This is so annoying.. ugh.... I hate insurance.

So I needed to write today... I know I have not been keeping up on this. Hey, I had no grand illusions that I would be able too. And since I guess I'm mostly writing it for myself does it really matter? no..... lol


So In August, I went to get my refill of my Saxenda.  Nope can't have it because I have to wait for pre auth again from my Doc office. I had thought that back in oh I don't know July when I saw my doctor she was going to send information to my insurance than because she knew we needed to do that again.. NOPE.... Someone dropped the ball. So here I am its Sept 5th. I still dont' have my meds. I have been off of them since August 27th. Now when and if they do approve it. I'm going to have to start over. I was down 29lbs. I weighed myself yesterday and I had gained 4lbs.  My husband thought it was water retention because we camped. I didn't think it could be but at least some of it is because I woke up 5 times last night to pee and omg it was like I had not gone to the bathroom in hours each time. I weighed myself this morning and I'm only up 1lb

I talked to the Doc office yesterday. Still no word. So I'm going to call my insurance again today. Wish me luck because I have friends that do coding for insurance they are saying I should have known by now.

The struggle is real.. I only get help from Saxenda for the discount for a year and this is messing with my year of being able to do that. ugh.

Need to change things up. :(

So I'm a little frustrated this week. First of all being in a flair up with my stupid Fibro and APS... So I hurt, and I'm just tired all the time.

Also.... I made it up to 3.0 with my saxenda. Stayed on that for I think about 2 weeks. In that two weeks, I have only lost two pounds... I really want to keep myself at that 2lbs a week. So yesterday I did as the doctor suggested and I brought myself back down to 1.8. Hopefully, this will work.

I have no idea of having a flair up is affecting my weight loss. I do know that saxenda has helped me a LOT with my sugar cravings but this past week and a half since I started flaring up I am craving sugar. It's driving me crazy. Luckily the only real thing I have in the house now that is sugar is freeze-pops.

I'm sure I should stay away from the frozen sugar water as well but they help to get me past the cravings. I still am not hungry often, but last night I was able to eat more than I normally am able to, however, it made me feel sick after. I know from past experience that when I flair up I crave things. I don't know if that is a physical thing or a psychological thing. It very well could be a psychological thing because when you feel drained, can't do much, you are in lots of pain and start to feel a bit down well depression makes you crave sugar too. Heck just going on antidepressants finally this year made me lose 10lbs.

So I guess I'm not sure where this leaves me. I'm trying very hard not to be upset that I'm not really losing weight at the moment and not beat myself up over it. I honestly don't feel like I'm eating a lot more than I was. In the past two weeks, I have had a pint of Ice cream that took 3 days in all to eat. It didn't even just sit and eat the whole pint. I cupcake with out the frosting at a grad party and freeze-pops. Oh yeah and a couple of suckers. But I'm not over eating sugar at all. If that is the bulk of the sugar I have had in two weeks that isn't bad and I should be beating myself up over it because almost every other thing I'm eating is healthy.

I will say I'm still struggling to drink as much water as I should. Water is pretty much all I drink so I have always thought I was doing great. But if all you drink is a bottle and a half of water a day I'm clearly not getting enough water into my body and I need to fix that!!! So I'm making that a new goal. I am going to make my first goal to get two bottles of water a day in. .Still not enough water I know because that is only 32oz. But once I can get myself to that I will up it again. I think it's recommended to drink 64oz. I don't know if I can ever get to that but it's really only 4 bottles of water so if I look at like that, perhaps I can.

So drinking water more might help the lbs to fall off faster as well and it might clean the toxin out of my body first and help me along... Hoping. My other struggle. Breakfast. I just can't seem to do it. I have protein shakes I got from Costco to drink for breakfast. But since I don't drink much lol.... I get one out and it takes me over an hour to finish it. So second goal... To work on the breakfast thing. Either a shake or something in the Am to get my metabolism boosted. So this week's goals. Water, breakfast. I got this!!!!

I guess if anyone is reading this. Which I don't think there is.. Stay tuned to see if I can achieve those goals and kick this weight loss thing in the ass.

update on my Journey

So it has has been just over two months. I am now on the 3.0 dose.
Tips if your reading this because your thinking of starting saxenda. Go up slower in dose then your doctor may tell you. When you go up a full dose you get more side effects.

