I’ve been on metformin for about 2 months with no improvement in my fasting blood sugars. So my PA wants to start me on victoza in addition to the metformin. I just read the insert and it basically says that it is not known whether it can harm nursing babies. I will call the office tomorrow for advice but was wondering if there are any nursing moms using victoza and what your doc said.
Gail:
I'm not a mother at all, but your question caught my eye. One question for you ... have you seen any of the commercials on TV about this drug? It would definitely scare the living daylights out of me! I hope your DR has adequately counseled you on this subject. Maybe you ought to catch one of the commercials first. Sorry.
Lois
I haven’t seen any commercials. What was scary???
Gail, I know I have mentioned this to you before, but have you considered you might require insulin to control your blood sugar? Have you talked to your doctor about this? Just my two cents. Hope you are okay.
I think victoza has been linked to pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and thyroid cancer. I think insulin would be a better choice probably for you.
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2011/06/newsflash-fda-issues-warning-on-victoza.html
It is NOT recommended to be taken while breast feeding:
http://diabetes.emedtv.com/victoza/victoza-and-breastfeeding.html
John Walsh wanted to do a trial of Victoza and if that didn’t work we’d go to insulin. I have been able to control my post meal sugars with diet and exercise but my fasting remains high so he said this may be a good drug to try. After doing more research, I am going to tell him I just want to go straight to insulin
All the side effects and possible heart (?) damage. There was a long litany of cautions. Now I wish I had paid more attention. Hope this helps just a little.
Lois
Curious question ... who is John Walsh?
Also, glad to see you seem to have come to a decision. Sometimes it's best to go with the tried and true.
Good luck.
Lois
I guess John Walsh is a celebrity of the diabetes world. He wrote some books on pumping insulin and he speaks at conferences. The last time I posted about seeing him, people seemed to know who he was.
John Walsh is quite well known, he wrote "Using Insulin." But I'm not so sure of his advice. My problem has also been my fasting numbers and neither Byetta nor Victoza helped. And I wasn't surprised. The primary action of both (they are in the GLP-1 class) is to increase the signals to your pancreas when you eat. Thus they help postprandial blood sugars, but do little for fasting.
Gail, I am glad you are going straight to insulin! You may need very low doses, as many of us required when we first started. I just think it is a very smart move.
I guess I'm just not into too many books lately. I recognize the name as the guy who is responsible for the America's Most Wanted show. Probably not the same one.
Lois
I think that is safest for you and your baby and I think it will help you get those fasting numbers and post prandial numbers down too. Good luck and let us know how it goes :)
Thanks for the responses everyone.