Diabetes & Byetta

Factors That Affect Glucose Meter Performance And Making Sure Your
Meter Works Properly

The accuracy of your test results depends partly on the quality of
your meter and test strips and your training. Other factors can also
make a difference in the accuracy of your results.

Hematocrit.

Hematocrit is the amount of red blood cells in the blood. Patients
with higher hematocrit values will usually test lower for blood
glucose than patients with normal hematocrit. Patients with lower
hematocrit values will test higher. If you know that you have abnormal
hematocrit values you should discuss its possible effect on glucose
testing (and HbA1C testing) with your health care provider. Anemia and
(more…)

I’m 6′3" tall 314 lbs and working 50 Hrs/week + finishing up an MBA.
(So I’m very stressed). I’m a Software Engineer by trade, Electrical
Engineer by degree, and have done okay (but not great– 7’s) with
A1C’s up until about 6 months ago.

I’ve been T2 for about 14 1/2 years– I’m currently almost 37, so I
was a relatively young T2.

I’m hoping that with my already low carb diet (too low for the
nutritionists to like it here) adding Byetta will do the trick.

My father and especially my grandfather were both T2’s. My
grandfather used large quantities of Insulin and (I believe because of
that) died of congestive heart failure. Neither my father or
grandfather were overweight. (Father died of Lung Cancer, the cigs
(more…)

I don’t want to give out medical advice on how much lantus you should
take. My guess is start low. When I took lantus, I think I started
with 25. Even though my sugars were not in the right range my doctor
had me add 3 every 3 days until I came within the right range. I don’t
know if that helps you any.

Dale

Begin forwarded message:

Someone mentioned upgrading their OneTouch software the other day — I just
checked and the current version is 2.3 — I know I re-installed my copy a
few months ago and I had 2.2, so your newer version may be ready. Or
perhaps I’m just behind the times.

I just for the first time today tried to get a printout from this software
to show when I take the Byetta and it’s relationship to my BGs, but I can’t
for the life of me figure out how to do it. I wasn’t surprised that it
isn’t one of the meds listed and added it as a custom med, but I don’t
really see that it shows up anywhere even so. On my meter I decided to call
it Pill A (and all of my other meds — all oral — Pill B) but none of those
show up in the log, either. Presumably only insulin does, I guess I could
call it insulin for this purpose. Does anybody who uses this software have
any hints for me?

(more…)

and am disappointed.

there was no studies done of byetta and insulin so they won’t give me any
help as to how much to lower if any my lantus.

they have no studies in the works either. they can’t even say if it’s safe
to use with insulin!

the one thing the woman did say was that byetta only woks on your post
prandial bg’s so she didn’t think i would have problems overnight since i
would be shooting spit at 5 pm.

i am going to do this tomorrow! i just don’t know what to do with the lantus
dose tonight. i really hate that lantus is supposed to last 24 hours. i
think i had much better control when i took 4 to 6 shots daily of different
(more…)

ok, my dr is clueless about byetta. i realized that when he thought the
sample pen he was giving me was empty cause he didn’t know about the new pen
set-up you have to do. he also never told me to lower my lantus dose the
night before. so i called my pharmacist and asked him what he thought. he
told me to call the dr but said "you definitely have to lower it". he
refused to even guess by how much.

i had planned on lowering it by half to 40 units tonight but am wondering if
that will be enough. i take the lantus at 5 pm. i usually eat dinner about
5:30 or 6 pm. i have been running in the high 200’s about that time but i
really don’t think lantus gives me 24 hour coverage anymore. i wake to bg’s
of anywhere from 80ish to 140.

hubby is normally home on tuesday nights but now will have to work. he won’t
leave till 1:30 am and will be up at 1 am. i try to be in bed by 11 pm so he
(more…)

i wanted to ask if liquids have any effects on byetta or vise versa.
honestly i don’t know if they just go through the bladder or get filtered
via the liver. i assume the liver b/c ppl get cirrhosis of the liver when
they drink too much. i don’t drink alcohol but i do like coke zero, ice tea,
and lots of strong black coffee.

follow-up, i should have taken the byetta today. wound up not taking d-i-l
to town so stayed in the garage all day unpacking boxes for the big sale
this weekend. i realized about an hour ago that i never ate anything at all
today. thought hubby and i would stop to go out for lunch but next thing i
knew, d-i-l and baby were here and it was 3:30 PM. i thought i was getting
lightheaded from all the stuff i unpacked and then pricing it all! i don’t
even go to garage sales let alone have them. this is my first!

but anyway, the plan is still to start wednesday morning and only take 40
(more…)

i am going to hold off taking lizard spit till wednesday. with having to
take grandson and d-i-l to town tomorrow and tuesday i don’t want to risk
throwing up or going too low while driving. will give me a chance to get
this antibiotic out of my system too. on the plus side, my hearing is back
and my sinuses are finally unclogging. it doesn’t hurt that much when i
cough either.

so for now, i am a chicken…not a lizard
jodi

Hi - I just found this group and wanted to join. I have Type II
diabetes and started using Byetta in December of 05. I have tolerated
it well but have problems with my fasting AM blood sugars - they are
usually really high - around the 200 or over mark. Has anyone else
experienced this?
Thanks!

Just wanted to pop in to say hi, I’ve been reading all the posts since
Friday when I took my first dose of Byetta. I’m 36 and was diagnosed
with diabetes only 9 months ago. I can only take 1700 mg of Metformin
before I start getting these weird side effects, and my numbers are
just all over the place. My doctor wanted me to try Avendia, but
after reading about all the side effects and the weight gain, I
refused to take it. I found information on Byetta by accident, and
asked my doctor about it. She agreed, and well, here I am. I haven’t
had any nausea, and I have only felt full once since taking it. My
numbers are down a little, 145 two hours after breakfast this
morning. I’m anxious to have the results that many of you have
experienced. I noticed that after I give myself the injection, that I
have one or two drops of medicine on the needle, even though I count
to 5 very slowly. The needle isn’t bothering me, but I can’t stand
that burning sensation. Any advice?
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