New to Tudiabetes and new to Victoza! I was just given a sample of Victoza yesterday. I'm already suffering a teeny bit of nausea and lack of appetite, but I expected as much.
Anyway, I just have a couple of questions after reading the literature and from talking to my doctor.
1. The literature that came with Victoza states that it hasn't been studied in use with Insulin. Currently I'm taking Humalog (Meal-time insulin) and Levemir (Long-acting) Should I be worried? Anybody else have experience in taking Victoza in conjunction with insulin?
2. My doctor told me that after the first prime with the first needle of each pen I don't need to prime the rest of the needles. I was very skeptical. With my insulin flexpens I'm used to priming the pen every time I change the needle.
The sample I received came with its own pack of needles, a different brand that I'm used to using with my Insulins. Usually I use BD short needles(The pink ones) and the Victoza came with what I assume to be it's own brand of needles.
So what I'm curious is: Was i told that I only need to prime once because of the way these different needles are designed or is the flexpen itself designed differently?
I'm concerned because once I'm done with the Victoza sample I assume I'll be using the BD universal needles for all of my flexpens and I'd like to know if this "Once-prime" thing applies to the pen or the needles I'm using.
Background: I'm 22 years old, been diagnosed with Type 2 since 2009
I only prime it the first time. It dose come with its own needles but I can use the same needle with my Humalog. I only take one shot of insulin at night now to carry me through the the night so I’m not sure how it works with more insulin shots.
I have been on it almost a month. I am a type 1 and use Novolog in a pump. I have not had any problems with taking insulin and Victoza but I have noticed I have lowered my daily insulin by almost 35 units (amazing!) and if I go low I have a harder time coming back up but I also use the Dexcom CGM so I don't have too many lows since I can catch it before it happens. I would watch out for lows and you will probably end up cutting back on some insulin but I am type 1 so type 2 may be a little different. My Dr. started me on this b/c I was having really bad dawn phenomenon and really bad post meal spikes (like almost 400) that we could not get rid of even with pre-bolusing. So far the symptoms have almost gone away and they were all worth it. I LOVE Victoza so far my blood sugars have consistently stayed between 130 and 60. As for the priming yeah I am bad about that I never do it and I didn't prime my insulin pens either.
Thank you to everyone who has commented so far. Your post in particular, Kendyl, helped ease my worries a good amount.
Getting more used to Victoza. Threw up once but the nausea gets less and less each day. About to start the Middle dosage tomorrow. Wish me luck :X
As for the priming: Isn't there a risk of getting air injected into your body? I always assumed that was the reason for priming and it was deadly if you injected air. Maybe..I'm just a noob? X)
