Diabetes & Byetta

I have been trying to get my blood glucose down and keep it down and had
been doing fairly well. I take Metformin (1000 mg twice a day) and Byetta (2
shots of 10 mcg a day). This morning my fasting blood glucose was 103.
However, this morning I started on a Medpak of prednisone given to me by my
doctor
to clear congestion out of my lungs and to bring my voice back after fighting
a virus for nearly 2 months and not coming out on top. The doctor said the
steroids would raise my blood sugar and that we’d just have to tolerate
increased blood sugar for awhile until I am done with the steroids. Has anyone
had experience with having diabetes and taking steroids? Or with taking
steroids while on Byetta? I was wondering how much I can expect my blood sugar
to
go up and if there is any way to avoid the increase, like eating less carbs?
I was also wondering if Byetta will lower blood sugar caused by steroids?
Any information would be helpful to me. Thanks! Janet

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HealthDay
All HealthDay News
HealthDay
Many Doctors Aren’t Treating Diabetes Aggressively Enough

SATURDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) — Doctors are failing to intensify
treatment in people with type 2 diabetes who have high blood pressure
or high blood sugar levels, according to four new reports.

These studies suggest that "clinical inertia" — the failure of
physicians to take action when they see abnormal findings — is an
important problem in managing diabetes effectively, the study authors
contend.

The findings were to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes
(more…)

is anyone else splitting their dose in 2 and if so are you doing an even
spilt?

and when do you take it? i was taking the single dose at about 9:30 to 10pm.
dr said to space them 12 hours apart but i know i’ll forget the morning dose
eventually so am thinking maybe changing the times to like 6:30 am and pm.

and when do you take the lantus then? this morning i took both the lantus
and byetta together at 8:30 am. but not sure if that’s a good idea or not.

jodi

This dream stuff is interesting. I’ve always had wild and wacky dreams, but I
must admit that the ones I have had since starting Byetta last March are
sometimes so fascinating that if I could remember them completely I might have
an entry for the Sundance Film Festival. (laugh)

If the worst thing that happens to me in life is having a dream where I am
driving down a road that floods from rain and it turns into a beautiful blue
ocean with a white sand beach and I have to swim to an apartment house where I
observe my class going to their tests dressed like the students in Harry Potter
(only the hats were gold and they work genie type shoes) then I can deal with
that. (smile)

If I were into dream journaling, as I was a few years back, this would be a
rather fascinating side effect (if that is what it is and we are not seeing a
certain level of coincidence).
(more…)

Andrew,

You said you are not losing weight. Did you gain any weight after
starting byetta?
At first I lost a couple of pounds. Now, I do not lose weight. I do
have a rare problem with the rash, itching, which actually has gotten a
little better.
They say I am one in 200. Lucky me. I only want those odds to win at
the lottery! lol…. Anyway, I have not gained any weight and I am
on humalog, lantus, metformin extended. I am thrilled not to have the
weight gain. There is nothing more depressing than to try to control
one problem and wind up with another one.

Dale

(more…)

well looks like spit is back at work for me. splitting lantus dose in 2
really makes an impact. bg was 155 this am. antibiotic must be working too.
am coughing up all kinds of phlegm and i didn’t even know i had all that
crap in my lungs aside from minor pain from pleurisy. thing on thigh is
getting soft to the touch too. it healed from the first week of levequin but
felt hard to the touch so i guess it wasn’t really healed.

took spit an hour ago and am nauseous! yipee yes, i really mean that. of
course it might be from the crap i am coughing up but who cares.

my question is this…when you take the byetta, how high does your blood
glucose get to post prandial? and do you eat low carb or just a so called
normal meal. i’m just curious as i want to compare to what my numbers were
on the 5 pen when i was doing great and what they have been.

(more…)

I have just returned from the doctor, where I picked up my scrip for
Byetta. I stopped by the drug store, but they won’t have any until
Tuesday, so I left the scrip and will start next Friday. I hope that
the worst of the side effects (if any) come sooner rather than later
so they will be over the weekend instead of surprises as the office.

My blood work was back (it had been two years and I expected the
worst) — my A1c was 6.3 (which is an average of 124 as per the handy
dandy conversion chart link someone posted recently) and my doctor
said it wasn’t high enough for Byetta. He recommended upping my Actos
from 30 to 45. But I persevered for the diet/weight loss effect. He
agreed provided I took my blood sugar rising, 2 hours after breakfast,
2 hours after dinner, bedtime, and whenever I felt funky. My fasting
glucose (after 2 days of forgetting my Actos) was 122.

(more…)

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) — A variety of pharmaceutical and
biotech companies will make presentations on diabetes treatments they
are developing at the American Diabetes Association meeting beginning
Friday, but analysts said the most significant therapies to come out of
the meeting will be Merck`s Januvia and Novartis` Galvus.

‘The biggest items are two drugs from Merck and Novartis,’ Decision
Resources analyst Donny Wong told United Press International.

Merck`s Januvia and Novartis` Galvus are the first drugs in a class
called DPP-IV inhibitors and both have blockbuster potential.

The drugs have a similar mechanism of action to Eli Lilly`s Byetta, but
they are administered orally whereas Byetta has to be injected.

(more…)

dr told me to split me dose and take just 35 units of lantus last night. i
fully expected to be near 300 this am. i was only 168!

how can this happen on less than half the lantus dose? i am curious to see
what happens after i take the byetta later.

jodi