Saxagliptin - am I a guinea pig?

[ssyarien]

Hello.
I was diagnosed two weeks ago with horrible number of HbA1C 13.5%. The Doc said with that number I should have got insulin pumping. But since other blood tests sound okay, instead, the Doc prescribed me medicine: Glimepiride 2 mg to be consumed twice a day during breakfast and dinner, plus Kombiglyze XR (extended release) to be consumed during lunch.
I checked the content of Kombiglyze is 500 mg Metformin + 5 mg Saxagliptin. I'm quite surprise when I found this Saxagliptin is relatively new medicine as FDA just approved it in 2009.
I browsed this forum and I cannot find any member who has got treatment with Saxagliptin, Now I'm really afraid that the Doc just made me as his guinea pig for this new medicine. The Doc regularly contacts me asking for any bad things happened to me such as: am I sweating? how's my heart beat? did I feel hungry? and so on.
Does anybody here has experience with this medicine? Any good outcome?
Any info will be valuable to me. Thanks,

 

[Lamont D]

The medication is called a Gliptin.
I am on Sitagliptin, the wife is on saxagliptin.

It is a dpp4 inhibitor, it changes the chemistry of your glucose and how your beta cells react to food eaten.

Your GP maybe concerned about if you have side effects or if your blood glucose levels drop too quickly. He is asking because the question is about symptoms.

I was a guinea pig during my diagnostic tests and my inhibitor gave me an insurance for my lifestyle.

Do please report any symptoms, as this will help your GP.

 

[DCUKMod]

Hello.
I was diagnosed two weeks ago with horrible number of HbA1C 13.5%. The Doc said with that number I should have got insulin pumping. But since other blood tests sound okay, instead, the Doc prescribed me medicine: Glimepiride 2 mg to be consumed twice a day during breakfast and dinner, plus Kombiglyze XR (extended release) to be consumed during lunch.
I checked the content of Kombiglyze is 500 mg Metformin + 5 mg Saxagliptin. I'm quite surprise when I found this Saxagliptin is relatively new medicine as FDA just approved it in 2009.
I browsed this forum and I cannot find any member who has got treatment with Saxagliptin, Now I'm really afraid that the Doc just made me as his guinea pig for this new medicine. The Doc regularly contacts me asking for any bad things happened to me such as: am I sweating? how's my heart beat? did I feel hungry? and so on.
Does anybody here has experience with this medicine? Any good outcome?
Any info will be valuable to me. Thanks,

Ssayarien - I'm not going to comment on your medications regime, but would comment that whilst the FDA approved the use of Saxagliptin some time before where you are.

Similarly, the UK approved Metformin decades before the FDA approved it for the US.

Countries sometimes approach approvals quite differently. The great news for you is that the US will have created a bit of a track record for the drug.

I hope it goes well for you.

 

[connie104]

I was on vildagliptin another one of the gliptin family for 5 years coming off it 18 months ago as I was on the non diabetic range . No side effects at all .

 

[ssyarien]

The medication is called a Gliptin.

I was a guinea pig during my diagnostic tests and my inhibitor gave me an insurance for my lifestyle.
.

Thanks for sharing.
Glad to know that I'm not the only "guinea pig" here.
What do you mean by "my inhibitor gave me an insurance for my lifestyle"? Do you still eat as normal non-diabetic person while on gliptin?

 

[ssyarien]

I was on vildagliptin another one of the gliptin family for 5 years coming off it 18 months ago as I was on the non diabetic range . No side effects at all .

Thanks for the info.
So, the gliptin works to some extend. Glad to know that, considering a long rocky road I have to walk ahead along with my diabetes.

 

[Lamont D]

Thanks for sharing.
Glad to know that I'm not the only "guinea pig" here.
What do you mean by "my inhibitor gave me an insurance for my lifestyle"? Do you still eat as normal non-diabetic person while on gliptin?