It took me almost a full 2 months to get up to the 3.0 but I'm glad I did it that way. I didn't have many side effects at all.
So, for the most part, I have lost a steady 2 lbs per week. I know some people lose faster but because of my APS , Fibro, and bursitis its difficult for me to work out. I do what I can though. My Doctor told me it's actually really good to lose between 1 to 3 lbs a week. It allows your body to adjust easily and your less likely to put that all back on.
With that said I'm down 12 lbs. from the Saxenda and a total of 22 lbs since January.

So, all in all, I'm happy with how it's going. I did have one week where I didn't lose any. It was the week I hit 2.4 dose. My doctor said if I plateau I can drop back down to 1.8.

I have not checked my measurements yet but I think I will later this week because I'm sure I have lost more in inches that I have in weight. Right now My goal is still to get to a size 16... And from there we will see if i want or need to lose more. I only have a year on this with the discount card and then unless something in life changes I will not be able to afford my co-pay.
I am actually pretty blessed to have the copay I do. Most have it much higher or their insurance will not cover it at all. My co-pay is $200 but with the discount card it's 30.00

Well enough for now.....
If you happen to read this and you have questions. feel free to ask.

First month down

So first month down... Lost 8lbs total. Need to wrap my head around that because It seems like It should be so much more. But Avg of 2lbs a week is actually really healthy weight loss.

What it really comes down to is I was hoping for like 10 or 15lbs the first month. But it's all good. I'm losing every week and that is what is important.

I might take my measurements tomorrow. If I can find where I wrote the first ones. Sigh. I should have written them in my planner. But you know that whole you don't like what you see so you try not to look again.

I often wonder if we see ourselves how we really are? Do we see ourselves bigger or smaller? Do I look older to myself than what other people see? That one I know is the case as people tell me all the time I Look like I'm 30/35 and I'm 49... I think because I am seeing the aging I notice the fine lines they don't.

So moving forward.... I don't know if I should set a weight loss goal for myself.  I have been on a yo-yo far too long with diets and I fear if I start to do that and I don't make one I will be back to feeling like I did when I dieted so many times over the years.
I am also still wondering if I should just get the sleeve. Maybe the weight would come off faster. But surgery. Surgery can be tricky, scary and just because I had a friend who is having no problems after hers doesn't mean I won't.  She can pretty much eat what she wants she just gets full fast.
I have talked to others who can no longer eat many of the foods they love because they get sick if they do.

 I hate that weight has filled my life with a constant struggle since I was a teenager. Hell, my first diet was at 18 and been doing them since.. Best diet I was ever one. Mono with strep throat. I was so sick I was in the hospital. I dropped about 25/30 lbs and went from a size 10/12 to a size 5.
I really don't recommend it. It's painful, you are tired all the time for months and well guess what you gain all the weight back because you can actually eat when you couldn't eat or drink for 2 months basically. And No I would do this over again even I could. It was horrible and I don't even wish that on my enemy. But it was the one time in my entire life I could fit into a two piece.  And if you're wondering. Hell no I didn't get it on purpose.

Well is the start of another month. And I'm dosing up tomorrow. Should have today but totally forgot. I'm at 1.8 at the moment. Going up 3 clicks tomorrow. I am also going to try to go out and get some breakfast shakes or something this week. I think I'm not taking in enough calories and that makes your body feel like it's starving and it tries to hang on to the weight. So that might well be my issue. That and more water...

Okay later......

Sunday day 28 weight in

So I'm on a solid 1.8 now. And I am going to stay on that for at least a week. I lost 3lbs this week. It's a slow loss but well they say if you lose it slow you will keep it off. I can only hope ...

Not having too many issues with the meds at all. But I have noticed headaches. I'm going to keep an eye out on that.

Not a lot to report. I would say for the most part I'm going pretty good. I'm sure I would lose more if I could work out. But well. I'm doing my best to make good food choices and not eat too much of things that work against what I'm doing.

Heck, we went to DQ the other day because OMG they have cotton candy blizzards right now and they are my fav. Well, I got a Mini and could only eat half. So hey. that is pretty good. way less than I normally would have eaten.

Thursday day 25 Don't eat it...

So far so good....

Some things I have noticed.

