About 6 months ago I was told I had type 2 diabetes and my doc started me on Metformin to bring my blood glucose numbers down but it didn't work my A1C actually went up from 8.1 to 10.1 so he decided to try something else and gave me this. It's called Victoza and it's an injectable pen prefilled with the medicine.
All I have to do is turn the dial on the end there to the number that my doctor wants me to have and then give myself a shot. If you've never used an injectable pen they are really easy to use. You have to load the pen when you first use it but you only have to do that once for each new pen. You dial in the mark they tell you too and press the plunger and then it's ready to be used. You just take the cap off the pen, take the paper off the pen needle and place the plastic end over the pen so that your needle is now attached to the pen.
Then you screw on the plastic needle cap to the pen and pull off the plastic safety cap.
After you pull off the plastic safety cap there's a small plastic tube that you have to pull off after you have dialed in the amount of medicine that you are supposed to inject.
After pulling that plastic tube off you just put the needle into your upper leg, stomach or arm and press the plunger and hold it for 7 seconds and then pull the needle out. As you can see, the needle is tiny. I could barely get a good picture of it. I don't even feel the needle going in.
I've now been on this medicine for about a month and I take my blood sugar levels 3 times a day and they have steadily been coming down which is awesome. When I first started this medicine my fasting blood sugar numbers were around 250 and now they are around 130 which is so much better. One of the other advantages of this medicine is that it's a powerful appetite suppressant and I noticed about a week after I started taking this that my appetite and the amount of food that I could eat at meals was diminishing.
I'm going to be frank and also tell you that there are some cons to this medicine also. One of the biggest and I've read in the forums of people talking about taking this medicine that constipation is a problem. But if you change your diet to include foods high in fiber this will help relieve the problem.
All in all, I am happy with the results I am seeing from this medicine and happy that my blood sugar numbers are steadily going down.
Glad to hear that this is helping. I had visions of a much bigger needle. I'm glad I was wrong!
ReplyDeleteOh I did too when I first thought about it. I was glad it was so small.
DeleteIt's great that this is helping you. I know when my Nan switched from pills to pen she found it a lot easier to control her numbers.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were having the IVF the first time I used a pre-filled pen, which I did kind of prefer to the syringes we used on the last go. It was really straightforward and there wasn't really any room for error.
Yeah, I agree. This is really easy to use.
DeleteAwesome that it is helping, lots of fiber can take care of the side effect lol
ReplyDeletelol Yeah at least fiber cereal is kinda good these days.
DeleteThank goodness this is working much better for you, Mary and there is minimal pain. Hugs...
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm very happy with the results.
DeleteThanks for introducing me to this...something completely new for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
DeleteI had a friend in high school who had diabetis and it seems so scary for me that you have to prick yourself with that every day. I can't imagine doing that, although I guess you get used to that. I can't stand the sight of a needle going in my skin, it freaks me out.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that this medicine is helping, that's rgeat to hear!
The first time I did it, I had the pen in my hand and said to Ken, "I don't know if I can do this." lol Then I just pushed it in and that's when I realized that I didnt even feel the needle go in at all. The needle is so small that I don't feel it at all.
DeleteGlad it's helping!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThis sounds like a manageable way to inject the medicine. Glad its working for you, Mary, even if you had to amp up the fiber.
ReplyDeletelol There are some really good fiber cereals out there right now. Cracklin' Oat Bran is one that tastes pretty good so getting more fiber is the easy part.
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