Anyone on the Ascend Plus trial?

I’m one of the lucky ones, definitely on the real thing but on a 7mg dose because 14mg gave me hypos. I was only a little overweight but couldn’t eat any carbs without gaining weight and my HbA1c kept rising despite Metformin.
In the three month run in period I lost the extra stone and went back to my pre-menopause normal weight. Main side effect was crippling fatigue for a long time. Since then I have not lost nor gained any weight and blood sugars are back in normal range. My appetite is completely normal and I’m eating the same low carb diet as before except that I can now have the odd sandwich or baked potato without consequence….. this has changed my life. I’m back to how I used to be 20 years ago. What I find fascinating about this drug is that it’s definitely altering the way I metabolise carbs and I really feel that this trial could lead to widespread availability of oral GLP-1 helping people to lose weight and improve their health. So I am sorry for those on placebo but please remember they need that data too and this trial could be a massive game changer for so many people!

Mrs Redboots said:

Finally, after many weeks, a blood test, and a great deal of arguing with the Ascend Plus people, they have agreed to keep me on the trial! The GP said that, even though I'd only recently had my annual blood tests, I'd better have them done again, also a stool sample, just in case. I was on holiday at the time, but as soon as I came back I got the blood test and stool sample arranged (also had a flu jab at the same time) and when the results came through my health centre sent me a .pdf of the results which I forwarded to the Ascend Plus trial. At first they were unwilling to play ball, but then when I pointed out that I actually both wanted and needed to lose weight and was trying to, as well as taking the tablets, they agreed. I did send them a screenshot of the app linked to my scales, which shows I've lost weight at a healthy and sustainable weight since January. So I hope to get the next lot of pills in the next couple of weeks.

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Well done for sticking in their glad your persistence paid off.

Su8 said:

Well done for sticking in their glad your persistence paid off.

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So am I! I'm one of the lucky ones who is on the "real thing", and, quite apart from not having had a stroke or heart attack (which is what they are mainly interested in), I've lost weight - okay, I've been helping that process along, and if I've lost any weight at all this week I won't be overweight any more, although I'd still like to lose another 5 kg - and my blood sugars are normal! And I wrote and told them so, and they panicked because they thought I must have cancer, so I got my very nice GP to write me up for all the tests, and they all came back normal.... still had to argue, though!

I had a similar experience with the team after the online discussion. My issue was my medication for my type 2 was not adjusted with my weight loss so I was having many hypos and a hospital visit. I queried the team regarding their warning of Gliclizide on their leaflet suggesting if trialists were on a high dose of Gliclizide that they needed to be warned that hypos could be more frequent rather than the 1 liner the leaflet currently has. They also went down the route of did I have cancer due to a large weight loss (this has now plateaued) and get the GP to investigate when actually we knew the cause of the hypos was too much Gliclizide for my weight and glucose levels. I only get an annual diabetes check so it was not on the radar of my diabetic team that I was on the trial. The team also suggested coming off the trial which i discussed and they agreed to continue. On the plus side after my hospital admission I was issued with a libra monitor which although not as accurate as taking a blood sample gives me peace of mind. My medications have been adjusted and very few hypos now (usually my own fault if I get them). I am thankful for being on the trial and with the side effect of weight loss but they do get seem to get jittery and jump to a cancer querie if a trialist gets a health problem. I think the random online forms we get could have more detail on it rather than just have you had a stroke or heart attack recently so that they could get a better picture of side effects if any of the drug. Sorry for the long reply.

I agree, the online forms are useless, really. I was getting hypos, and asked whether I could reduce my metformin, but the doctor said not, and said to note down how often I was getting hypos - that was three months ago, and I think I've only had one since! If I want to measure my blood glucose I have to self-fund, as I'm not on insulin, and I did get six weeks' worth of test strips, to see - and my blood sugar was pretty consistent, day after day! I did, I think, have a hypo the other day, when I didn't eat breakfast in time, but mostly they've stopped happening.