Apparently after nine months,my body's not working well with Byetta. Hunger is back,#'s need work. I believe the Byetta slows down the absorption of the oral meds. I'm actually better since quitting. #'s are improving and digestion system is normalizing.
Lately,I'm reading of more and more health issues with the stuff.
If my numbers still need improvement,I'll probably just add Lantus. 108 prior to dinnertime after a low carb(right!) Mexican meal at lunch.
Byetta does run its course with most people. Worked about the same for me. I did end up with blown insulin treatment. It helped while it worked and I managed some weight loss but I'm much happier with my insulin treatment.
Yeah,it's nice to have the digestive system working again. I'm looking forward to beginning Lantus on the 28th after the doctor's visit. The glipizide XL and metformin are producing better results now. Insulin is a proven hormone that the body produces and is proven. I just can't use it as an excuse to power the nachos. Insulin resistance is already present in diabetics.
Tricking the system to produce more has got to be taxing to the system. Of paramount importance is the simple rule of moderation of eating refined carbs.
Bernstein believes that Byetta, Victoza (and presumably Bydureon) loses effectiveness after about 6 months. So he rotates his patients between Byetta and Victoza every six months to avoid that situation. There has been an initial concern about these drugs causing pancreatitis or altered kidney function. The FDA started a program in 2007, after some 7 million Byetta prescriptions had been written, to look at these risks after some higher rates of adverse effects were reported. This led to some warnings in 2009, you can read them here. It did note an "association" with pancreatitis, but the symptoms are so abundantly clear that once you know about it and can look for it you should be able to stop treatment immediately and deal with it safely. And there is a warning not to use Byetta if you have impaired kidney function, but this warning is also on many drugs including metformin.
And now we see that there is an association of Byetta with pancreatic cancer. So the FDA has started a similar program. Will it also find an increased risk pancreatic cancer? I don't know. But I do know that having diabetes and elevated blood sugars increases your risk of cancer, so in the end, even if the risk is real, it still may be better to continue Byetta.
In general, the results studies of Byetta all probably apply to Victoza and Bydureon and some may also implicate the DPP-4s like Januvia. That being said, I was on Byetta for well over a year with full knowledge of the 2009 warning. I was not particularly concerned. All drugs have side effects.
Yeah,I've got a friend who's doc just added Victoza to her Lantus/Actos combo. Her numbers have improved along with the initial decreased hunger. She deals with 2-3 hrs of slight nausea but has lost 8#.
My A1C is currently @ 6.8% but I'd feel much better if it were under 6%.
Victoza would increase my copay by $200/90 days and would probably lose it's effectiveness after 6 months anyway.
Thanks for your comments.