byetta or gliptin

[georgina hurd]

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for responding to my queries about whether to use byetta or gliptin.

My apologies to you all for not getting back, but we moved and the day after I posted my querie (15/6) I went down with pnumonia (can't spell!) and have a severly disabled child and a 3 year old to look after. So life has been hectic and I am exhausted.

It seems that you all aren't great ravers of gliptin, my GP told me that my body is rejecting anything with gliclazide in and put me on the rosigliclazide to see if this work but since being diagonosed 7 years ago, my hba1c result came back worse then ever at 10.5 which really upset. so he then told me to think about the byetta or the gliptin.

Yes I hate needles, but its the thought of having to inject I know its not like insulin, but I am worried about the health effects and in my head I feel a failure because I can't control my body. I watch what I eat, but also enjoy treats from time to time I try to swim at least twice a week for an hour and I am a sensible diabetic.

I also read that there have been some problems with byetta in the states with patients pancreus, is this a down side to the drug?

Any more advice?
Thanks

 

[Northerner]

Hi Georgie, I think the pancreas problems with Byetta are confined to those people who already have a risk of pancreatitis. My impression from the people here is that it isn't prescribed to anyone in the UK if there is that risk. We have quite a few people on byetta and they are realy pleased with it. Many of them were also very nervous about the injecting, but have found it isn't nearly as bad as they feared You could ask your nurse or doctor to show you the pens and needles used - it might make you feel better about things. I use the same sort of needles and don't even notice them going in most of the time

 

[Lizzie53]

Poor you Georgie. I do hope you are feeling a little better. I have done just over 3 weeks on Byetta and I was scared for all sorts of reasons, especially the needles. It took me from October until January to decide to try it and then I had to wait several months. At the moment I think it is the best decision I made and should have done it much sooner. I had 2 years of feeling exhausted and vile and now I have my life back. I feel great and almost 6 kg lighter to boot. I was a bit depressed and my GP suggested anti depressants many times but it is like a black cloud has vanished from above my head now. BG levels came down almost straight away. I've had a spot of constipation and one morning of nausea along with some bloating if I try to eat too much but overall I feel fantastic and nearly cried when the nurse asked me how I was doing on Wednesday. Now as for the needles - yes spikey little blighters but honestly they are tiny and I was amazed at how easy and pain free it was. I feel great and if that means I have to pop a tiny needle in myself well thats fine.
My consultant explained the very slight risk of pancreatitis to me. She said too many unsuitable people in the states were put on the drug hence the problem and she thought the risk was tiny. None of her patients have had it. I was told the symptoms and to get to a doc straight away if I get them. I think you should give it serious consideration.

 

[thedame]

Hi Georgie

Sorry to hear that you are so low. I have been on Byetta for 7 months now and it is working very well for me. Yes, I had some sickness, bloating and extreme tiredness for a the first few weeks but most people report that this passes. The good thing is that there are now quite few of us on here who have started on it quite recently so we can all support each other while our journeys are still fresh in our memories.

I was so so down before I started on this drug that I knew I had to give it a try - I wrote a diary for the first few weeks - it helped me to get all my fears and expectations down on paper and to read back over it all and see how far I had come. This might not be your thing but if you do decide to give this drug a go, please don't be scared - unlike with many more established drug remedies, the side effects are big news right now - this is a good thing in my mind as you know what may happen and not be frightened by it - we are all still here to tell our tales so it can't be that bad! xxx