Thought I’d introduce myself
Hi,
My name is Andi and I have a type 2 husband. We have known for about
2 years now. He is in poor control. His doctor has tried many
different combos of meds and his numbers get lower for a short time,
then spike back up and won’t come down. At his last appointment, his
doctor mentioned Byetta. I thought I would do some checking on the
internet and see what I could find out about this med, and here I am.
He won’t check in to it, as he has a needle phoebia and gets very
panicked at even the sight of a needle. He had a bad experience as a
child, and that memory has made any blood draw, IV or needle prick a
nightmare for him. He also was blessed with those tiny veins that you
can’t see or feel, compounding his problems. His endo mentioned this
form of med, and he really is not taking it well. His doctor really
was very dismissive of his fear, and he was not happy about that
either. He felt bad, and knows he has to try and work on this fear.
I just wanted to leave a note so you know I am "reading" and learning
lots. (Oh and I am SO sorry, but my spelling is BAD…. so please
forgive me ahead of time… I read some of the first posts in here,
and there were some posts about spelling and wording, and mine is the
WORST…. SORRY! )
Thanks, I am enjoying all my reading in here!
Andi
June 21st, 2003 at 7:23 am
Oh I am telling you….YOU CANT FEEL IT!!!
Heck, you learn to give the shot to him!!!
And tiny veins dont matter LOL…as you use a pen …lot less hassle than a
needle!!
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
a.. Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
June 21st, 2003 at 8:31 am
also you don’t inject the itsy bitsy little pen point into a vein. It goes
into your fat.
——-Original Message——-
Oh I am telling you….YOU CANT FEEL IT!!!
Heck, you learn to give the shot to him!!!
And tiny veins dont matter LOL…as you use a pen …lot less hassle than a
needle!!
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
—————————————————————————–
a.. Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
—————————————————————————–
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Diabetic Position
June 21st, 2003 at 3:58 pm
maybe that why i dont feel it i got too much fat LOL
also you don’t inject the itsy bitsy little pen point into a vein. It goes
into your fat.
——-Original Message——-
Oh I am telling you….YOU CANT FEEL IT!!!
Heck, you learn to give the shot to him!!!
And tiny veins dont matter LOL…as you use a pen …lot less hassle than a
needle!!
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
—————————————————————————–
a.. Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.361 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/243 - Release Date: 1/27/2006
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS Illness Andrew Ada
Diabetic Position
Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS Illness Andrew Ada
Diabetic Position
a.. Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
June 21st, 2003 at 5:44 pm
I also had trouble with needles. When I went to give my blood for
testing I would sometimes get light headed and think I was going to
pass out. It took several months to get myself to give byetta a
try. I to thought there was no way that I could give myself a
shot. After my Dr had showed me how small the needle was several
times I decided to give it a try. These needles are nothing like
the ones used to draw blood. Most of the time I never even feel the
shot, if I do it is only a slight prick. I honestly think now I
could do it with my eyes closed. The suggestion made for you to
give the shot would probably work well. After just a few times I
bet your husband would be giving the shots to himself.
Steven
P.S. Don’t worry about your spelling. If someone complains it is
not worth the effort to even respond.
June 21st, 2003 at 10:02 pm
I also had trouble with needles. When I went to give my blood for
testing I would sometimes get light headed and think I was going to
pass out. It took several months to get myself to give byetta a
try. I to thought there was no way that I could give myself a
shot. After my Dr had showed me how small the needle was several
times I decided to give it a try. These needles are nothing like
the ones used to draw blood. Most of the time I never even feel the
shot, if I do it is only a slight prick. I honestly think now I
could do it with my eyes closed. The suggestion made for you to
give the shot would probably work well. After just a few times I
bet your husband would be giving the shots to himself.
Steven
P.S. Don’t worry about your spelling. If someone complains it is
not worth the effort to even respond.
June 22nd, 2003 at 2:20 am
I also had trouble with needles. When I went to give my blood for
testing I would sometimes get light headed and think I was going to
pass out. It took several months to get myself to give byetta a
try. I to thought there was no way that I could give myself a
shot. After my Dr had showed me how small the needle was several
times I decided to give it a try. These needles are nothing like
the ones used to draw blood. Most of the time I never even feel the
shot, if I do it is only a slight prick. I honestly think now I
could do it with my eyes closed. The suggestion made for you to
give the shot would probably work well. After just a few times I
bet your husband would be giving the shots to himself.
