After publishing the post, Excited for Nothing, on May 16th, I put in a call to my doctor’s office about the medication issues that I had been experiencing. I explained to the nurse that while the stomach issues I had been dealing with while on Janumet had subsided, the Glipizide was doing nothing to help lower my blood glucose levels. They had, in fact, shot up. Something needed to be done about it, and fast.
I told the nurse that I had previously mentioned to the doctor that I would be willing to give injectable medications a try, but that the doctor hadn’t wanted to put me through that if it wasn’t necessary. I basically told her to tell the doctor that I really didn’t give a shit about having to deal with injections, and that I would try anything if it would help me.
My doctor apparently got the message and took me at my word; I received a call back later that afternoon saying the doctor was putting me on Byetta. Now, I had already done my research on Byetta because it was one of the medications I mentioned to the doctor previously, and was dumbfounded when the nurse said the words “It’s Insulin”. I knew it wasn’t, and couldn’t stop myself from telling her otherwise. Anyone who knows me already knows how well that went over, so there’s no need to go into a rant about a rant. 🙂
So yeah, I’m now taking two (2) 5 mcg injections of Byetta every day and, so far, it really hasn’t been that big of a deal. The most common side effect I’ve heard about is nausea, but I really haven’t experienced much of that. I have noticed that I’m experiencing a bit more heart burn than usual. Acid Stomach is listed as a side effect of Byetta, but considering that I deal with Acid Reflux anyway, it’s really hard to tell whether it’s an old gripe or a new pain in the ass. I guess time will tell.
The biggest benefit so far is that I’m starting to see an improvement in my glucose readings. Hopefully, that trend will continue. 🙂
And I must say that I’ve taken to the whole injection thing rather well. For all my preaching, “I’ll try anything”, I was admittedly a bit nervous about the whole thing. But much like the timidness that I felt when I first started poking my fingers to test my blood sugar, the nervousness over the injections has quickly subsided. It’s amazing what you can get used to doing when you have to do it to survive.
I know I’ve said this before, as have many others in the diabetes online community, but it bears repeating again.
There is an enormous stigma, particularly among people with type 2 diabetes, that having to switch to injectable medications, whether it be insulin, Byetta, Victoza, etc…, means that they are a failure in terms of diabetes management. And many people resist the move to such treatment options because of that.
Simply put, that stigma is bullshit and it’s bad for you.
Each person’s diabetes is different and, not surprisingly, what may work for one person in terms of treatment may not work for someone else. Each person living with this disease has to do what is best for them. If using insulin, Byetta, or some other injectable is what’s best, then so be it. No one should be made to feel bad about doing what is best for their own well being.
Each and every day that we survive this disease is a win. And with an opponent like diabetes, you’ve got to win by any means necessary!
Speaking of which, it’s time to shoot up again. Ciao!
My Diabetic Heart 