So I have noticed things that I am trying to keep track of.
Anytime I eat bread I get a stomach ache or feel sick. No fun so no bread. Which is okay I don't eat it that often anyway.

If I eat after 9pm I get really bad stomach cramps. Again no fun not going to do that..

I was pretty sick for a few days but realized it was the dumb antibiotic.

I don't like shots in the arm, they hurt and seem to make me feel a bit light headed.

So I have myself up to 1.2 plus 6 clicks.. 4 clicks away from the 1.8 I need to be at.  I will be taking today's dose here in just a bit and I will go up another 2 clicks so I will be only 2 clicks away from 1.8. once I hit 1.8 I'm going to stay there for a week :)

I don't know if I have lost any weight this week. I will not know until Sunday. I am hoping so because it was pretty much a bummer to not lose any last week.

I need to work on drinking more water, more fluids in general. My mouth is dry all the time, For some reason, water just is not doing it for me right now. Like I'm tired of drinking it lol
Perhaps not drinking enough is why I'm not losing as fast as I would prefer.

I would love to lose 20lbs before Convention so before August.. And so far I need to work harder is that is going to happen. I think I need to get on a reg schedule for food because of the not hungry thing. Not eating enough is not going to help me lose either but I have such a hard time wrapping my head around that.
well off to do breakfast and yadda yadda...

Sunday.. Day 21 of my journey.. slightly bummed

So I have been on the 1.2 dose for a few days now. Seem to be doing well on it. Things I have noticed thus far are.

I can't each much in one setting even more so than before. Some things that are sweet are super sweet icky.  I notice I don't each much but am hungry on a more reg basis. Like I will eat a small amount than about 2 to 4 hours later I'm hungry again. Might take me a bit to get used to that. The doctor says its good though.. I need to lose 15 lbs for my insurance to allow for a refill. I finished my first pen today. I have 4 more. And 10 more lbs to go. I would ideally like to lose at least 20lbs before conventions in August.

Not much nausea. Sometimes about an hour after my dose, I will have some. That is subject to change when I go up again.

I weighed in today. A bit bummed because I didn't lose. However: at least I didn't gain. There is that.

I guess we will see what the next week brings.

Wed day 17. dose up

Okay raised my dose again today... Tomorrow I'm going to bump it up to the 1.2 I should be one. I don't feel like I'm losing at the moment. I'm not eating a bunch of junk either. In fact, I'm not eating a lot at all.

I'm also on antibiotics for a sinus infection. I don't think that should affect anything. But who knows.
I have noticed the past three days I keep getting a sharp pain on the right said of my head and I Have had headaches all those days. However, it might be because of my sinuses. again hard to say.

Tuesday Day 16.....

So far so good.. I did notice last night that I wasn't feeling the best and I had the same issue the night before.. Both nights I had sugary deserts. Not sure if that is the issue or not. I guess I will keep an eye on it. I could also be that I didn't have enough water.

One night I was drinking at a friends house and the other I was drinking a lot of Ice tea.

Might take me a bit to figure our what triggers stomach aches. They are never to horrible.

I took my shot late today because I got up late. I have a sinus infection and I was up coughing a lot last night so didn't get much sleep.

I did up it another click so I am at 6 clicks past .06 If today goes well tomorrow I'm going to go up to 8 clicks and Friday go up to 1.2.

Day 14!

So upped my dose one more click today. So far so good.. Made sure to eat a good breakfast. I am feeling a bit light headed but that happens on the days I up my dose. Doesn't typically last to long.

Today was Scale day LOL. And I am down 3lbs this week.

We are off to cookout with friends today... So I. will add to this if there is anything to add :)

Saturday day 13 I think lol

Okay, so today has been pretty good. Not feeling like eating much but been making sure to eat. And I Have to say Sugar just doesn't do it for me. Some of it taste way too sweet. Icky.

I did the same dose as yesterday. .06 plus 4 clicks.  I think tomorrow I will go up one more click since today and yesterday didn't seem to be an issue where I am at.

I am a bit sleepy today but not too bad. Overall I would call day 12 a success.  Sunday morning is my weigh in  day. We will see if there is any change yet... Not going to be upset if not though because I know it's doing something for me because I don't constantly feel like putting sugar in my mouth.

Friday day 12 adjustments.....

Okay. Yesterday was flipping crazy.... I could barely function. If I had a reg job I would have had to leave early and hope I didn't fall asleep on the way home.

