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Hi everyone

Josey

Josey

Member
Messages
6
Location
Cumbria
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
Dislikes
People who don't use their car indicators
Social injustice
Newspapers
just trying to find my way around tried to fill in the questions bit but nothing was happening, anyway finally got to something I can actually write in now I can't think what to write and am not completely sure where this will get posted too. Anyway hello everyone I've been diabetic officially for 3 years but it is suspected probably half my life, just started to use Byetta this week, struggling a bit, just wondered if it made any one else feel really sleepy... since Monday I've slept virtually all day and night it doesn't say anything about drowsiness... So don't know if it just a coincidence and my laziness has just reached new heights. If any one has any advice about using Byetta I would welcome any tips... Thanks!
Josey
 
Welcome to the forum Josey. Tiredness affects us all from time to time. How are your BG readings ? Sorry, I don't use Byetta but still get tired lol !
Mo


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Thanks everyone bit lost on this site still, i'll work it out, eventually! Sorry mo1905 wasn't being rude, just had a small operation and been out of it for a few days! I've gone on Byetta because the metformin and Glicazide weren't as effective any more and despite doing the low carbs diet my sugar was still hitting 20+. Must admit last couple of days it has dropped to an average of about 10 but it's still too high don't know what else to do except not eat. Got to see the diabetic consultant in a couple of weeks time I thought I'll sit it out till then give this new stuff time to work go from there. I didn't know that diabetes can make you tired... In fact I don't know much about the effects of diabetes at all, I just sort of took the pills everything seemed to sort itself out and it's only in the last few months that things seem to have gone wrong my diabetic nurse said my pancreas is packing up.
 
I'm going to have a look round the site see if I can make sense of it all, I'm using a blackberry tablet and sometimes the layouts are a bit different any way see ya later. Lol
 
Hi Josey, How you getting on with the Byetta? I started it a few days ago (Metformin/Gliclazide combination no longer doing the trick), and I, too, have been dropping off to sleep a lot. As I'm retired this doesn't matter an d doesn't bother me, but what is a pain is the metallic tatse in my mouth and the nausea. They seem to be subsiding a bit, so I'll stick it out...its early days after all.
Presumably as you have only just started on Byetta you were on the 5 microgrammes initial dose; maybe by now they've upped it to the normal 10 microgrammes... has that brought your levels down more? I'm obviously still on the low dose, and there is an immediate improvement, but I hope it'll end up being better still. They halved my Gliclazide dose (from 160mg twice a day, to 80mg twice a day to make sure I don't hypo)... my lowest level was 4.8, the lowest I've had for over a year! Its great to be out of double figures at last.
Hope all goes well for you...fingers crossed!
 
Hi Marvin, thanks for getting in touch, I've had the strange taste, as well, my sugar levels have settled down at about 7.9 but I'm still taking 2metformin and 2 Glicazide twice a day. They have said that I will start on 5 micrograms for first three months then they will review if I need to go up to 10. The nausea does stop quite quickly. It has surprised me how quickly I've got used to doing the injections, how are you getting on?. When do you take your injections. I still haven't quite worked it out cos my two main meals are lunch around 12:30ish and then dinner or tea at about 6pm. At first I was injecting about half an hour before these meals... but my sugar was getting too high in the mornings so I started to inject once in the morning and then half an hour before my evening meal. It gets a bit complicated because I have to take a handful of pills for other conditions which I have to take with food first thing in the morning... I was told that I must take the pills first before the Byetta as the Byetta slows down the digestion of the pills... So I am having to have a couple of mouthfuls of a low carb food wait an hour then do the injection... Then have some toast... Anyway it definitely has lowered my sugar which is a good thing and I feel a lot better for it. I go to lots of clinics for different things none of them have even heard of byetta, have you found the same?
Anyway, hope you keep in touch it is good to know of someone else going through the same. Take good care of yourself. Josey.
 
Hi Josey
I'm to take 5 microgramme doses for a month, then go up to 10 if I'm tolerating it OK. I think I shall, as the side effects are less already.
I was told that it doesn't matter what time of day I take my jabs, as long as they are within the hour before a meal, and the two jabs are at least six hours apart. I'm not a very early riser...breakfast is sledom before 9 am; we tend to have our main meal in the evening, about 6, so its quite easy for me to plan the jabs.
I, too, take loads of other pills for various ailments, but most of them are first thing in the morning and are not linked to food, so once again that easier for me than for you.
If you are finding the timings difficult, you might suggest you went on to Victoza instead...only one jab a day, and the timing doesn't matter as long as its the same time every day. My diabetes team wanted to put me on that for preference, but my kidney function isn't 100% and they think I'll metabolise the Byetta more easily.
My blood glucose readings are now between 7 and 10 most of the time, except at bedtime, when its around 5.5... I wondered if I might be in danger of going hypo in the night, but OK so far. I've been told to further reduce the Gliclazide if I'm consistently below 5, so I've got somewhere to go if the levels continue to fall.
Chin up !
 
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