Darn, I missed it. I wish I had know about it. I have been using Byetta
going on 3 weeks now. A few side effects, slight nausea 3-4 times and a
stuffed feeling. Eating smaller meals has eliminated the stuffed feeling.

My endo kept me on Gluphage XR and Lantus when I started the Byetta. I
stopped the Starlix and Novolog. She said it was ok to use the Novolog to
correct for high BG's. I have done that a few times when BG's stayed in the
130 range 4-5 hours after eating. A 2 unit shot of Novolog puts me in the
90's.

I am hoping it will work better when I start on Byetta 10, I am still on 5.

Anon

Why the desire to lower metformin?  If lows, can't you lower the
byetta doseage?

Loretta Eisenberg wrote in message
<27614-453BFCBF-69@storefull-3238.bay.webtv.net>...
I just watched D Life and they talked about byetta.  It was promoted and
considered to be a wonderful drug.  It doesnt replace insulin  What
bothered me was that they didnt talk about people continuing their
current meds while on the byetta except for the sulphs.

When I went to see endo, he did say that he hopes he will be able to
lower the metformin .

So far so good, no side effects to speak about.

Have any of you on byetta discontinued using any other diabetic
medications

Loretta

 I would expect Byetta to reduce or eliminate your need for sulphs and/or
lower your dose of before-meal insulin.    I don't see any connection with
metformin or basal insulin doses.

I do see a real benefit in Byetta allowing folks who need the more powerful
Actos or Avandia to drop back to metformin-only.   (Cheaper and fewer side
effects)

 Metformin protects arteries,  reduces insulin resistance,  and slows the
liver's pesky release of unwanted glucose.   Byetta suppresses appetite and
stimulates insulin production.   They complement each other.

It just so happens that one of the many effects of both meds is better blood
sugar control but diabetes is more than simple blood sugar control.     If
it were,   the docs could just load T2 up with cheap insulin and forget all
about diet,  exercise,  carb control and those other inconvenient
therapies.   (In the real world,  that option produces excellent bG control
coupled with premature heart attack)

Regards
 Old Al