I was so tired I couldn't stay away, I felt kind of crappy a couple of times.

I woke up today feeling Nauseous however it went away in about 20 mins.  I did take my shot a bit later today just because I got a late start on my day.

I decided instead of doing the full 1.2 which is dbl the original dose I did 4 clicks past .06. I am hoping that makes the adjustment a bit better. I think I will do that for at least a couple of days then go up again. There are 10 clicks from .06 to the 1.2 so my thought it I can go up a bit slower...

Again I got a late start to my breakfast was a bit late as well. I really need to get myself on a schedule to eat breakfast because I'm so used to skipping it, and I just wasn't feeling a smoothie today.

I will update this later to record how the adjusted dose did for ... Crossing my fingers its not like yesterday. If it is. I might as well just do the full dose next time.

Okay so about to head to bed.. Ate really well all day... Need to take in more water.

Also the dial down worked because I did get really tired today but was able to take like a 20 min nap and was pretty good after that.  Probably stay on the same dose tomorrow and go up a click or two on sunday.

The doctor told me I need to lose 15lbs for my insurance to continue to cover this..

Day 11 Dose up...

So today I upped my dose. I was feeling pretty good when I got up. But man I am so tired right now. I think I may have to shut my eyes and sleep a bit... I took the dose two hours ago. I did do a nice smoothy for breakfast.

I am a bit nauseated. Will see how that goes as the day does.... My New scale is supposed to be here by 8 tonight. The doctor told me not to weight myself more than once a week. Which is what I do anyway. But I will weight myself when it comes in to see how close it is to the docs scale.

So Wow.. I just felt like sleeping all day. I don't like this dose much.

Wed Day 10 Doctors appointment

Seen the Doc today she gave me some great info about how the med process sugars and that is how you lose the weight. It does provide as well appetite suppression.

I lost 2lbs since I started it which has been just over a week now.  Today has been a good day. took my shot at 8am.. Tomorrow I am upping the dose. Crossing my fingers that it will go well since it dbls..

She also told me today that If I find myself getting too tired or feeling drained I need to eat that I should be eating small every few hours not to allow myself to just not eat....


So there is my Journey so far.

Tuesday day 9... Not bad so far

So Last night I skipped my dose so I could get the switch over to trying to do my shots during the day. I have read a lot that says they work better if you do your shots during the day.

At the moment it's 11:30 am. I have been up since 7:30 and I did my shot soon as I got up. So far no nausea. Crossing my fingers that I will not have it. I have to say it was nice to wake up today and feel pretty decent for a change. It gets pretty crappy waking up nauseated each day... I am not feeling as tired yet either but I do still feel tired.

I will keep progress as the day goes by to let you know how the day time shot affects me. I do feel a headache coming on not sure if it's from the shot or not.

So we are now at 5:30. I figured around 3:30 4 would put me at the same amount of hours past giving myself the shot as it would be had I taken the shot before bed last night. So I figured I would be nauseated around this time. So far. Not that case.  I feel a little light headed but I think that is because I had to take Pain med for my bursitis today.

Another thing I notice is that I am super thirsty. Which is actually a good thing. I struggle with drinking enough water. I'm not overly hungry but do get hungry about every 4 hours. I can eat something small and feel good.

About to do dinner... I don't want to jump to conclusions but its looking like day shots are going to actually be better for me.

Day 8

Well, today I am nauseated all day so far. It's 1:42... I am not really hungry at all. I tried to eat a Cheese Quesadilla but it tasted so gross. So I was just able to eat a had bowled egg. Maybe that will help my nausea. Crossing my fingers.

Dr appointment today. I guess I will have to get my weight there. Not that it would be the same as my home scale. But I need to order a new one of those.

Later in the evening:

So I was feeling pretty crappy most of the day like I said not able to eat much I ate two hard boiled eggs. Later in the evening, I was so tired I could hardly stand it. We went ot a friends house to game and they made us dinner. I had two small ribs and a tiny piece of strombolie.. AFter about 20 mins it was amazing how much better I felt.. I think I'm going to have to start figuring out what I can eat because clearly I needed to eat and that is why I felt so crappy.
I also had a small piece of cake. It was yummy but dang it was rich.. It's about 12:30 now. I'm going to head to bed soon. I think I'm going to skip my shot tonight and do it when I wake up tomorrow so I can see how it makes me feel during the day. Crossing my fingers not too bad. I'm going to continue with the .06 for tomorrow and see how it goes.

