How quickly does byetta work?

[Fuggsy]

Hi,
As I have mentioned in the past I have, thanks to 20+ years on steroids, severe insulin resistance.
I've been told that the insulin, despite over 800 units a day, isn't working.
It has been decided that I start byetta and stop the insulin.
I don't know how long it will take to get a prescription so am going to stick with the insulin for a while.
When I do get the byetta how long should I expect to wait before I see any results?

 

[Dennis]

Hi Fuggsy,

It tends to vary from person to person, but generally most people find that they see some initial weight loss for the first month, but little change in BG. Then more weight loss plus a gradual lowering of BG over subsequent months. You should be started on the half-dose 5mg pen for the first month, then moved up to the 10mg pen. Many people experience feeling nauseous for the first week to 10 days, and again when moving up from the 5 to the 10mg pen. Just make sure your GP doesn't start you straight on the 10mg pen. Some GPs have tried this and in almost every case the patients have become so violently sick that they have had to stop taking byetta.

One thing you need to remember though is that byetta won't work without help from you. Your carb intake will need to be much more closely controlled than it was on insulin. With insulin you can always adjust the dose to suit the carbs you have eaten. Byetta doesn't work like that, so you will almost certainly need to reduce the carbs to give it any chance of working.

Although byetta can help reduce insulin resistance, that is not its main function. You will need to take other meds designed specifically to deal with insulin resistance, like metformin or one of the glitazones, to overcome that particular problem.