Day Seven

This is my seventh day on Byetta, and so far, so good. Well...for the most part, anyhow.

For some reason, I seem to be having some minor issues with the Byetta dispenser "pen". For one, it's starting to hurt more each time. I don't jab myself in the same spot or anything like that (mainly my abdomen, alternating sides each time), but I'm still wondering if it's a goofy psychological reaction - kind of an anticipation thing built up in my head, making it worse. Every time I stick myself, I feel it go in, now. It's not bad, and it's tolerable. It's not enough to make me jump or twitch or yelp in pain, but I do feel it. I probably just don't like the feeling and like to whine about it. :D Another very small issue is that I sometimes bleed a little (we're talking miniscule). Again - not a biggie, but it's annoying. I watch it carefully, but if I wasn't paying too much attention and was wearing a white shirt...well, you know what I mean...it may be a little noticable. Very, very minor, however.

The bigger thing I've noticed is, however, that some of the medicine seems to ooze back out after I inject myself about half of the time. Upon closer inspection of the tip of the needle, I notice that a very tiny drop is on the end of it during these times, as well. I don't know exactly how much or how big the drops are supposed to be going in while you're subcutaneously injecting yourself, but even these small amounts of "ooze" or drippings rather concern me. This is starting to happen about every other time I do the injections. I change the needle out every time I do an injection, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, here. At first, I figured I wasn't leaving it "in" my skin/fat roll (UGH!) long enough, so instead of counting to five while it's in, I counted to 10 before removing. No difference. So...your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it's normal, and nothing to worry about. It doesn't seem to affect my appetite suppression, so I dunno. I'm assuming that I'm getting enough of the medication despite what it looks like, since it still continues to feel the same, overall.

Speaking of appetite suppression, I have to say...this stuff certainly does the trick. I am simply NOT hungry, ALL day. In fact, last night I was so tired and so not hungry, that I skipped the night dose. I ate two tiny meals earlier in the day (about 6-7 hours apart), and before I knew it, I was looking at the clock at almost 9 pm and realizing that I never ate dinner. Or any snacks. Nuttin'. I simply never thought about it. I then ate two small hard boiled eggs, since I figured I could probably use some protein. Although I had planned on eating something more, I couldn't eat another bite after that - I was DONE.

It's definitely a strange deal on this stuff. I still feel "full" all the time, and can tell that the food just sits on my stomach for hours. Despite eating waaaaaay less food lately, I haven't noticed any drop in energy levels. In fact, some days I have energy through the roof. I DO like the fact that I "forget" about meals. Not that I necessarily WANT to skip them or starve myself, but it makes it SO much easier to "not have to think about it" when you're counting calories or watching what you eat because you have ZERO desire for food. I don't have to count calories, because quite frankly, I can't possibly eat very much at a time without quickly starting to feel overfull. Again - I'm not an overeater to begin with, but I'm imagining that if I WERE one, this would stop that dead in its tracks.

It's not too bad, but I do get a bit of acid here and there. I don't take any Tums or medicines for it, however...but it's only vaguely annoying (I never have problems with that to begin with, so that's probably the only reason why it's standing out right now for me).

I don't get much nausea of any capacity anymore, which has been great. Everything else seems to be going great, and I am looking forward to losing more weight on this!