Symlin Sickness

I was getting ready to write this really pro-Symlin post, explaining how it’s really done a great job of smoothing out my blood sugars and is helping me lose weight to boot. I was even going to drop a little line in there saying that despite a week or so of nausea when I first started, I was totally acclimated to my synthetic amylin and no longer felt like I was suffering from the diabetic equivalent of morning sickness. But then I ate my breakfast and now I take that all back.

Here’s what happened: I ate breakfast, which today consisted of a ginger yogurt from the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company (it’s delicious; try it) and then, fifteen minutes or so later, started getting hit with a wave of nausea that is not being helped, at all, by the fact that the empty container is still sitting on my desk, close enough to smell. It’s probably also not being helped by the fact that I’m having a sensitive nose day (defined as a temporary, dog-like ability to pick up odors from across the room). I know this won’t last too long, but at the moment, if you offered me another bite of my delicious sheep’s milk yogurt, I’d probably puke in your face.

As is perhaps not surprising, Symlin is definitely having effects on my appetite — and in the first seven days when I was taking it, during which time my husband and I were on vacation, eating a lot of Mexican food, I lost four pounds. So it’s not all bad.

But still, I think I’m going to throw out the yogurt container.

Catherine Price

Catherine Price (www.catherine-price.com) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism

View Author Blog

Catherine Price

Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism