Thyroid Cancer, Renal Failure, Pancreatitis... Oh My!

Treatment Oral Medications and non-insulin injectables
1

Diagnosed a year ago, no meds (in denial). Went to doc this week so just started Victoza 3 days ago on the "3 clicks" dosage.

So far no nausea or headaches or cramps. Seems that won't happen until the dosage is higher, but hoping for none at all.

Is anyone else **TERRIFIED** of the thyroid cancer warning? I mean like to the point of not wanting to take it.

Before my body adjusts to taking it, I'm really having 2nd thoughts. I know it was cancer "just" in rats - but that's little comfort.

Three other things I read on the pamphlet that have me a tad confused, so any feedback anyone has would be awesome. Already have these questions on my 3 week follow-up doc visit list, but hoping for more of a patient's perspective, y'know?

#1 - Victoza® is not recommended as first-line therapy for patients who have inadequate glycemic control on diet and exercise.
>> Well that's me, right? Inadequately controlled via diet and exercise. So then should I not be taking it. Yes, I'll, of course, re-discuss with my doc, just wondering if anyone else has gotten feedback about that.

#2 - Victoza should not be used for the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis, as it would not be effective in these settings.
>> Again, I think that's me because my urine test showed that I do have ketones. Or is having ketones not the same as being fully DKA, I wonder?

#3 - Pancreatitis... tell your healthcare provider if you have had high blood triglyceride levels

>> My labs showed my cholesterol at 210. Uh... cholesterol = triglycerides? (Stop laughing you guys!) But I was reading the pamplet last night and saw that bit and thought, "Hmmm..."

"Clinically relevant exposures" - GEEZ, they're telling me up front it's a big deal 8-(

I dunno you guys. I sure do love the idea of Victoza helping bringing down my numbers, and some of you have reported exceptional results.

That said though, how many times can one read the medications REPEATED warnings about "... thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, renal failure..." before feeling that this is just too huge a risk. I've lived my entire 51 years with near perfect health. I'm really nervous about this.

Do I want to die from a stroke or heart attack or get kidney failure from high blood sugar? Or have low BG but get cancer or still have renal failure from the drug.

Somebody, talk me down! I want to like it.

2

I think the risk is pretty low or nonexistent in reality in comparison with the risks of high blood sugar. But I'm surprised that your doc prescribed Victoza as a first med, as it is newer and thus more untested, and also not generic, and so extremely expensive, instead of metformin, which is generic and been around a long time and thus shown to be safe. Only when Metformin and even glyburide no longer did the trick was I prescribed Victoza.

3

Hi Ellie,

Yes after reading the Victoza pamphlet I was surprised too. But he did also give me Metformin to take with the Victoza.

Maybe because everything was so high with me, and the ketones, he wanted to get Victoza in too.

I just almost wish I hadn't read the warnings, because the part that scares me more than anything else is that they kept saying the trials demonstrated "clinically relevant exposures".

Sheesh!

May I ask what dosages you are on, and what your numbers are? How long did it take before you started seeing improved numbers, if you recall back then?

8-)

4

I'm feeling less worried, the more I read. I found this article after about 5 hours of digging around that discussed the finer points of the side effects:

http://erc.endocrinology-journals.org/content/early/2012/06/12/ERC-12-0111.full.pdf

Actually found some very encouraging info in that doc:

"... simple pharmacological induction of pancreatitis by GLP1 receptor agonists seems unlikely..."

"... premalignant lesions are stimulated to grow, rather than new lesions are induced..."

"... rats develop spontaneous C-cell lesions at a high frequency while in humans C-cell neoplasia is extremely rare..."

5

I was told I wouldn't see any effects at the 0.6 dose I was first prescribed, but with the metformin and a tiny bit of glyburide to fight off dawn phenomenon, the very first day on my low dose my readings were wonderful, like no diabetes, better than I ever have seen since beginning to meter. So we have stayed at that dose.

6

Thanks for posting this Angie. It is a relatively new drug and some questions have been raised so it's wise to educate yourself and then make a decision with your eyes open. For me it was a calculated risk I was willing to take.

7

I know it is supposed to be rare, but I did have pancreatitis which the docs confirmed was caused by Victoza. My reading shows this to be coming up more in the literature. I was on the max dose, so the lower doses may be fine, but just putting it out there so you have all the info you can get.

8

Hi Angie
I was on Metformin at first, and it didn't seem to be helping too much, so my doctor put me on Victoza. When I first took it I had some bad nausea and vomiting, but it turned out it was due to where I was injecting it. I changed that and voila, no more nausea. In fact with Victoza my numbers are great, my a1c used to be 10-11, and now I have it down to 6. More exercise and modifications to diet helped, but I credit the Victoza for a lot. I was going to the doctor every 90 days and he was monitoring my thyroid and kidney function. My thyroid wasn't working well, and he put me on Levothyroxine, and now my readings are normal every time. Same with kidneys, no trouble. Don't let the box worry you too much. It can be scary to read what these things can do, but just make sure your doctor monitors you well.

9

HI Angie! Can you tell me the good and bad places to inject Victoza?

10

I saw this link on a different discussion thread and thought I'd post it here. It's again about the risks of Victoza and pancreatic cancer (very scary)... thoughts?

http://phlauntdiabetesupdates.blogspot.ca/2013/03/byetta-victoza-bydureon-appear-to-cause.html

Both my endo and pharmacists said that pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer are extremely rare side effects and that the benefit outwieghs the risk... still very scary though. I don't want short term gain for long term pain.