Steven
P.S. Don’t worry about your spelling. If someone complains it is
not worth the effort to even respond.
June 22nd, 2003 at 10:18 am
Speaking of hitting a vein… I was injecting my Byetta, which is a fairly short
needle compared to what my insurance comp. sends for insulin. I hadn’t even
pulled out the needle before I had a stream of blood going down my tummy. Had
to quickly cup my hand to keep it from spilling over. Worst bleeder I’ve EVER
had, and it didn’t even hurt. When it stopped, I looked closely (as closely as
I could considering it was my own tummy) and I could see the tiny cappilary, or
whatever it was that I hit. I thought for sure it would bruise, but it didn’t.
Ok, babbling. That’s it. LOL
Trish
Andrew
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS
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Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
———————————
June 22nd, 2003 at 4:22 pm
Hi, Andi, and welcome to the group. You’ll find many caring and
supportive folks here. And don’t apologize for your spelling — we’re
all in this together.
Hugs,
Janie
June 23rd, 2003 at 9:19 pm
Hi everyone,
Thank you all for the wonderful posts. I am glad to have found such
a nice group.
I am going to have to share all this information with my husband
this weekend. I’d mention it to him tonight, but he is in his own
world at the moment, playing an on line game. hehe. He is going in
for hernia surgery tomorrow, and is getting sick to his stomach
knowing he will have an IV in tomorrow. See, his fear is the needle
itself, not the pain. I can’t wait to share with him all the posts
about the lack of pain and the tiny needles. I hope it helps ease
his mind.
I fully expected to have to inject him (if we decide to try this
med, and I am thinking I want him to give it a try) till he can get
used to the idea. He said he would rather not talk about it just
yet. He is still holding out hope that the new combo of oral meds
he will be trying will "fix" his glucose numbers.
We just got his A1c back that he had drawn on Monday. He is at a 9
and it is down from 9.6 the last draw. Not much progress, but hey,
it did not go up, right?
I really want to thank everyone here for all the wonderful
information. It has really helped my research.
OH, and I find this funny. With his numbers being SO high, I left a
message today for his doctor, as we are just about out of test
strips. I asked her to prescribe 6 strips a day, as he really needs
to check pre meal and post meal as he is in such poor control. The
nurse called back and said that most insurance plans will cover 1
strip a day for a type 2 diabetic. Have you ever heard of that? I
about fell over. She said if he were on insulin, things would be
different. I said, well, if he can’t test and his numbers don’t
come down, he WILL be needing insulin. Unreal. She said we have
the option of buying more ourselves (as if they are affordable!).
Grrrrr. Sorry, had to share. I think that is just silly.
Thanks for all your help,
Andi
June 24th, 2003 at 2:29 am
Call your insurance and tell them where your husband’s A1c is and that
you are considering new treatment and will need to do a lot of testing.
Do they have any limits on strips? How should the prescription be
written? Then get back to your doctor, not his nurse.
June 24th, 2003 at 6:25 am
Hi and welcome!
Tiny veins don’t matter with Byetta because one injects just under the skin
and not into a vein. Also if you inject into the belly it almost NEVER hurts
at all.
June 24th, 2003 at 11:40 am
i MUST be doing something wrong :-(*
i almost always hurts unless i’m real careful, i tried the poke first
method someone mentioned too.
RebeccA
June 24th, 2003 at 3:58 pm
i must be doing something wrong then. it usually hurts when i inject. i
did notice today that i am having trouble when i do it on my left side
because it is hard for my left arm to work right when i inject, and i
have short arms to start with. i am trying to figure out how to do it
‘blind’ per se. i usually look in a mirror.
does anyone inject while sitting down and how do you do it?
can anyone explain exactly WHAT they do? i know that sounds strange.
thanks
Rebecca
June 24th, 2003 at 9:25 pm
when i first became a diabetic, my doctor handed me a bottle of insulin and some
syringes and said "are you gonna be able to give yourself these shots?" of
course i answered him with " i am an RN, i know how to give a shot" his reply
was "i didn’t ask you if you know how to give a shot. i asked you if you could
give YOURSELF a shot." and it was a challenge at first. of course i started
giving them to myslf in the arm and leg, yet at the hospital i always gave them
in the belly. i finally tried them in the belly and they were so much less
painful. i feel probably 1 in 10 shots with the insulin needle and almost never
feel it with the byetta pen. But i know fear can be a big issue.i had a patient
who when he saw the needle we were gonna use on him( and it was small) he had a
major vaso-vagal response. his heart rate dropped to 20 and he passed plumb out.
almost didn’t get him resusitated. so it really can be an issue. hope your
husband can get past his fear. good luck
Thank you all for the wonderful posts. I am glad to have found such
a nice group.
