Diabetes & Byetta

I’m Donna, 56, Type 2 since 1993. I have reached the maximum dosage for
metformin, glyburide, and Actos, but my last A1C in May was 8.7. It has been
creeping up for some time now.

I started the 5mcg pen 2.5 weeks ago, and while I’ve had a few bouts of
vomiting, for the most part, just moderate nausea from time to time. I’m seeing
some great numbers on my meter now, except for my morning high, which has come
down about 100 points, but is still on the high side.

My question is this — is there a ‘best’ time gap between injections? I know
they should be 6+ hours apart, but is 12 hours better? Or 8 hours? Or is it
totally individualized?

Thanks!
Donna
(more…)

"well, i went to dr. today. had his associate dr. a lady. she said i
shouldn’t
have had those severe lows with byetta and is taking me off of it. we
think it
may have something to do with me taking a beta-blocker which masks the
symptoms
of low blood sugar. she is putting me on januvia 50 once a day and still
the
glipizide twice a day. we both agreed my diet needs to be better so she is
sending me to a nutritionist for help with food choices. i will let you
all
know how i make out. god bless you all……………….baz"

My thought is that the glipizide in combination with the byetta is the
source of lows. It prompts the release of insulin regardless of glucose
(more…)

well, i went to dr. today. had his associate dr. a lady. she said i shouldn’t
have had those severe lows with byetta and is taking me off of it. we think it
may have something to do with me taking a beta-blocker which masks the symptoms
of low blood sugar. she is putting me on januvia 50 once a day and still the
glipizide twice a day. we both agreed my diet needs to be better so she is
sending me to a nutritionist for help with food choices. i will let you all know
how i make out. god bless you all……………….baz

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

hi all…
i have been here for a bit but i have not said much of anything.. i am the
quiet type..
i have had low blood sugar for 16 years.. then this past march 17th, i went to
the hospital for what i thought was a bladder infection.. turned out i was
diabetic .. my sugar was 599… i spent a week in the hospital..
have been on metformin, amaryl, lantus, and now byetta..
my diabetes nurse has discontinued the amaryl.. so now i just take 4 metformin
at night,lantus at bedtime and byetta before lunch and supper.. i am not much of
breakfast eater there for the lunch and supper byetta.. since i work mostly days
at a fast paced resturant, i usually have 6 hours from lunch to dinner…
i have not had much of the side effects of byetta, especially with the 5
mcg… now with the 10.. that is another story.. i am not naueseated..(sp??)but
for the past week , every morning at 430.. i get up with the worst case of
diarrhea, then by 5 am , my sugar gets real low.. this morning was down to 65..
(more…)

HI JENNY,
Saw your post abt the side effects of Byetta you are still experiencing.
I am the same way, sort of. I also get motion sick easily. I think some people
are just more susceptible to the nausea, etc.
BUT, I have found, having been on Byetta 5 a long time, now on the 10 finally,
that with the 10, I canNOT take the Byetta in the am most of the time… because
I do not eat much in the am at all. I am just not hungry enuf and dont want to
eat.
If I eat a large enuf br’fast, then I will shoot it before that meal. Otherwise,
I wait and shoot before lunch and before dinner, even that HAS to be a large
enuf meal that I wont get sick sick sick!
If you shoot Byetta and then do not eat much, it makes you (me anyway) sicker
than if you have enuf food in your stomach.
You can ask your doc abt that problem, but that’s the only thing I can do, so
that I can still shoot it when I should, but NOT be sick all day…. I cannot
(more…)

Diabetes drugs to get ‘black box’ warning
FDA to require notice of heart failure risks on labels of Avandia, Actos

Updated: 8:48 a.m. ET June 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration will require tougher
warnings about heart failure on the diabetes drugs Avandia and Actos,
FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said at a congressional hearing
Wednesday.

Von Eschenbach revealed that the FDA is ordering GlaxoSmithKline to add
a “black box” warning to Avandia and ordering Takeda Pharmaceuticals to
do the same for its competing diabetes drug Actos, strengthening
existing warnings about a condition in which the heart does not
adequately pump blood. The issue is separate from an analysis in the New
(more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells taken from the umbilical
Cords of newborns can be engineered to produce insulin and
May someday be used to treat diabetes, U.S. And British
Researchers reported on Friday.

They said they were able to first grow large numbers of the
Stem cells and then direct them to resemble the insulin-
Producing cells of the pancreas that are damaged in
Diabetes.

"This discovery tells us that we have the potential to
Produce insulin from adult stem cells to help people with
Diabetes," said Dr. Randall Urban of the University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, who directed the study.
"It doesn’t prove that we’re going to be able to do this
(more…)

WElcome Erin!!!

——-Original Message——-

Hello! I just joined this group and wanted to introduce myself. I am
42, and live in southeast Michigan USA. I’ve been Type II diabetic for
over 10 years, and take Actos and Metformin. I currently weigh 260

I read that in my ADA newsletter!!
Did you all hear that they may be able to use SKIN CELLS the same as STEM
CELLS???

——-Original Message——-

Diabetes Associated with Faster Loss of Muscle Strength in the Elderly

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people with type 2 diabetes show
accelerated loss of skeletal muscle strength compared to those without
diabetes, Korean and US researchers report in the June issue of Diabetes
Care.

Lead investigator Dr. Seok Won Park told Reuters Health that "older adults
with diabetes lost their leg muscle strength about 50% faster than
(more…)

ly

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people with type 2 diabetes show
accelerated loss of skeletal muscle strength compared to those without
diabetes, Korean and US researchers report in the June issue of Diabetes
Care.

Lead investigator Dr. Seok Won Park told Reuters Health that "older adults
with diabetes lost their leg muscle strength about 50% faster than
non-diabetic counterparts. This may explain the two-fold higher risk of
developing physical disability in the diabetic elderly, because lower
extremity strength is essential to maintain physical function of the body."

To investigate longitudinal changes of muscle mass and strength in
community-dwelling older adults with and without type 2 diabetes, Dr. Park
(more…)