March 31, 2007

First Januvia A1c for this Guinea Pig

I did my 3 month A1c which coincides with 11 weeks of taking Januvia.

It came out to be 5.6%. This is .1% higher than what I achieved with bolus insulin 3 or 4 times a day, so while it wasn't as low as I was hoping it would be, given my meter results, it confirmed that Januvia was giving me PP control very similar to what I was getting with insulin.

I also had some blood tests taken to see if Januvia was affecting my immune system in any way that was visible on simple tests. I'll be discussing that with the Endo this coming week.

From the little I know about interpreting blood tests, it looks to me like my white blood cell count is a bit higher than it was in the summer when I last had the measured, back when the doctor thought my joint inflammation might be from an infection. I'm not sure what that means.

I'm also not sure if the changes in the immune system which are made by suppressing DPP-4 would be visible on the CBC/Diff lab test. It might need a much more specialized test which isn't available to us humble guinea pigs taking these brand new, near-experimental drugs.

I have been having killer sinus headaches with increasing frequency over the past months, and I recently realized that these, too, are a known side effect of Januvia. That, combined with how painful my fingertips have become with only a limited amount of testing (1-3 tests a day) which has made me worry about healing problems, is motivating me to stop the Januvia and see what happens to my bgs.

I'd thought of asking the endo about trying Byetta, but the Diabetes Monitor Byetta Information Page informs me that sinus headaches are a common side effect of Byetta, too, as is feeling like crap, and enhanced allergies, both things I can do without. So I'm not so sure I want to try it after all.

It sucks that they can't deliver GLP-1 in pill form straight to the digestive tract where it belongs rather than having to inject it into the fat layer where it upsets the immune system.

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