- Messages
- 294
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
OK, potted history. T2 over 25 years, on metformin most of that time, other drugs off and on (depending on the state of my diet and weight, basically - I have issues with binge and compulsive eating, I am never going to be thin). Have been happily on Trulicity for 5 years. Last year HbA1C was 56, and I started on a statin (reluctantly) because my QRisk had nudged from just under 10% to just over 10%. This year my HbA1C was 71!!
The nurse prescribed empagliflozin, which I was (and still am) very reluctant to take. Instead, I intensified my healthier eating (which I had only just started when I saw her) to low carb and upped the exercise. Got some Libre Freestyle sensors, and after a few days, stopped taking the statin.
That original A1C of 71, according to the calculator on this site, is roughly equivalent to an average BG of 11. After a few days with the sensor I was seeing an average BG of 9.5 and predicted A1C of 59. Over the next few weeks, as I low carbed and exercised, they came steadily down, so by the end of January we were looking at average BG of 7.5. It was saying predicted A1C of 52, but that’s taking in the whole of my data, if you just went from the average BG it would be something like 46, so I was well happy.
But then disaster struck as I was unable to get my prescription for Trulicity filled. The last dose I had was on 31st January. And my BG has been steadily rising - my 7 day average has just hit 9.6 :-( which would roughly translate to A1C of 59 again. This despite low carbing, exercising virtually daily (both strength and cardio) and having lost 11lb already.
The half life of Trulicity in the body is 5 days, so by now there should only be about 10% of the usual post-injection dose in my body. So you would think that it can’t get much worse…… It just feels that after weeks of effort, I am back to where I started. I know I’m not quite, because my BG’s are not (yet) as high as they were in the 3 months leading up to that HbA1C being taken. And that was with Trulicity, whereas now I am without. And once the Trulicity is out of my body, the ongoing low carb/exercise/weight loss SHOULD start to bring BG’s down again. I guess my question - to myself, really - is how long do I give it?
Maybe I should take the empagliflozin - perhaps a a temporary measure, while I get over the hump, as it were. I’d really rather not, though. Frequency of urine from high BG is bad enough, I don’t fancy having to pee ALL the time.
The other thing is - my weight loss has slowed to a crawl the last couple of weeks. Trulicity is associated with weight loss - I did lose weight when I started on it. So it’s not surprising that stopping it has stalled me. Hopefully that too is temporary.
The only change I think I could possible make would be to go lower carb, verging into keto. But I honestly don’t think I can sustain that long term, it’s just too limiting. I’m enjoying my food at the moment, and it’s stickable with, for me. I don’t want to start yo-yoing again.
looking at it calmly - I think it makes sense to wait until I’ve been off Trulicity a full month, before deciding anything. By then, surely, I should start to see the trend reversing. If it doesn’t…. then maybe I will have to take the empagliflozin after all. Or maybe I’ll nip down to the pharmacy and ask them to give me the paper prescription for the Trulicity, and ring round other pharmacies, see if I can get it elsewhere.
The nurse prescribed empagliflozin, which I was (and still am) very reluctant to take. Instead, I intensified my healthier eating (which I had only just started when I saw her) to low carb and upped the exercise. Got some Libre Freestyle sensors, and after a few days, stopped taking the statin.
That original A1C of 71, according to the calculator on this site, is roughly equivalent to an average BG of 11. After a few days with the sensor I was seeing an average BG of 9.5 and predicted A1C of 59. Over the next few weeks, as I low carbed and exercised, they came steadily down, so by the end of January we were looking at average BG of 7.5. It was saying predicted A1C of 52, but that’s taking in the whole of my data, if you just went from the average BG it would be something like 46, so I was well happy.
But then disaster struck as I was unable to get my prescription for Trulicity filled. The last dose I had was on 31st January. And my BG has been steadily rising - my 7 day average has just hit 9.6 :-( which would roughly translate to A1C of 59 again. This despite low carbing, exercising virtually daily (both strength and cardio) and having lost 11lb already.
The half life of Trulicity in the body is 5 days, so by now there should only be about 10% of the usual post-injection dose in my body. So you would think that it can’t get much worse…… It just feels that after weeks of effort, I am back to where I started. I know I’m not quite, because my BG’s are not (yet) as high as they were in the 3 months leading up to that HbA1C being taken. And that was with Trulicity, whereas now I am without. And once the Trulicity is out of my body, the ongoing low carb/exercise/weight loss SHOULD start to bring BG’s down again. I guess my question - to myself, really - is how long do I give it?
Maybe I should take the empagliflozin - perhaps a a temporary measure, while I get over the hump, as it were. I’d really rather not, though. Frequency of urine from high BG is bad enough, I don’t fancy having to pee ALL the time.
The other thing is - my weight loss has slowed to a crawl the last couple of weeks. Trulicity is associated with weight loss - I did lose weight when I started on it. So it’s not surprising that stopping it has stalled me. Hopefully that too is temporary.
The only change I think I could possible make would be to go lower carb, verging into keto. But I honestly don’t think I can sustain that long term, it’s just too limiting. I’m enjoying my food at the moment, and it’s stickable with, for me. I don’t want to start yo-yoing again.
looking at it calmly - I think it makes sense to wait until I’ve been off Trulicity a full month, before deciding anything. By then, surely, I should start to see the trend reversing. If it doesn’t…. then maybe I will have to take the empagliflozin after all. Or maybe I’ll nip down to the pharmacy and ask them to give me the paper prescription for the Trulicity, and ring round other pharmacies, see if I can get it elsewhere.