Trulicity , Type 1 and Weight Loss

Type 1 and LADA
41

It’s the end of week 2. I’ve started taking creatine again in preparation for a 220 km ride this weekend. Health problems have sidelined my training for four weeks and I need every advantage I can get. :o) That, however, makes tracking weight loss really confusing. Over the past week, my weight hasn’t changed at all. But, I would have expected to gain at least 2 - 3 pounds in water retention from the creatine.

I have had some mild bouts of heartburn over the past week, but nothing serious. I certainly haven’t experienced any of the serious side effects reported by some on Trulicity. On the plus side, my sugar readings have come from an average of 250 down to an 160, and most of the peaks have been eliminated. Ya, I know, my averages are terrible. I have no doubts that as I continue to tweak my basals, I can get my average down even further to numbers in the acceptable range like 140.

I have so much more energy !! My sleep requirements have gone down as I am waking up earlier in the morning and have stopped napping. The crippling fatigue is also gone.

42

Michael-good to hear your update. I don’t know what creatine is that you are taking for a big bike ride? I have stayed at a 5 pound weight loss since the past week. I am on week 3 of Trulicity shots and took first shot of higher dose 1.5 on Wednesday. I have had some serious heart burn. Today again at yoga. I came home and drank some water with teaspoon of baking soda and it went away. I am still much less hungry and don’t eat much, I am surprised I have not lost more weight yet, but hopeful it will drop off in upcoming weeks. My fasting blood sugar is not as low. I had to increase the basal Tresiba from 10 to 12 units. Still trying to get it adjusted. However, I have completely eliminated bolus Novolog for 3 weeks!. My fasting was 140 today. I will take 12 units again tonight of Tresiba.

Good luck on your bike ride!

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43

I think it’s amazing that there are a few of us on here who started Trulicity at just about the same time. I will take my 3rd shot tomorrow (Sunday).

I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced any heartburn over these last two weeks. But I will be more on the look out for it now. What I have noticed, however, is that the affect seems to trail off as the week wears on. I take my shot on Sundays, and by Friday my control wasn’t as tight. I can’t recall if that happened in the first week as well, and it’s hard to tell my looking at my data in Clarity, but I will certainly be watching it this next week to see if that pattern holds.

Like you, Yoga62, I haven’t really had to take any Novolog these past few weeks, which has been nice, but my control has been pretty tight. But unlike you, I’ve had to roll back my Tresiba dose a little because the Truulicity has been working too well and I have been going a little too low. So I have scaled back to 8 units to see if this keeps me a little higher.

Overall, I’m really happy with the results and my average values (at least according to my Dexcom) have dropped quite a bit. I will get another A1c in about a month and then we’ll really see what true value of Trulicity is.

Cheers! And keep reporting back.

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44

Hi David,

Yes it is cool we are all starting it about the same time and can compare notes. I agree, it seems to trail off toward the end of the week. I noticed last Tuesday night feeling hungrier than earlier in the week. I take the shot on Wed nights. I am a bit fearful that it is not working as well not as tight of control as week 1-2. I had fasting lower near 70-90 and now more around 120-130. Although I decreased the Tresiba to 10 and then bumped it back up to 11, then 12…so I am not sure…will keep going for a while. I weighed a few ounces less this morning, but still at about 5 pounds weight loss. Not much but feel a little lighter. I am doing yoga a bit more energy for yoga, and not feeling as bloated as prior to beginning Trulicity 3.5 weeks ago. I stopped the diuretics before I started Trulicity. I also will get my A1C in mid July. I sure hope it is down to the 7 range! Last time it was 9.2. It had been 8 but before that 12.4 when I was not on insulin last October. I have come to accept my body requires injecting insulin. I was in denial for a long time.

So we are both on Tresiba and Trulicity combo…I am using coupons for both of these. Trulicity coupon is 25 per month. I have BCBS insurance but sure nice to have the coupons.

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45

David48 & Yoga62

I really appreciate this community and the opportunity to share the benefits and war-stories being on Trulicity.

THE WEEKEND WAS A DISASTER !!

Had to deal with severe gastroparesis - a clear symptom of Trulicity.

My first two weeks were completely void of side-effects other than weight loss. This weekend, however, I put it to the test as I was in a 220 km charity ride.

Normally, within the first 10 km (5 miles) of a ride, my blood sugar will head for centre and remain at 100 for the remainder of the ride. I don’t know why, but exercise just seems to bring me into perfect glucose control.

