I was using Victoza and before that Tanzeum for blood sugar management along with Toujeo and a few pills. My thing is this…my ENT discovered a lump on my thyroid the other day. I called my primary provider three days ago to ask if I should stop taking Victoza due to thyroid lumps/cancer concerns. I have an ultrasound on Monday, but my primary hadn’t called me back yet. Should I keep taking it or stop like the warning label on the meds say?
A little disappointed, not a single answer to my question, or anything. Doesn’t exactly make a new person here feel welcome.
Sorry. Your question was just so far away from my experience and sounded so medical that I have nothing to offer and wouldn’t want to potentially provide anything that could be in anyway harmful. I hope for the best for you but unfortunately I have nothing in the way of advice that addresses your question.
Thanks for the reply at least. I appreciate it. Just been frustrated that I haven’t heard back from my primary doctor and I can never reach her directly.
Like @Tim35 I have no practical advice but I do understand you concerns. Maybe it’s time for us to explore this issue.
Stop taking it immediately is what I read on Victoza! Lumps on Thyroid are a side effect of Victoza. I am taking it and very worried about this issue. You could call your on call doctor today but I would read the literature on it and stop until Monday, but that is for me…best wishes! Let us know what happens next week!
I think Yoga just gave you some very sound advice. Victoza is a mess.
In short, long term effects of most T2 oral meds are a huge mess. None are natural to the body and none deal with high blood sugar as the body does. People on SGLT-2s are losing toes like crazy.
A non-diabetic, insulin resistant, obese person’s body will develop more beta cells and secrete more insulin. Thats the body’s natural reaction to high sugar levels, more insulin.
Now, I believe this case is still active and it should be ruled on any day in the Ninth Circuit.
Victoza is part of the suit. Read the suit. The pharma companies are admitting these orals are a mess but they are saying they are not responsible because the FDA process would not let them update the label to tell you what a mess they are.
Well good news I guess, is that my doctor finally reached out to me today. She advised me to stop Victoza and instead she’s going to try Novalog right before meals to help manage my BG. Thanks for the reply.
As people who know me know, I am a true believer in insulin. Notwithstanding my (admitted) bias, it is a fact that insulin controls blood sugar more quickly, directly, and effectively than anything else on the planet. Combine that with the growing concerns about Victoza and its cousins and I thoroughly applaud your doctor’s action. Why try to drive a nail using a splinter-prone 2x4 when there is a good hammer available?
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Michael - thats great news about hearing back from your doctor. Novalog IMO is a much better option than any of the orals and IMO should have been used before the Toujeo. The big issue with T2s is producing enough insulin at meals to mimic first phase insulin release. IMO the current ADA step program needs a total redo. Nothing good has ever come from the orals starting with the Orinase disaster.
Here is a video you may want to watch where Al Mann talks pros/cons of current insulins. Al was one of the great minds in diabetes. He starts talking diabetes at 8:30m but it gets interesting at 11:00m and then talks about stopping T2 progression at 15:00M “interesting this lowers insulin resistance… this is even likely
to slow and even stop the progression of Type 2 diabetes” Alfred E. Mann Wins 2011 MDEA Lifetime Achievement Award - YouTube
Sorry Michael- I also have no medical expertise on this one, just my own experiment.
I have been using it for almost a full year now. (I also used it for about 5 months-had to stop to enter a clinical trial and was allowed to start up again a year ago).
First I am type 1 so that could and probably would change things as each type and each person is so different, for 47 years next week!
In all those years, there has only been insulin for type 1’s until Smylin (which I did try). So I was very excited to see the possibility of some of the ,any type drugs being tested for use with type 1. And while none have been “approved” many are now taking them.
I must say, I love it! The digestive issues were a little rough the first week, but I worked through it and have had great success with it. I have lost quite a bit of weight,(not all due to Victoza), a much reduced appetite, much less post meal spikes, overall it’s been great for me. I have stopped at 1.2 each day. No need to go 1.8. I of course have thyroid tested and checked every year and so far no problem. My feet are checked every doctors visit, so no problem.
As always, what works for one person, doesn’t mean it won’t work for the next. Each one of us is a daily experiment and my thinking is if I can find something to make my life a little easier, yeah!
I will have to come off it again when I finish up this current study and start the next one, which will make me very unhappy. But anything I can do to help find that cure or a new treatment plan to make things easier.
Please follow your instincts and do what you feel is best for you. I would never tell someone their thinking is wrong but I always think everyone should hear both sides. Good luck and I agree insulin is the best and most important “drug” in the diabetes medicine cabinet!