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really struggling with byetta and feeling so down

R

river-rat-sam

Member
Messages
15
I was put on byetta 5mcg along with the 500 slow release metformin about a year ago. I felt very sick to start off with but that went away then I went up to a 10mcg pen.

I got really really sick on this so went back to the five as I was travelling to Africa. I was in Africa for six weeks and all I could really eat was rice and more rice. It made me feel quite ill and I haven't really recovered from it.

I have other health concerns, a spinal condition I take painkillers for and thyroxine but my levels are evidently ok.

After a few months this year I found I was constantly craving carbs. Outrageously so. So a few weeks ago I went back on the 10mcg pen as I thought it would help. This was about six weeks ago. I have stuck to it and the carb craving has gone but I feel so incredibly sick and totally without energy. Could the byetta be making me feel like this. I honestly cannot cope with even basic everyday things :(

I don't know whether to go back on the 5 pen but I am travelling back to Africa for two months early next year and of top of all this I have two sets of twins aged 8 and 9 so I can't indulge myself in resting!

Can the byetta make you feel like you can't cope? its the lack of energy that is bothering me and this awful feeling of sickness.

Can anyone advise please?
 
Hello.

Byetta does not suit everyone.. I too struggled with Byetta..made me feel sick and depressed and i couldnt control my sugars with it..

In the end after another disasterous Hbn1 test my diabetic nurse and I decided that it was time to call it a day and go onto insulin....

Every drug has a honeymoon period and teething problems..the nausea is supposed to go away with byetta for me it never really did...in fact at one point simply injecting made me throw up..

Go and see your diabetic team..keep a diary or print what you told us here out and let her/him read it..and say i've had a go its not working what are my options..

going onto insulin seems like a last resort,,and that you have failed ..its not that at all..it simply means your body needs a little extra to help you at this time and once you get the dosage and your sugars under control you can function..you clearly are not right now..

Thyroxine can affect absorbtion of insulin...im on it too...and I think sometimes my diabetic team forget that so remind them...

They may put you on a long acting insulin such as levamir to start with,,,with that you only inject once a day in the evening which is a bonus if like me on byetta you injected am and pm..

You really do need to speak to your doc and your diabetic nurse tho...

Good luck xx
 
Hi River :)
This is this forum's main thread on Byetta and although it is enormous, it should contain all the information you need about the experiences of actual users. This contains points of view, both positive and negative, and should be helpful to you. Happy reading!

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=12086
 
I too took Byetta for a month, following two previous months on two types of insullin. (I'm type 2). That three months were the worse of my life. I have never felt so ill. I went from someone up early in the morning, always on the go and to bed late at night to someone who could not get out of a chair, the pain was so bad in all my joints, there were severe headaches and my apetite went completely. :cry:
When the doctor put me on Byetta, I felt incredibly sick constantly and really down in the dumps (totally not me). My husband came home to find me crying my eyes out. I could not go on feeling like this, so the doctor took me off it and put me back on tablets, slow release metformin and glicazide. Within a week the energy was back, the joint pain had gone and I feel like my old self again (old being 61!). Ok my glucose is up in double figures, but I do have to ask myself - which was the worse?
I have just attended a Diabetic course and there were a couple of people there who could not tolerate injected diabetic drugs also. There were about 12 on my course, so that is a third of us. If that's how the rest of the Diabetic population are reporting side effects, how come the doctors always are surprised when you tell them that you are having side effects? :think:

Have just heard about the once weekly injection, so may give that a go for a month - anything is worth a try. Realise my blood sugar needs to be curtailed but am a bit concerned about the next lot of injections. :wink:
 
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