Not this time !! After the first 25 km (15 miles), I was sitting on the side of the road, with a reading of 60, eating a sleeve of Cliff Blok 72g of carbs. I didn’t really think much of it, but just chalked it up to a bad start. But, here’s where it got concerning. That many carbs would normally put my glucose up to almost 200, which is ok, since I would be working it off. It only put me up to 80. I ate two more sleeves, which should bring me up to about 450 - yet my blood sugar still dropped back to 60.

After pushing the ride another 50 km (30 miles), for a total of 70 km (45 miles), I was lying on the side of the road with paramedics attending. While, I thought I was totally conscious and lucid, they told me that I was barely there and there initial thought was that I was going unconscious from extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration. But, that makes no sense, as I just drank more than 1.5 gallons of water over the past 4 hours - yet I hadn’t gone to the washroom - and still couldn’t.

Essentially, due to gastroparesis, I wasn’t getting ANY glucose or fluids into my system - it was stuck in my stomach. Also, I felt sooo bloated !!

The paramedics, rushed me in the sweep car to the medical tent at the next rest stop to see a doctor. The doctor took a quick look at me and made the decision to cut me from the ride with a choice to either be bussed to the end to meet my family, or to take an ambulance to the hospital for a IV glucose drip.

Within a half hour of getting on the bus, my blood sugar suddenly shot up to 300. I guess my stomach finally emptied and flooded my system with carbs.

For the evening, my blood sugar was pretty stable and normal. But, I had a hard time eating dinner and later went to bed with normal blood sugar. I woke up at 1:00am, with blood sugar of 250 and took a bolus to correct. I woke up again at 4am with a blood sugar of 420 and took another bolus to correct. When I got up at 6:30 am, my blood sugar was still at 350. I was feeling too nauseous, and decided not to participate in the second day of the ride.

This all happened on Saturday and I am still feeling somewhat nauseous today.

Bottom line … I don’t think Trulicity plays well with endurance sports. :o(

46

Hi Michael,
Sorry you were so sick, suffering from gastroparesis naturally (not that this is a natural disease and before I had it, I took Victoza and still blame that as the root cause) I totally understand. It makes it hard when you don’t know when your body will release the food and timing of insulin is a real crap-shoot. I have to test constantly to see when I start to rise then guess how much I’m gonna need. Sugars may not go into your system right away, I have to bath my cheeks and tongue at times to get myself corrected for lows…

I say, it is NOT worth the weight loss effect and there are better ways to maintain control sans insulin… LCHF for example…

I truly hope your nausea goes away … suggest an easy diet the next few days…liquid protein drinks or many small meals will help…lots of water as well and keep up with the excercise…

47

msdka,

Thanks for the post !!

I am expecting that this was a one time event resulting from the extreme exercise, the temperature (with humidex, it was 104 F), and Trulicity. While I am a little worried to get back on the bike again while taking this medication, I have to do it. My plan is to start slow with 10-15 mile rides, and quickly ramp it up until I am back to my normal 40-50 mile rides. Hopefully, I won’t see this problem again. The biggest problem, however, is the lack of support. If I have a problem in an organized ride, it takes about 5 minutes to get a paramedic. Most of my rides are by myself on country roads with no traffic. If I have a problem, who knows how long it could take to get help.

48

Sorry to hear about your getting ill on a ride. But your plan? Does that include not using Trulicity? For a conditioned rider, I do not see the weather making an impact. I would really worry about the drug and its side effects. Not having your stomach emptying might help a dieter to feel “full”, but not be able to treat a low, that is scary.

Riding alone? Make sure you wear a Road ID. I ride 40 to 50 miles on the weekends in a LCHF diet (eat to my meter). I have never been sick on a ride following this diet.

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49

Yeah … that’s what’s scaring me. That’s why I am going to start with shorter rides to see how far I can ride before running into problems. I ALWAYS wear a Road ID !! The heat shouldn’t have been an issue. I’m used to and enjoy mountain biking in even hotter conditions. The heat has never been a problem - just causes you to get a little damp.

The nausea and loss of glucose control lasted for almost three days !!

50

Sorry to read about the problems on the ride. I am wondering if the insulin dose was too high as a reading of 60 is so low. I had to lower my insulin with Trulicity from 19 units per day to 10 but then now back up to 13 units each night of Tresiba. I wonder if your insulin was just too high with the extra exercise. It think it is harder to dial in the correct insulin dosage with the Trulicity.

