I’ve been diagnosed with T2 for 26 years. Been on metformin over 20 years and Trulicity for 5 years.
Annual review last month and HbA1C had gone from 56 the previous year to 71. No significant change to weight, diet or exercise, but I had been started on a statin the year before. My cholesterol wasn’t that high (5.3) and HDL and ratios were good, but my QRisk had nudged from just under to over 10%, so I agreed to the statin. I have no actual cardiac history, it was purely preventative.
Back to this year and the HbA1C of 71. I asked for 3 months to try to get under control, but the nurse pushed for me to start a 3rd medication - empagliflozin. She said her experience was that Trulicity stopped working for many people after 3-4 years. I delayed starting the new med till I could get hold of a freestyle Libre sensor and have a few days to see what was going on and how the new med affected my BG. And during those few days, I remembered something about statins increasing BG - looked into it, and discovered that Atorvastatin, which I’m on, is worse than other statins for this, and in the US is contraindicated for people with diabetes and prediabetes.
So I have stopped taking the statin, gone low carb, and resumed regular exercise. And in the last two and a half weeks my BG has come down from 9 fasting and peaking up to 15 after meals, to 6 fasting, peaking seldom above 10 (on a lower carb meal).
I went to get my prescription today, having ordered just metformin and Trulicity, to be told that Trulicity was out of stock and to ask the GP for an alternative. Is there actually an alternative?? Of the same type of drug, I mean. Or will they tell me that the empagliflozin is the alternative? Is anyone aware of there is a national shortage, or if this might be a blip. [EDIT: just discovered there is a national shortage of all injectable GLP1 agonists, expected to last most of the year. And that stock should be reserved for people already on it…. like me….]
When I started on Trulicity, my A1C was 86, and went down to 54 - and has been there or thereabouts ever since, till just now. The nurse then (different practice) did offer alternatives, one of which was a flozin - but I did not fancy the idea of constantly having to pee. Also wondering whether, now that I’m low carb, is Trulicity less relevant to me - given its main mechanism is to make the body release more insulin in response to high blood sugar, but with much less carbs going in, my blood sugar just shouldn’t go as high anyway.
Annual review last month and HbA1C had gone from 56 the previous year to 71. No significant change to weight, diet or exercise, but I had been started on a statin the year before. My cholesterol wasn’t that high (5.3) and HDL and ratios were good, but my QRisk had nudged from just under to over 10%, so I agreed to the statin. I have no actual cardiac history, it was purely preventative.
Back to this year and the HbA1C of 71. I asked for 3 months to try to get under control, but the nurse pushed for me to start a 3rd medication - empagliflozin. She said her experience was that Trulicity stopped working for many people after 3-4 years. I delayed starting the new med till I could get hold of a freestyle Libre sensor and have a few days to see what was going on and how the new med affected my BG. And during those few days, I remembered something about statins increasing BG - looked into it, and discovered that Atorvastatin, which I’m on, is worse than other statins for this, and in the US is contraindicated for people with diabetes and prediabetes.
So I have stopped taking the statin, gone low carb, and resumed regular exercise. And in the last two and a half weeks my BG has come down from 9 fasting and peaking up to 15 after meals, to 6 fasting, peaking seldom above 10 (on a lower carb meal).
I went to get my prescription today, having ordered just metformin and Trulicity, to be told that Trulicity was out of stock and to ask the GP for an alternative. Is there actually an alternative?? Of the same type of drug, I mean. Or will they tell me that the empagliflozin is the alternative? Is anyone aware of there is a national shortage, or if this might be a blip. [EDIT: just discovered there is a national shortage of all injectable GLP1 agonists, expected to last most of the year. And that stock should be reserved for people already on it…. like me….]
When I started on Trulicity, my A1C was 86, and went down to 54 - and has been there or thereabouts ever since, till just now. The nurse then (different practice) did offer alternatives, one of which was a flozin - but I did not fancy the idea of constantly having to pee. Also wondering whether, now that I’m low carb, is Trulicity less relevant to me - given its main mechanism is to make the body release more insulin in response to high blood sugar, but with much less carbs going in, my blood sugar just shouldn’t go as high anyway.
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