes

I have T2 diabetes and I've had my A1C under control pretty well. Last blood work months ago I was at 5.0 -- so pretty happy. Well this time (last week) my A1C was 8.2 -- OUCH. So I started to look at what has changed...

I take Lantus. I hate the pens. I always jiggle the pen while dosing, so I end up bruising myself. I was later told that Lantus comes in vials, too. So I switched to vials.

I was getting knots in my mid-section at the injection point. I did some reading and learned that two things can cause the knots: needle too long on the syringe, and insulin too cold when injecting.

I did further research and found an article by a noted endocrinologist who talked about length of needle. I was using long needles (12.5 mm) because the pharmacist told me: "Big guys like you and me, we need a longer needle to get to the fat layer". Well, this doc's article said that basically that's bullshit, and his argument makes sense. Skin is only so thick. Fat people don't have a bunch of thicker skin, they have a thicker fat layer. Well, I've lost 60 pounds and I'm using these long needles. Doctor's article says "normal skin, until you age, is no more than 3mm thick -- so nobody, in reality, needs more than 3.5mm to clear the skin layer and reach the fat layer".

The shortest they had at Walmart (gotta buy those syringes where they are the cheapest, $11.99 for 100 rather than $20 or more for 100 elsewhere) is 8mm. I switched to the 8mm and I'm not getting the knots.

But here's where I made the BIG mistake...

I was reading on the Sanofi web site (maker of Lantus) that Lantus should be refrigerated until opened for use. Then it can be stored at room temperature. Well, I started doing that a few months ago, and apparently it is NOT the best thing for me. My A1C and my daily testing numbers have gone up since I started storing my vials of Lantus outside the refrigerator once I opened them.

So I tossed my last vial (was almost empty anyhow) and got a new refill. Stored it in the fridge and kept it in the fridge and now my home testing of my blood sugar has dropped back down again.

Will be waiting to see how my next A1C test turns out.

Anyhow, just sharing with you guys in case anyone else may be doing wrong what I was doing wrong. Love and prayers to all of you guys who are suffering from this like me.

Submitted June 18, 2017 at 04:41AM by faxinator http://ift.tt/2rIM9Qy diabetes