Have a doc appointment on Wed.

Sunday day 7

Well, I can't weigh myself today because My scale decided to die. OH well. I don't think I lost anything this week anyway.

I work up not feeling well, super tired and nausea. It's the most nausea I have had all this time. The only thing I did differently was I took the shot in my arm rather than my thigh to stomach. So I may not do that again. Its 3:30 pm now and I'm feeling pretty good. though.... Still tired...

Tonight I am meant to up my dose, but I think since I have a Doc appointment tomorrow I will wait one more day.

Day 6.

So not the best morning... Not really because of Saxenda thought. More because I was in so much pain. Woke up at 420..LOL yes 420 and was in so much pain I couldn't stay in bed. Got up, took my pain meds stayed up till 6 and headed back to bed. Stayed in bed till 11:30 but it felt OH so GOOD to sleep well for a bit..

When I got up I at, And like 2 hours later was super hungry. It is feeling like I'm more hungry on this stuff than I am off it. Its a bit annoying. But it might just be my body adjusting to it. I don't know if I will have to adjust the time I day I use it or not. We will see.

Friday Day 5

So today is day 5. Woke up not even close to hungry but let's be honest that it normal for me. No need to give a medication credit for that lol.

Feeling a bit light headed and nauseated.  Figured food would help so I made myself a Fruit smoothie with Vanilla kefir. Didn't taste the greatest but I didn't want to add any kind of sugar to it.
Not feeling much better and an hour later and even writing this I'm yawning and having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I really hope that the tired part goes away. I know it could be worse I could be throwing up or something and I'm not. Dang though hard to get anything done when all you want to do is sleep... This rain doesn't help that I guess. Nor does the fact that my Fibro hates my body today... But like all days. I am pushing forward.
Write later.

So I am not seeing as much appetite suppressing as I would like. But then again I'm only on the .06 dose yet. and its only day 5..And I say this because of will I just at ice cream LOL...
I didn't eat a lot so I guess there is that....

My Saxenda Journy

So I decided I would start trying. I say trying because I'm horrible at keeping up with stuff like this.

I wanted to try to start keeping a bit of a journal on my journey with Saxenda.  I do not know if this medication will work for me but I am really hoping...

I'm going to start that I don't have high expectations. It's better to not do so because then I am not nearly as bummed if it doesn't work.

So I started my Shots Monday. Well, rather Sunday night before I headed to bed.


Monday For some reason I woke up super hungry. I was light headed Most all of the day and more so when I would eat but not anything I couldn't handle or work through.

Tuesday I again woke up really hungry and was hungry all day. Still, a bit light headed but not too bad, but I just overall didn't feel that good most of the day and I was super tired all day.

Wed. Felt a bit nauseated but not real bad.  I wasn't real hungry but at a granola bar. Had lunch out with friends than for dinner I had some fresh veggies because I just wasn't very hungry. As the evening went on (and the evening is when I have the most hunger normally) I was a bit hungry so I had got out my favorite ice cream and decided to eat some. Well, I did eat some, but not much because well the ice cream kind of tasted like cold sugary butter. It was odd.  So instead I had some fruit.
I still struggled with being super tired ALL DAY...

Thursday. So far today I'm feeling a bit nauseated. And I'm still very tired. I mean I could totally go back to bed and be happy. I hope the tiredness goes away with time.  I don't feel like eating at all but I got out my granola bar and forced myself to eat. I need to work a lot harder on drinking more water... Not sure how to do that, but its a must. I also have a headache and I recall having a headache Monday as well. We will see if it becomes a pattern.

I would say so far overall I'm doing better with the side effects than I hear many people have. So hopefully when I got up a dose it will still be okay... I'm going to wait till I adjust to this does before I go up.
So just made myself and tuna sandwich for lunch because I was finally feeling a little hungry. But it tastes gross. I made myself each 3/4 of it. But I think I will go get some more fresh veggies. don't don't taste gross.

over all day.. Went pretty well. Tired tired... Wasn't able to eat much at dinner. So at some and 3 hours later ate a bit more.... Going to do my shot and head to bed.