I am going to have to share all this information with my husband
this weekend. I’d mention it to him tonight, but he is in his own
world at the moment, playing an on line game. hehe. He is going in
for hernia surgery tomorrow, and is getting sick to his stomach
knowing he will have an IV in tomorrow. See, his fear is the needle
itself, not the pain. I can’t wait to share with him all the posts
about the lack of pain and the tiny needles. I hope it helps ease
his mind.
I fully expected to have to inject him (if we decide to try this
med, and I am thinking I want him to give it a try) till he can get
used to the idea. He said he would rather not talk about it just
yet. He is still holding out hope that the new combo of oral meds
he will be trying will "fix" his glucose numbers.
We just got his A1c back that he had drawn on Monday. He is at a 9
and it is down from 9.6 the last draw. Not much progress, but hey,
it did not go up, right?
I really want to thank everyone here for all the wonderful
information. It has really helped my research.
OH, and I find this funny. With his numbers being SO high, I left a
message today for his doctor, as we are just about out of test
strips. I asked her to prescribe 6 strips a day, as he really needs
to check pre meal and post meal as he is in such poor control. The
nurse called back and said that most insurance plans will cover 1
strip a day for a type 2 diabetic. Have you ever heard of that? I
about fell over. She said if he were on insulin, things would be
different. I said, well, if he can’t test and his numbers don’t
come down, he WILL be needing insulin. Unreal. She said we have
the option of buying more ourselves (as if they are affordable!).
Grrrrr. Sorry, had to share. I think that is just silly.
Thanks for all your help,
Andi
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS
Illness Andrew Ada Diabetic Position
Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
———————————
June 25th, 2003 at 12:18 am
Rebecca wrote,
>i must be doing something wrong then. it usually hurts when i inject.
Hi, this is my first post here.
I’ve been on Byetta less than a week, so I’m still getting used to
injecting. I’ve had several injections that hurt, and a couple that bled
because I hit a capillary. I have the best luck when I pinch up a bit of my
tummy and inject into that.
> does anyone inject while sitting down and how do you do it?
> can anyone explain exactly WHAT they do?
So far I’ve done all of mine sitting down. I pull up my shirt, reach down,
and pinch up the lowest part of my tummy that I can reach. (That’s where
most of the fat is.) I’ve also tried injecting into the fat part of my thigh
while sitting down, but both times I did that, it hurt, so I’ve gone back to
my abdominal area for injecting. I know some people inject through their
clothing, but I haven’t tried that yet.
June 25th, 2003 at 7:58 pm
Is anyone else getting lots of repeat messages or getting messages late or out
of order? It seems to be most rampant on this group, but it is happening in a
couple other groups I’m on. Just wondering if it’s me or the groups…
June 26th, 2003 at 5:26 am
Usually when I get repeats it’s because my Outlook filters aren’t set
right…
Sherry
Is anyone else getting lots of repeat messages or getting messages late or
out of order? It seems to be most rampant on this group, but it is
happening in a couple other groups I’m on. Just wondering if it’s me or the
groups…
June 26th, 2003 at 1:10 pm
Trish
Sherry
Is anyone else getting lots of repeat messages or getting messages late or
out of order? It seems to be most rampant on this group, but it is
happening in a couple other groups I’m on. Just wondering if it’s me or the
groups…
Trish
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS
Illness Andrew Ada Diabetic Position
Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
———————————
June 26th, 2003 at 7:14 pm
I also have been getting repeats and out of order messages. It just started
recently.
Joy
Sherry
Is anyone else getting lots of repeat messages or getting messages late or
out of order? It seems to be most rampant on this group, but it is
happening in a couple other groups I’m on. Just wondering if it’s me or the
groups…
Trish
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS
Illness Andrew Ada Diabetic Position
Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
———————————
June 27th, 2003 at 5:19 am
it is happening to me on all my groups. aaand some of mine are 3 days late and
very out of order.
