Yesterday evening I moved up to 10 mcg with my pre-dinner dose. I had been having a little nausea with some of the 5 mcg doses, so I was expecting some more at 10, but surprisingly, I only felt it a little. Then about one hour after this morning's 10 mcg dose it really hit hard. I felt miserable until about 2 pm. But I was encouraged to hang in there because my morning fasting sugar was only 106! This is very good for me, the lowest I've seen since I was diagnosed and started taking it. It's usually between 120 and 150. And my BP is down to normal! Even though Byetta isn't supposed to work on blood pressure, it seems to have an effect for me. Now maybe I can cut down on some of the many BP drugs I have to take which never really got the BP down to normal .... let's see, there's Zestril, Toprol XL, Norvasc and Aldactazide. Used to take Avapro in the mix too, but since this incredible cocktail of drugs wasn't able to bring the BP down to normal they let me drop that one. Now maybe I'll drop another. Hope it's the Aldactazide, if you're a man it can make your boobs grow. That's the first one I want to drop, believe me!

The insulin fanny pack I ordered from Medicool didn't arrive in time (they are a good company but pathetically SLOW) so I bought a little six-pack cooler at WallyWorld and filled it with six little blue ices. It held my pen and a fridge thermometer and kept it cold just fine. When I got to the Marriot Marquis in Atlanta at about 6PM, there was no fridge in the room as promised but one call to the desk and someone brought a little fridge right up. It got down to Byetta temp in about 10 minutes, so I moved the lizard spit from the cooler to the fridge without incident. I put the six blue ices in the fridge's tiny freezer compartment and everything was copacetic.

Took my shot, and my wife and I went down to the hotel's restaurant for dinner. Before leaving the room we called down for a reservation, and to ask how long the wait was, mentioning to the maitre'd that I had to eat promptly because of a medication I take, blah, blah, blah. He said no problem. We had an apple with us and I ate that on the way down just in case the wait was longer than advertised. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, I really need to talk to a CDE about little details like that. Good thing I ate the apple, the kitchen was very slow, and our dinners didn't come out for 40 minutes, which I guess is typical for a very good steak house, which this was. This made it almost 60 minutes since shot time that I started to eat my actual dinner, although I had the apple before and a couple of pieces of bread at the table. I don't know if this is the right way to handle it, I really need to consult a CDE.

Rest of the trip went similarly. Took the shot in the room before breakfast or dinner, ate a snack and hauled ass to the restaurant. On the last day, we had finished with the trade show and intended to find a nice place for lunch on our way to the airport. So I had my Byetta in my little six-pack cooler as we walked around downtown Atlanta rolling our luggage along behind us. A few blocks from the hotel we saw Ray's, a nice sea food spot which someone recommended to us, so we popped in for lunch. I was about to open my shirt and shoot my Byetta right there at the table, I didn't think anyone would notice. But my wife had another idea, she said I should go to the men's room to do it, it's not polite to inject yourself in public. I countered that the training video showed a woman injecting herself in a restaurant, but the spousal unit rejoinded that she was in a booth and we were at a table in the middle of the restaurant, out there like Wednesday in the middle of the week. OK, fine, off to the latrines I went, and took the shot in a stall. I wasn't thrilled about the sanitary conditions, this being a public toilet, albeit a fairly clean one, but I ain't dead yet so I guess it was OK. That cinched it for me, no more shooting up at home or in a hotel room and then running like hell for the restaurant. I'm going to carry my Medicool fanny pack (which arrived while I was away), proudly into the restaurant and take my shot when seated for the meal. This way a long wait for a table will be nothing more than an inconvenience.

We were going to cab it to the airport but it turned out that the MARTA station was right outside the restaurant so we took the train to the plane and got the Byetta home good and cold without incident.

Trade show went pretty good too. Things are lookin' up all around.

Had a ball last night with dinner. Big bowl of tortellini en brodo. Big mistake, my glucose was 155 this morning. Shooting lizard spit doesn't mean you can go crazy and eat all the pasta you want. Damn! I don't miss the candy, but I sure miss the pasta. I guess it's back to grilled fish, steamed veg and no potato for me. Damn!

My numbers are better than ever today. But I've got gas and cramps like hell. I guess medicine is just like engineering, there ain't no free lunch.

Engineering:
>>>>>If you want energy, you've got to apply heat.
>>>>>If you want heat, you've got to expend energy.

Medicine:
>>>>>>They gave me hydochlorothyazide to lower my blood pressure, it increased my sugar.
>>>>>>They gave me Glucophage to lower my blood sugar, it caused weight gain which raised my blood pressure.
NO FREE LUNCH
Looks like Byetta is the closest thing we’ve got to a perpetual motion machine or a free lunch in this analogy.

Although my morning blood glucose was 121, up from yesterday's 117, it's still lower than before Byetta, so I can't gripe. No nausea after this morning's dose, either. Things are lookin' up!

I called the hotel I'll be staying in on the business trip to Atlanta next week, and they said I could have a small fridge brought up to my room. OK, that's covered. BTW, I told the man I needed a fridge because I have insulin. I figured nobody's heard of Byetta but everyone knows what insulin is, and people are sympathetic to insulin users' needs. I might not have gotten the fridge if I tried to explain to the hotel guy about Byetta. Word of advice to you all.

Well, that trip is covered, but my wife and I were hoping to take a little vacation in Europe next summer. Now I think we might have to call that off. Anyone have any experience with foreign travel and Byetta? Are you able to manage the temperature of your Byetta in foreign locales? Are there problems with ignorant customs officials confiscating your pen? Or am I going off the deep end here and these are really not problematical issues?