Dr. Clown: When were you diagnosed? Rob: Last spring. I guess I had symptoms for a while and didn’t know what they were and then flipping channels I landed on some channel that was having something on diabetes. It listed some symptoms and I thought, a lightbulb went on over my head and I went, I am having symptoms like that. The excessive thirst, the peeing all the time. I guess the sugar was trying also to leach out of my mouth because I had a coating on my tongue. I decided to go to the doctors and have them check it out. I got a call from them saying, can you come in like a week before my appointment. They were saying, can you come in sooner. So when I went in, I forget what the count was, it was 300 something which is pretty high. I knew a little about diabetes. I had dated someone who had Type 1. It was like after dinner, he used to stick himself with a needle in the restaurant. That was the extent of my knowledge. Dr. Clown: Was there any history of it in your family? Rob: None at all. There is absolutely none which is why my mother keeps thinking I was misdiagnosed. She keeps saying you can’t have diabetes, it is not in our family. Well, tell that to my doctor. Dr. Clown: Once you were diagnosed, did they assign you a nurse educator? You had mentioned that you have had some problems in getting what you need. Rob: Well, my doctors over at California Pacific, and they have an information center at the hospital and they had me go see a nutritionist and I didn’t find it terribly helpful. Basically, what I took away from that was eat smaller portions particularly of carbohydrates and eat protein with every meal. I mean, I am vegetarian so it was... Dr. Clown: … helpful then. Rob: Well, I am more like a carbohyterian actually. I eat a lot more bread and pasta and rice than I do vegetables. Yes, it wasn’t very helpful. In fact, it kind of went overboard because I just wanted to deal with this through diet so I just went overboard and said, okay I have to eat proteins. I need lots of proteins and so I started eating cream cheese, nuts and cheese which is not exactly good for your heart. Then, I was not happy with the way I was eating, with the way I was restricting myself. I was pretty severe and eating a lot of peanut butter and cream cheese sandwiches. I was eating a lot of them. It was getting old as much as I do love peanut butter and cream cheese sandwiches. I finally went into my doctor and said, let’s talk about the pills because he had mentioned that there were drugs that could be taken. I guess that was November and I started on Glucophage. I hate that stuff. My body has not adjusted to it. It causes diarrhea. He started me on Procol 500 and for a week you do one in the morning and one in the evening and then after a week you start on two. My body just about handled out so I am back down to the one. When I can remember to take it. I don’t remember. Once I started taking the pills, I started eating more normally but then I guess I went to the website you told me about. Didn’t you tell me about a website? Dr. Clown: Yes. Rob: I went to a website and got the vegetarian stuff. I think it was there that I read basically that the vegetarian is probably a better diet for diabetes that non-vegetarian. I had actually been thinking about starting to eat meat for the first time in 20 years which I really don’t want to do. I don’t like to cook. My roommate eats meat but I don’t allow him to cook in the house. He still brings it in. I thought about starting to eat chicken so I was happy to read that it is not really necessary. Dr. Clown: Are you hoping to kind of over time when the diet gets adjusted be able to phase out the medication again? Rob: I am thinking about it because it is nasty stuff. I don’t like it. So, I don’t know. The thing is that part of me is starting to think maybe--I don’t test myself and I am thinking maybe I should be. I don’t particularly want to. I tend to be someone who prefers to ignore things. I’d rather not have to go to this. After going to the eye doctor to get a baseline, the eye doctor was like, you know, it is the leading cause of blindness to people my age. I am like, oh nice. So, I know that I can’t ignore it. Dr. Clown: When you went to the help center at the hospital, did they give you any, I mean other than talking about nutrition and diet, did they give you any information about what could happen if you don’t control the diabetes or if it is not managed? Rob: They gave me some general information sheets about diabetes. What it is and that sort of thing. As soon as I was diagnosed, I found some websites, the ADA and other sites to find out more of what it was. I think that the information I got from them explained what it was and what was going on but I don’t think that they particularly explained that--I mean there are things like if it is not treated and you have severe complications, it could even lead to death. But I don’t think there was much on specifics. I do know a friend of my roommate who has Type 2 but I have never really talked to him too much about it. Dr. Clown: Did you find the website on your own or did they give you something that said you could get more information at a website or was that all on your own? Rob: I went to websites before I went to the nutritionist. I don’t remember if there is stuff like websites they have. Search engines are good. Dr. Clown: How often do you see your doctor? Rob: Every couple of months. I actually have an appointment in December but I canceled. I have the order for the blood to have that done and I haven’t yet. I will do that and make an appointment soon. Dr. Clown: Do you feel like this has kind of disrupted your normal life or balance for you? Rob: Definitely. It is hard enough being a vegetarian. You would think that in the Bay Area, it would be really easy but it is not. I think it used to be easier 20 years ago. Particularly with the crowd I hang out with. I hang out at the Lone Star and you don’t find too many vegetarians there. I know one other guy who is one. Actually, the nice side effects about diabetes is losing about 25 pounds over the course of a year. Of course, I think I have gained some of that back. But it is the first time in ten years that I have been a vegetarian that I have lost weight. So it was kind of nice. Dr. Clown: You could write a book, Rob’s diabetic plan. Rob: It really was weird because I saw myself losing weight, I was drinking a ton of water. I was like, well drinking water is good for you. I did not like getting up three or four times a night to pee. That was a major drag. I still get up once a night which is kind of a pain. It has been very disruptive. I mean being a vegetarian is hard enough but being a vegetarian and have to look at sugar and that sort of thing. Coming here it is like, okay I can have coffee. Thank God I always drink my coffee black anyway. A friend of mine told me about Splenda which is a sugar substitute that is made from sugar so I have been using that in--I’ve been eating tofu the last couple of months so I have been using that in that. I tried making cookies with it, it didn’t work. There are also the sugar free products that you find in drug stores which contain mannitol but if you eat too much of that, it gives you diarrhea on top the medication I am taking, on top of the fact that I am lactose intolerant anyway. So the cheese that I consume, it is like every other day I have to take Imodian and that is a drag. Dr. Clown: What have been major questions that you have had and not been able to get resolved? Rob: In the beginning, it was just like I didn’t know what to eat. Particularly after thinking I had to consume all this protein. I was just like what am I going to eat. That is why I went on the pills because I just couldn’t do it. Now, it is a bit more relaxed but I don’t like being on the pills and I am sort of wondering if I went off them. That is why I am thinking that maybe I need to start the tests so I can tell whether I am up. Basically, I think I have only had my blood--I don’t know but it basically shows the test and the blood. I think he has told he has only done it twice. It was like the first time it went down from 300 something to 200 something. I was much better but not quite there yet. Then the last time, it was fine. I haven’t gotten a test since I have been on the pills so I don’t know whether things are fine or not. Dr. Clown: If you had a test machine would you self-test or do you not like the idea of pricking your finger? Rob: I don’t like the idea. It is not the pricking of the finger. Drawing is not a big deal for me. It just means I am dealing with it and I don’t want to deal with it. But on the other hand, dealing with my diabetes would be the smart thing for me to do. I’ll probably talk to him about it the next time I go in. Dr. Clown: If you had some questions to ask our nurse educator at Mt. Sini, what they be? Rob: I am not really sure. The question for me, myself, is whether I should be self-testing or not. I need to figure out if what I am doing is okay. I mean, the fact that I have cut my medication dosage in half,, is it working? Is that amount helping or is it not doing me any good in that I either have to do the full dose or don’t bother with it all. Those are questions I would like to have the answer to. I just need to figure out whether what I am doing is working and how I would need to adjust. I am glad that I don’t have to start eating meat. Dr. Clown: Thanks for your time Rob.