Trish
Trish
Owner and Moderator of Petsmart_Trainers_NorthAmerica
Member of:
American Ferret Association
Owned by a MI Ferret
Husky-4-Life
Diabetes-International
test’; " type=text/css>
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Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS
Illness Andrew Ada Diabetic Position
Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
———————————
June 30th, 2003 at 9:00 pm
Andi,
I test 5 times a day and my insurance company pays for the strips. They
could at least TRY to write a prescription for more than 1 and see what
happens. Does the nurse work for the insurance company or for you? Maybe
she didn’t even convey your message to the doctor.
What is wrong with these people?!?
Jane
July 1st, 2003 at 11:20 am
yeah. i’m an idiot. the dr wrote my test strips and i just spaced it
out. i thOUGHT he wrote it for 200 a month. hahaha. um (insert dirty
word here) he wrote it for 1 strip a day. so i paid $35 mail in for ONE
box of 100 strips for 3 months. sheesh. could a done it cheaper at the
pharmacy here. AND i didn’t pay attention and probably go th4e same
thing on the last strips i ordered for a different meter. grrrrrrrrrr
Dr’s suck.
Rebecca
July 2nd, 2003 at 5:37 am
And a lot of insurance companys have programs for chronicly ill patients. You
may have to call and ask.
My husband’s did, we found out right before I got mediciad that I could have
gotten my stuff at a lower copay… sometimes you have to call and ask them
With 2 different insurance co’s I’ve seen them limit
the number of strips per co-pay…not per month. With
BCBS they charge me 75.00 per 100 strips for my
freestyle/flash meter. Refill as often as you like/can
afford. I’m going to be switching to the OneTouch Ultra
as BCBS will allow 200 strips for a 40.00 co-pay. 40 bucks
vs 150.00. What the doctor writes means little/nothing
to the insurance co. The insurance co’s will flat out
tell you the amount of strips they will allow per co-pay.
Present a prescription with more than their allowed strips
and the pharmacist will tell you that insurance co has a
limit per co-pay and what do you want to do….get their
limit or get the whole thing and pay cash for the
difference. Been there…done that.
Anything posted in this group is the opinion of the person who posted it.
SPONSORED LINKS Illness Andrew Ada
Diabetic Position
a.. Visit your group "Diabetes_And_Byetta" on the web.
July 2nd, 2003 at 3:58 pm
I should have asked her that
Grin! Who do you work for?? ME
or the insurance company. She told me that is what the doctor
said. Now, if she told the doctor or not, I will never know, but a
script arrived in the mail written as checking TID and not the 6 I
asked for. Of course, she just said we were free to purchase more
on our own. Unreal. I figure, it is all tax deductable anyhow…
so I won’t flip out, but with the medical bills we already have, it
would be nice not to have to pay for the strips out of pocket. Our
insuarance is the wonderful mail order kind, for any maintenance
medication. I am still waiting for his new oral meds to arrive in
the mail. We will see what this does for his blood sugar, and talk
more to the doctor about Byetta.
I did get him to talk to me a little about this, and he said he will
give it a try if need be. I know he is secretly praying that this
new combo of oral meds he is waiting on will be the miracle he has
been waiting for.
I would love for him to go and talk to the nutritionist and diabetic
educator again. Our insurance will not pay for that either. They
say it is "optional". I about fell down with that one a few years
ago. I said, WHAT?? This was not a face lift consultation… this
is diabetic education. Nope. They would not hear of it. Kind of
like not wanting to pay for yearly physicals, but ending up spending
millions on things like heart attacks and operations for things
that, had we known there was a problem, we would have fixed
ourselves. Boggles the mind.
July 3rd, 2003 at 11:31 pm
BC/BS said if it is coded as a ‘Medical Nutrition Therapist’ they would
pay for it. strange.
good luck.
Rebecca
July 7th, 2003 at 12:36 am
I wanted to say THANKYOU!!!!
wow what a difference sitting down made. Still not seeing any results.
BGS still basically in the 200s. and no i’m not carb loading. lol
SOMEHING must be going on with my body :::sigh::: guess it;ll work
itself out in time.
Rebecca
Graymalkin wrote: