BYETTA

MadMat said:

My DN has mentioned Byetta to me as a possible treatment - having done some reading up I have a couple of questions I wondered if anyone could help me with

1) Do I have to notify DVLA of my condition if I'm on Byetta - as a professional driver I really want to avoid notifying DVLA for as long as I can!

2) How well does it work for someone who doesn't eat regular meals at the traditional times - as a taxi driver I tend to take a packed lunch to work with me each day, and "graze" on a few mouthfuls between jobs as and when I can! it's rare for me to sit down and eat a proper meal meal apart from on my day off.

3) just how bad are the side effects? I've had to stop taking metformin, as even the SR version was causing side effects that were not nice when you are sometimes 30+ mins away from the nearest toilet!!

TIA
Mat
Just spotted your question from a few weeks back.
My own experience was that Byetta did not go well. But first to answer your questions
1) When I checked you do not need to inform DVLA (unless you have had to go into hospital for your diabetes low or high levels)
2) You will need to try and set some time for meals as you will need to have your injection up to 1 hr before the food twice a day, so breakfast and evening for example.
3) And now my own experience, (again I have to say, I have spoken to others on Byetta and they were OK!)
I was on it for 10 weeks , and I was vomiting about 10 times a week :sick: , usually within a couple of hours afterwards but sometimes more......
Saw the DN and said I wanted to move onto Bydureon , which was finally agreed and I am down to vomiting maybe once every 10 days, which I can handle. I did discover some odd things which do upset my stomach, one was sparkling mineral water........ but I can confirm beer and lager are still fine
The positives are that I have lost 2 stone in the last few months down to below 15st which may have had something to do with dropping gliclazide!!! So just on 2 metformin a day, and feeling better for it. You do lose your appetite , but if not on Glic, you don't get the hunger pangs and no more hypo's as well.

Overall I would say Go for it .



Mat

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DogPsyche said:

At long last after 4 years of misery on the maximum dose of Metformin ruining my life with the gastric side-effects, I've been approved for a 6 month trial of Byetta, with possibly going onto Bydureon after 3 months if all goes well.

I'm absolutely terrified of the nausea, diahorrea etc after so long suffering with it from the Metformin. Has anybody else been in this situation and found life better on Byetta?

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