Travelling with Byetta

Deb,
One of our members stated in the past that he carries all of his diabetes supplies in one small tote and puts it on the belt for the airport person to see opened wide and his letter from his doctor on top. He has all of his injection stuff with needles, swabs and everything right there out in the open for the peeps to see. This seems to be the best approach.

There is a Traveling with Byetta website you might want to glance at. Also, since the baggage compartment of a plane may not be temperature controled you could have your meds freeze. I definitely would do my meds as carry on.

Also, do you have a medic alert bracelet? Might be a good idea to get one.

Hi LB:  I know what you are going through!  When I was first diagnosed I had about a million things going through my mind...and about a million answers buzzing around, but wasn't really sure which question went with which answer!  Has the doc put you any meds?  I've found that it has gotten easier...I was diagnosed over 2 years ago. Expect to go through many stages, denial, anger, rebellion, depression, etc and then comes acceptance.  I've said it a hundred times...."knowledge is Power"  I started reading everything I could find on diabetes, diet, meds, etc. and diabetes is NOT a death sentence.  You just have to learn to LIVE with it!!  Take care of yourself, check your bgs and keep us posted. Nice to meet ya

Deb

Hi deb,

I got a mailing from the manufacter of Byetta the other day (since Im a user) and it was all about airline travel and Byetta.  Byetta has been put on the "approved meds" list that you can bring on a plane, so they won't give you a hard time about your penlet or its needles if you do one thing.  Bring a letter from your doctor and put that right on top of your meds as they go through the scanner belt.  The other thing I find really helpfull is to put your pen in the original box it comes in BECAUSE they always paste your prescription lablel on the box.  This shows that it is a prescription med and WHAT type of med it is.  The box and the plastic holder for the penlet also serve as insulation if you put the thing in a little mini cooler with ice packs. 

Yes, you have to take one of those things that holds like a six pack, put "ice packs" in it, and then your meds.  REMEMBER to wrap your Byetta in a plastic baggy or the original box as you don't want to get it wet as the icepacks melt and sweat.  YOU CANNOT, I REPEAT-CANNOT use the factory Byetta travel case with the Gel pacs.  Even the manufactuer of Byetta warns against trying to take this onboard as they just aren't gonna allow the gel packs!  Besides, if you are flying to Europe or farther, you are really better off with icepacks and a small insulated carrier as this will keep your Byetta cold for 8-16 hours. 

I have a little more faith in the airlines than you do and I put mine in my checked luggage on a recent trip and it fared just fine, but if you want to carry it on board, you have to do the above. Hope this helps all you lizard spit and pen users.

Warren

Hi lbtb,

Well, a lot depends on your circumstances.  Are you new to diabetes and just using Glucophage (metformin) 500mg twice a day?  Are you using more than two oral meds and approaching the maximum dose per day and still not achieving good results?  Im not an MD so this is something you should really talk over with your Endocrinologist.  My personal opinion is that if you are relatively new to diabetes and only on a single med at a fairly low dose, then exercise and diet are key and you should wait to see what happens with the disease progression before you make the Byetta plunge.

However, if you've advanced into diabetes where you need more than one med to get your blood sugar down, and its still not under 100 in the mornings (fasting), then you really should consider Byetta.  Just realize that Byetta for most folks has the really really nasty side effect of making them seriously nauseous for awhile (can be anywhere from a few days to weeks depending on the person) until your body becomes accustomed to the medicine. I was one of the lucky ones and I missed that side effect.  I was maxed out on metformin, glucotrol (glipizide) and avandia and by using 10mcg of Byetta I've completely gotten rid of the Avandia and cut my glucotrol (glipizide) and metformin doeses in half.  All this and I typically run in the 90's for blood sugar when I get up in the morning and in the 70-90 range 2 hours after eating.  Without the Byetta and only the oral meds I was lucky to keep a fasting blood sugar under 120 and two hours after eating could easily run over 200.  So in my case the med is warranted.

There is one additional side benefit to using Byetta; it tends to actually rejuvenate your beta cells (they live in the pancreas and are responsible for insulin production).  This being said, if you are early in Diabetes and not improving, a head start with Byetta could benefit by preserving more of your pancreas function longer term.

Just remember - It is almost assured to make you nauseous!!!!

 Warren

lbtb,
The raising after walking is your body's way of keeping enough glucose in your blood stream for your brain to function. By exercising you use up available blood sugar. The muscle cells call out for more, not knowing how long you will be exercising or when the next meal will show up. The brain runs stricly on glucose and it will not tolerate low sugar so when the muscle cells are calling for more sugar the brain tells your liver to start converting glycogen (a stored form of glucose) to glucose and get it to the blood stream, pronto! The brain gets what it wants, the muscles are all ready to keep working and then you stop exercising.... You would do yourself a favor if you would eat your light breakfast and then walk. That way you will use up the carbs in your breakfast before they get a chance to go get stored as fat. The brain will be happy, the liver won't have to do the glycogen thing, your sugar will stay level and everybody wins.

Note: This is an extremely simplified version of how this works but it's the easy way to understand it.

Hi everyone!! I was dx about three years ago with type 2  diabetes.  Believe it or not I was able to lose 26 lbs without meds and bring my aic number from 7.8 to 6.2!!  Recently though, I have slipped up
:(  Now I take glucophage, Avandia, Triclor, Benicar, and Byetta.  I haven't had success in taking these meds everyday like I'm supposed too!!  It makes me very depressed to think about the overwhelming process of putting all of these pills into my body!!  And now i have to do a shot:)  I started the Byetta about one month ago and took it stteady for about five days and then just stopped. Can any one give me any thoughs or support on getting in to the habbit of actually taking all of meds all of the time.  I feel like such a slacker, but it is just so hard for me!!  I want to get better, I really do!!  Plus with my insurance plan I pay a lot for the meds like almost 300 dollars every three months, Is this the average cost  (with out the Byetta I had a free pen from my md)???  Thanks for your time!!  And thanks for these blogs!! 

I think one's doctor is the best person to ask for advice on diet, exercise or medicine. Some people are able to control it for a time without medicines, but they have to be monitored during that time. I believe most will need medicine sooner or later. I don't know specifically whether stress raises blood sugar, but I wouldn't be surprised, since it exacerbates just about any condition.