Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by sophiaofthrace on November 16, 2010 at 4:01pm

From what I can tell, the spike is between 2-4 hours after eating. I'm wondering if it doesn't make a difference how much I eat or what foods I eat. Still trying to figure it out. My problem is, I am not on a strict schedule, diet, or routine. I have 4 young children at home, so I have to kind of go with the flow sometimes. So there are a lot of variables to consider.

Permalink Reply by Lynn on November 16, 2010 at 6:07pm

I don't have kIds but my work schedule is petty unpredictAble and includes a lot of trVel, often internationally. So I certainly appreciate the challenges you experience. I'm going to keep closer track in the next few days of the time between meal and blood sugar spike to see if I can figure out when to expect it. I'll also try to see if what and how much I eat seems to make any difference. Will let you know what I find out.

Permalink Reply by Katrina Schindler on December 6, 2010 at 2:20pm

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! Just wanted to give a quick update on my Victoza experience...

I stopped taking it - mainly because the dry-mouth side effect was too much for me to handle. I know we have many different ways of gauging our blood sugar levels and dry-mouth is only one of them, but I would get such extreme dry mouth that I would freak out and assume that my blood sugar was through the ROOF only to test and discover that my BG was 80! Talk about confusing! Anyway, it DID drastically reduce my appetite - most of the time I just didn't want to eat at all! There was some low-level nausea throughout the day, but nothing that would make you feel the need to stop taking the Victoza. I began to wonder if I could survive long-term on such reduced food intake...lol! I should also just mention that I'm taking Symlin too - so it might have been the combined effect of taking both that reduced my appetite soooooo drastically. My overall insulin intake did go down, but I attribute that to my reduced food intake. It definately had an effect on my blood sugar, but I think it was more of a delay in spikes rather than an elimination of them. Again, the reduced food intake is probably responsible for a lot of the reduciton in insulin requirement. It also threw me off in that I couldn't time my exercise properly - obviously if I had remained on it I would have figured out timing issues, as that is simply a trial & error, and observation issue, but I would eat my meal and then an hour later be off to the gym only to find that my blood sugar was at 75...definately NOT going to go do an hour of cardio on that number! But then 3 hours after my meal my blood sugar would suddenly jump up. All of the timing issues and massively reduced appetite would have been fine, I would have worked through it, but the dry-mouth just did me in. I also felt like my system/metabolism had been slowed down, like waaaaayyy slowed down! I didn't like that feeling either!

So, dry-mouth, reduced appetite, odd-timing of spikes and slowed system are what I came away with. Again, if it weren't for the dry-mouth and massively slowed metabolism feeling I probably would have stuck with it.....but then there's also that black box warning for some odd/rare thyroid cancer that kind of puts a damper on things.... :-) I do have a higher comfort level with trying Victoza because it is rDNA origin, but still there have been no studies on long-term use (obviously since it hasn't been around very long) and that combined with the other effects just kind of put me off. I'm still taking Symlin (which I absolutely LOVE), and may re-visit Victoza in the future...

Obviously everyone is different and responds differently, so for those of you who are getting amazing benefits from it - I'm super excited for you guys - and a little jealous that I don't respond the same way :-) For any other Type I's who might have similar experience to me with Victoza I've got to recommend Symlin - that stuff is amazing AND it's replacing something that we should make but don't since our beta cells were destroyed! I do wonder if Type I's have a reduced production of the Victoza substance (since it is a rDNA origin - this is something that our bodies make) or not....that would be really interesting to know.

Ok, hope everyone is staying warm - I'm in So Cal so I know it's wimpy for me to complain of temps in the 40's-50's but it is coooollllldddd! :-)

Permalink Reply by sophiaofthrace on December 6, 2010 at 3:04pm

I'm still not clear on the difference in functions between Victoza and Symlin. For some reason, my doc thought I'd do better on Victoza and never tried me on Symlin. My insurance doesn't want to cover Victoza so I'm not sure if I'll be on it long term. Just using samples right now.