Yes, I am non diabetic but have a condition that is akin to diabetes.
What I meant was, I don't have to take the drug because it helps me not hyper.
It lowers my glucose spike due to making my pancreas creates insulin on my first insulin response to the glucose. If I don't eat to my meter or I do eat very low carb, I won't spike anyway.
Having stability of my blood glucose levels is so important to controlling my condition.
My lifestyle is as said, very low carb, walking and working and intermittent fasting.

And of course, avoiding the foods that I am intolerant to.

Best wishes

 

[SimonCrox]

That is a fairly high HbA1c - sorry.
I can see the logic in your tablet regime and they are all tried and trusted drugs.
The higher the HbA1c, the greater the drop with any agent.
If in a 7-9% HbA1c range, any drug inc saxagliptin will tend to drop the HbA1c 0.6% - ON AVERAGE.
If around 13%, then the drop will be greater, but might still have diffiuclty getting "to target".
Not sure how good or otherwise your diet was, but in UKPDS after 2 years, diet was only managing to control (to UKPDS standards) about 7% of people. What folk do not appreciate is that an HbA1c drop from 13% to 11% decreased the complication rate a lot wheras an HbA1c drop from 9 to 7% decreased complications rate a bit (the X-axis of the complication rate vs HbA1c graph was exponential or log to base 10 - sorry - not sure if this helps); of course dropping the HbA1c from 13 to 7% hekps even more.
Another factor is that two diabetes drugs at middling dose drop the HbA1c more with fewer side effects than top dose one drug.
Some guidelines recommend that if one has a high HbA1c at diagnosis, then start with two agents - not one agent or diet alone. Your GP has gone for three agents.
The saxagliptin has been in a big trial (SAVOR) that really gave similar results to the sitagliptin big trial (TEICOS) and the alogliptin big trial whose name I forget. So it is much the same as the other gliptins. It has what is called a dual excretion which means it is removed by both the liver and the kidneys; all being well, this is not a big deal, but if either your liver or kidneys were to pack up, the other side would get rid of the drug. If my memory is correct, perhaps from the SPC, folk have taken massive overdoses of saxa and been OK ( I strongly recommend NOT trying this)
As above have said, metformin has been around a long time and is very beneficial - helps lose weight.
The glimepride is intersting; normally one gives it once per day. What your GP has done (I think) is to give you a biggish dose cos your HbA1c levels are high, but split the dose. So if the whole lot works, you two can carry on same dose; if it drops your gluocse level too much, the you can remove one of your glimepride tablets; if it does not work enough, one could add a glimepiride tablet (or possibly more metformin). The UK max dose glimepiride was 4mg (might have change) whereas the european max dose glimepiride was 6 mg.
So, all your drugs are well tried and tested; you are not a guinea pig; I suspect that your GP has seen the high HbA1c and is trying to control it effectively. Any drug is given really as a trial of treatment, anticipating that it will work, but one does not know until one gives it a go.
Best wishes

 

[Jinx1066]

Hello.
I was diagnosed two weeks ago with horrible number of HbA1C 13.5%. The Doc said with that number I should have got insulin pumping. But since other blood tests sound okay, instead, the Doc prescribed me medicine: Glimepiride 2 mg to be consumed twice a day during breakfast and dinner, plus Kombiglyze XR (extended release) to be consumed during lunch.
I checked the content of Kombiglyze is 500 mg Metformin + 5 mg Saxagliptin. I'm quite surprise when I found this Saxagliptin is relatively new medicine as FDA just approved it in 2009.
I browsed this forum and I cannot find any member who has got treatment with Saxagliptin, Now I'm really afraid that the Doc just made me as his guinea pig for this new medicine. The Doc regularly contacts me asking for any bad things happened to me such as: am I sweating? how's my heart beat? did I feel hungry? and so on.
Does anybody here has experience with this medicine? Any good outcome?
Any info will be valuable to me. Thanks,

HI I have been on saxagliptin for about 5 years with no side effects ,