Byetta (Exenatide) Any Good ?

[TheStudioMK]

Hey all... I have been a Type 2 Diabetic now for around 9 Years... And not a very good one... My only voice had even been food, and up until a couple of days ago still was...

I am a 47 year old male... I dread to think what damage I have done internally (fingers crossed not too much)

I have recently been suffering from a break out of BOILS and ABSCESSES the worst of which resulted in me having to have a full blown operation to cut and drain it, a 10 cm by 6 cm ABSCESS on my neck...

Anyways my BS is outrageous, they did a blood test and showed a long term result of over 12... and a fasting test of 16.7 !!! I to date have only been on medication (GLICLAZIDE and METFORMIN) even though pretty big doses... but still (due to my eating habits) I have always had high BS levels...

Anyways I am now adjusting my diet, I plan on starting to train.... and I am trying to convince myself I can do it without anything new added to my medication... The doctor recently suggesting (and subscribing) me to take Januvia (Sitagliptin) as well... I had read some horrendous side effects of this and decided not to actually take it !!!

My Diabetic nurse is suggesting I go on Byetta (Exenatide) but I hate injections (probably why I avoided the idea of Insulin for so long) However she got me to do a dummy injection, and I was amazed how easy/painless it was

Does any one have any experience of Byetta, good or bad ?

Thanks in advance for any input

 

[Marvin]

I was on Byetta for a few months: the good news was, I lost weight and my HbA1c came down well. The bad news was that I had a lot of nausea, and lost all interest in food... couldn't really face it at all, but I stuck it out in the hopes that the side effects would subside. Well, they didn't, and Idecided life like that wasn't worth living. So I was swapped onto to Victoza (Liraglutide), a similar drug. Good news is that, after a shaky start, I'm tolerating that well; weight continues to come down, though more slowly, and the upside is its only one jab a day instead of two. And now I'm enjoying my food again, though I'm eating less of it.
So I'd say: give it a try, if its offered. You'll have to hit some weight loss and HbA1c targets in the first six months (I reached mine in four months), so that will give you an incentive to stick it out through any initial side effects (which not everyone gets...you might be lucky!)

 

[jack412]

Have a read about the lchf diet too. That will get your bg down and lose some weight

 

[fuzzy]

A stupid question but what is the ichf diet everyone talks about

 

[Tim55]

Lchf is
Low Carbohydrate
High Fat.

Theory behind it that the body normally converts carbohydrates to sugar which it then burns for fuel.

But if you severely limit your carbohydrate intake then there isn't the raw material in your system that can be turned into those nasty sugars.

You still need some energy though and the idea is you replace the cabs with fats which the body can also use as fuel.

Loafs of more detailed info on here but I've been on it 12 months now and my BS levels are typically around 5 now

Think my first Hb1ac was about 12, last 2 have been 5.5 so I'm happy it works for me.

I am on metformin too but there are those who manage by diet alone