Something I did notice is that it is important to take Victoza around the same time every day. If I do it 3 or more hours later than the day before, I can tell the next day. I'll be higher in the morning or have an upset stomach.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Thomlin on July 27, 2011 at 11:08am

Victoza has improved my blood sugars and overall well being tremendously. I am Type 1.

After a few weeks the nausea, headaches and dry mouth went away. There is a mild feeling of being on it now, only. It is far, far, far better than not being on it.

I did a search on google+ and there is a guy who posted his blood sugars before and after, who has similar results to mine:

Glucose pictures


Please, people, do not not take this drug because one person stopped it. It's the best drug for type 1 diabetes in a long time, since insulin probably.

Permalink Reply by Katrina Schindler on July 27, 2011 at 11:37am

Hi Jessica - that is awesome that you are seeing good results with Victoza!!

Just wanted to make sure you didn't read my reasons for not continuing with Victoza in my previous post as a condemnation of it!! I was just giving my experience (positive and negative) with it - obviously everyone responds differently! Sounds like Victoza for you is what Symlin ended up being for me :-) I was impressed with aspects of Victoza, but at that point it in time it just wasn't for me - totally wasn't trying to say that Type 1's shouldn't use it! :-)

Permalink Reply by Jessica Thomlin on July 27, 2011 at 11:54am

Thx. How long did you try Victoza again?

I'm sure it affects different people differently. But I don't have any headaches any more, and have no need of tylenol whatsoever. My lethargy in the morning is gone too. It's all good. If this keeps up, I'll be on this drug or something like it until I get the final cure.

I'm wondering if I should take C-Peptide supplements next.

Permalink Reply by David Eddy on September 25, 2011 at 10:20am

Hi Jessica,

I am a type 1 as well. 38 years. I just started Victoza 2 days ago. My endo told me to discontinue Symlin and just take Victoza. I am only at .6 on day two and going to 1.2 tonight. I don't overly mind injecting, but if I can go from 3 times with Symlin to 1 with Victoza, I am not going to complain. My A1c normally runs around 6.4 so I am interested to see if my standard deviation of my bg changes as significantly as in the Dandona study at U of Buffalo.

Thank you for posting your experience and to everyone else!

Permalink Reply by Sharon on March 17, 2012 at 8:13am

Hi David!

Any feedback on how Victoza is effecting your BG levels. I have a smiliar situation with taking symlin 3xday and just switched to Victoza .6 day. Im curious to see how yourve titrated your dose and if you have been experiencing any unexpected lows??

Permalink Reply by David Eddy on March 19, 2012 at 7:32am

Hi Sharon,

I have not had unexpected lows. I was faithful about posting how it was going and then I got lazy...same can be said about me keeping my eye on the ball with my BG! Overall it has been great being on Victoza and I would recommend it. My control has been worse, not because of Victoza, but because I have been a slacker.

Permalink Reply by Isabelle Barbara on October 19, 2011 at 2:36am

Hi Jessica,
I'm type 1 and started Victoza last week. I'm French and live in Portugal where it's impossible to buy Victoza. I had to buy it in Spain. So here doctors haven't any experience about it. This sort of discussion are very important for me. My goal is to reduce my A1C (now is 7.9%) and LOOSE weight. I'm 24 lb overweight and even if I'm exercise every day (walking 1h/day) since the last 1 year and half I didn't see any result. Very frustrating!! I started on last Wednesday and on Monday I had already -4lb !! And reduce the insulin in 8 unit. Actually I can't eat, very difficult to make a simple lunch or diner. But I don't care, I prefer like that. Today I had to pass to 1.2u but my endo advice me 0.7u for more one week. My main question is to know if Victoza will have the same effect (loosing weight and improve my blood level) along the time. As you have more experience, could you help me?

Permalink Reply by sophiaofthrace on October 19, 2011 at 7:51am

A lot of posts I have read seem to suggest that the appetite suppression lessens over time but the benefit of improving blood sugar control remains. People usually start on the smallest dose and then gradually increase up to the highest dose. I've also noticed some people use other drugs along with it- like Metformin, Symlin, or Phentermine- either from before they started the Victoza or once the appetite suppression starts to decrease. I lost about 20 lbs during the first 4 months on Victoza, then nothing more.

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