Sounds like a good plan to do shorter riders to experiment. I am not having much heart burn the past days. Just a small bit and I took a half teaspoon of baking soda with about 4 oz of water and it went away. I have lost 6 pounds and and starting week 4 with another shot this evening. I am not doing vigorous exercise like you, just yoga and walking. Maybe you can talk to your endo/nurse and go over this to see what might be best?

Hope you feel better.

51

My basal isn’t too high. In fact, it’s too low. Under normal circumstances, I get a HUGE spike between breakfast and lunch and I am trying to increase my normal basal to compensate.

No, this is something different. I gels with over 300 grams of carbs and my blood sugar hardly moved at all. Later in the day, as well as overnight, I experienced HUGE spikes in my blood sugar that were not easily explainable by anything other than delayed stomach emptying.

I’ll be taking my fourth shot tomorrow, and I am finding a marked decrease in the efficacy of the drug. I am seeing a return of some of my appetite that I lost over the first couple of weeks. I’m also seeing a little weight gain. Next week, I am scheduled to increase the dose from 0.75 to 1.5. Wonder if that will make a big difference.

52

If your basal is too low wouldn’t you decrease your daily insulin? That is what I do.

I am on the higher dose but it also seems to be wearing off in effectiveness. I will give it a few more weeks and see. Maybe all the insulin was pushed out of my pancreas. Maybe the reserve is gone. It works only when glucose is high I was read.

53

I am not getting huge spikes in fact have not been above 200 since day 1 in Trulicity. I keep carbs to less than 30 per meal more near 20 typically. I keep exercise pretty instant throughout the week. Let’s keep sharing notes! I hope it works for you !

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54

Well, like Michael, my third week on Trulicity isn’t going so well. My blood sugar control has been okay, although the effect does seem to be trailing off again as the week wears on (it’s Thursday and I take the shot on Sunday). The one problem, however, is that I’ve had wicked bouts of nausea for the last two nights. Both last night and tonight it has come on fast and hard and knocked me down for about an hour. Luckily nothing happened, I was at home both times and just laid down until it passed. Yesterday I had just returned home from a one-hour tennis lesson and started feeling ill after eating. Tonight I had just returned from a 5-mile run and started feeling nauseous before eating. It’s probably not the food since I got nauseous tonight before eating, but I wonder if it’s the exercise, the particular time of day, or something else. Or if it’s just the Trulicity.

Regardless, I think I will proceed with my fourth shot on Sunday to see where this experiment leads me. I’ve been very happy with my blood sugar levels since I began. But if this nausea continues to return, I may have to reconsider Trulicity.

55

Honestly, I think it is the exercise. At least in my case, with gastroparesis, I wasn’t getting the carbs / energy to which I was accustomed.

Took my fourth dose at 0.75 today. Next week I’m upping it to 1.5.

Unfortunately, I found out that my insurance company will not cover this drug as Health Canada does not recommend it for T1 diabetics.

56

there is a coupon can you use the coupon in Canada? I am using it. 25 dollars per month. There is a website you can go to for the coupon.

57

I have had to rest also. I feel more tired with the Trulicity. I had to increase my insulin to 13 units and it was down to 10. before Trulicity it was at 19. I am not sure about this drug, still “experimenting” for a few more weeks before deciding. Hope you are feeling better. Being nauseous is no fun and nothing one wants to do long term just for lower blood sugar and possible weight loss. I see endo mid July and will be discussing side effects and evaluate then. Enjoy the weekend!

58

Today was my 4th shot. Luckily the bouts of nausea have not returned. So I, as well, will continue with the experiment. But you’re right, there is a limit to what I’m willing to sacrifice for better blood sugar control. If the nausea returns consistently, I don’t think I will continue with hit. So far it’s been the only down side.

I’m actually already quite thin, so I’m hoping Trulicity doesn’t make me loose any weight. My endo actually wants me to put on a little weight. So we’ll see which way I go.

59

David48 - you have a problem that I wish I had !!

:slight_smile:

60

Me too wish I needed to gain weight! I have lost 5-6 lbs but it has leveled off and I am not losing any more. Week 4. Also I increased the basal AGAIN to 14 as my fasting has been creeping up, same food same type of meals, no changes in other things. This morning fasting was 130. Will see how a few days at 14 units per day goes. The good side is no bolus needed throughout day. I seem to stay about the same blood sugar. After hot yoga, came home and was at 101. Less heart burn. I am staying away from spicy food. Also drank small glass of water with teaspoon of baking soda before driving to yoga. Less heartburn today very mild.