Jeff Browning/Apidra® Story
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Meet Jeff Browning:
Loving husband, good father, and Apidra® patient
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I was diagnosed with diabetes in August 2002 when I was 36 years old. While diabetes may be present without symptoms, the truth is, I knew in my heart that I had diabetes long before I received my formal diagnosis. With my health care background, I understood the symptoms of diabetes, and I knew I had them: unquenchable thirst, frequent trips to the bathroom, and just feeling sick and tired all the time.
When I was finally diagnosed, I was told I had Type 1. This came as a surprise because I knew Type 1 normally struck children. The news scared me. I was married and the father of two young children. I had an active lifestyle and was not terribly overweight. But my disease changed my relationships with everyone.
Basically, it was like my wife now had three kids instead of two. She constantly had to ask me if I checked my blood sugar. She watched what I ate. I was really concerned about the burden I was putting on my family. I felt like I couldn't be a Daddy and a husband because of the diabetes.
So I started making some changes. The first change I made was to eliminate snacks like candy and soda from my diet, replacing them with whole grains and diet soda instead. I took a nutrition class and even a personal health class. Fear was my motivator; I didn't want to end up like my former neighbor, a man who suffered complications from diabetes.
Three months after I was diagnosed, I found my fear had been replaced with anger. One day it hit me that I was going to be sticking myself with needles for the rest of my life. My anger and unhappiness were apparent to everyone around me. Finally, a friend took me aside and asked me what I was going to do with my diabetes.
In that moment, I realized that I truly had to learn how to take control of this disease, rather than continue allowing it to control me. I knew complications happened when you don't take care of your problems, and I wasn't taking care of mine.
Since then, I've taken control. I watch what I eat, get plenty of exercise, check my blood sugar eight to ten times a day, and take my insulin religiously. And the tools I have to help me are getting better and better all the time. I urge you to work with your healthcare provider who is the best source of information to help you develop a treatment plan that works for you.
In March 2005, I added Apidra® to my insulin regimen. Because it is a rapid-acting, "mealtime" insulin, I inject it just before I eat a meal or a carbohydrate snack. It helps to eliminate the post-meal blood sugar spike I used to get, and it is out of my system within two or three hours.
Apidra® is also flexible. I can take it within 15 minutes before eating or up to 20 minutes after starting a meal. That flexibility really helps when I go out to eat at a restaurant. Once I get my meal, I can sample it and figure out how much I am actually going to eat before injecting the appropriate amount of Apidra®. As a result, I no longer worry that I might be forced to eat a whole plate of food I don't care for just because I have already taken my insulin.
Apidra® has been a great addition to my treatment plan for other reasons as well. In the first eight months I was on it, it helped decrease my A1C.
Testing my blood sugar and taking insulin have become a normal part of my life. I have accepted diabetes as a positive force in my life, which has led me to make healthier choices.
