BYETTA

[louismum]

Thankyou Gat. I do have a sharps bin to dispose of the needles and apparently I hand this in at the doctors when it is full......but I wasn't told what to do with the 'finished' pen

 

[Jude]

I have a sharps box for my needles and I also put my empty byetta and insulin pens in there and take it to my regular chemist and they dispose of it.

With regsards to my post earlier about weight gain on insulin and am now on byetta as well as insulin to try and lose the weight gained but unlike last time I have not lost any weight and I am really frustrated because the weight which I have gained in all around my middle and that in turn is causing my lower back problems to be very unstable.

Does anyone know if changing the type of insulin can make a difference to weight or are all insulins the same in respect of weight gain?

Thanks, Jude :?

 

[Jude]

Re: BYETTA LAR

Hello everyone

Have just been speaking to my diabetes nurse and she told me that the Byetta once a week injection has been approved - does anyone know anymore details? I do hope she is correct - lets face it she should know!!

Heres hoping.... Jude

 

[GaT]

Hi Jude

Yes it's called Bydureon.

I assume that the next stage will be for NICE to decide if it is to be made available on the NHS.

So don't hold your breath yet.

It is still not approved in the US.

 

[Osidge]

Hi all

Good to be back on the forum after a time away. While away, I lost my driving license after falling asleep and crashing into a lorry! It turns out I have sleep apnoea and I am now on a CPAP machine! Every cloud has a silver lining and I immediately qualified for a disabled persons Freedom Pass. Getting back to Byetta. I was put on Byetta 5mg bd following an unsuccessful try with gliclazide. At the 3 month stage my HbA1c was down to 6.3 and I had lost over 6kg I am being kept on the 5mg dose, along with my metformin, for a while. Holding the 10mg dose in reserve!!

 

[topcatt53]

Just to bring everyone upto date and hopefully instil a bit of hope into others I saw my diabetes consultant yesterday and he is so pleased with my continued (although levelled out) results that I no longer have to see him and only have to see the diabetes nurse as 6 monthly intervals. I have now been on byetta for 6 months and my sugar levels rarely rise above 7 even after eating and are frequently in the 4.5/5.5 mark and my last Ha1bc 3 months ago was 6.2 cholesterol is 4.8 and blood pressure 113/70. Also to anyone wondering about disposal of the pens etc., I have a sharps box that gets returned to my surgery and my near empty pens get returned to the chemist for disposal. anyone not sure should ask at either their surgery or pharmacist.

 

[barleymo]

Time goes so quickly and suddenly it's 3 months since I started Byetta. Weight down a little, sugars down a lot so now I have to see consultant on Monday to find out if any further kidney damage, getting nervous all over again. Still on 5mg pen so will be interesting to see what happens. Think of me please because I am really, really nervous about it all. Thanks.

 

[topcatt53]

Will be keeping fingers crossed for you x

 

[WhitbyJet]

Good luck from me too, hope your kidney function improves.

 

[barleymo]

thank you, it helps.

 

[barleymo]

Well I had my appointment Monday, blood sugars down from 8.8 to 7.5 (after 3 months) but renal function a little worse. Therefore I asked to stay on 5mg pen and consultant agreed although he said he didn't think it was necessary. Also had lost around 12 kg which pleased us both. Still bothered by the renal problem but he says not to worry so I will try not to until next appointment which isn't for 6 months. Cannot get my blood pressure down though no matter what I do and this is the main worry I think. Has anyone else had BP problems which won't respond to treatment ???

 

[Osidge]

Has anyone asked to be put on the once weekly injection rather than the twice daily? What response did you get?

Doug

 

[barleymo]

I was told not available til late this year

 

[Osidge]

Hi

It became available in July 2011. See: http://www.ukmi.nhs.uk/applications/ndo ... rugID=4704 Perhaps PCTs have made other decisions on allowing it to be prescribed

Regards

Doug

 

[stuartclose]

Has anyone had the same as myself. After approx. 2.5 years the effect of Byetta has worn off, I no longer feel full up and my weight is gainin.

Consultant now says I'm heading for insulin as last hba1c was 8.4.


Pauline

 

[descartesmum]

Met with a new diabetes nurse today who told me that I have to lose weight to stay on Byetta. The health authority is starting to clamp down on expensive drugs and Lizzie is one of them. So in the next 3 months I have to lose 5 pounds to stay with Lizzie. I explained that Byetta is not a weight losing drug and that my bs has improved but she said that the authority doesn't care. Originally she said a kilo but that's nothing so I'm going for the 5 pounds. On Sunday I'll start the cabbage soup which I get along with.

 

[GaT]

My three months review on Byetta is due next week (its 4 months but you know what I mean). I've lost 6K and my blood sugars are down a few points. So apart from feeling rough especialy in the evenings I thought it should be OK.

Yesterday had the pre review blood test done and today was called in because of low magnesium, start infussion treatment tommorrow.

My blood chemistry has been monitored for 10 years or so without any sign of this kind of problem so in my mind, at least, it raises the question of any possible link with Byetta?

Does anyone have any information?

Gwyn

 

[jimbob]

Been on Byetta 5mg for about 6 weeks now, I was on quite high dosage of Met & Glic but nothing worked and my bloods were very high 14 to 16.
I was given Insulin as a trial for about 2 months, this worked very well starting on 4mg rising to 20mg my blood sugar's were down to 5.5 however I made the mistake of doing everything correctly and informing DVLA, first thing they did was put me on a 3 year restricted licence albeit I have never had a hypo in my life, as I objected strongly to this with my doctor, he stopped the Insulin and put me on the Byetta, I immediately got my normal licence back ( what a farce - watch for the new EU regs coming in October - a lot of people will loose their licences ) The Byetta has been very good I have lost about 4kg without trying and my bloods are staying at about 5, the doctor is now reducing my tablet dosage a little at a time, I am now only on 500mg Met from 2700 a day.
What was Byetta like when first tried? well it made me feel sick for about a week then this went off and everything is OK now, one thing to note is to leave it at least an hour after injection before eating.
What has not changed is my phobia for needles, still have a right job stabbing myself..hay ho

 

[barleymo]

has anyone else had a problem with large bubbles in their Byetta pen. My last one had very large bubble and new one had bubble appear after only one day. These are not small but are large enough that it is difficult to inject and keep them away from needle. Hope this makes sense.

 

[y ddraig goch]

Hi all, This is my first post on this blog - type 2 for 5 years and about to start using a combination of Glucophage and Byetta. I know that Byetta is only recently licenced for use in the UK so wondered if any of you have any experience of it?

Hi I have been using byetta for six months and my doctor like yours was at first reluctant to shoulder the costs. I asked my consultant about this and he wrote to the doctor requesting him to take over the prescription of the medicines he had prescribed me. In the interim he continued to provide the necessary medication. Since starting the programe I have both lost weight and lowered my blood presure. I hope that you get help from your consultant and doctor as I did.