When Byetta Fails

Dr. Rubin also has one of the best diabetes podcasts, which you can hear on his website or download to iTunes.

“One of my patients who was on the maximum dose of Byetta was not losing weight and not showing much improvement in blood sugar,” Dr. Rubin says on his Byetta Healthcast #44 of September 25, 2006. “On his own he increased his maximum nighttime dose above the 10 micrograms. He immediately began to lose weight. His blood sugar levels have become normal. He looks and feels much better than before. His hemoglobin A1C has fallen into the normal range.”

Based on that experience Dr. Rubin says he had another patient take two shots of Byetta before dinner. She too is now doing much better, he says. Consequently, Dr. Rubin discussed this approach with a scientist at Lilly, which markets Byetta together with Amylin.

“Although they recommend a maximum of 10 mcg twice daily,” Dr. Rubin concludes, “they too found that as the dose is raised, there is more weight loss. As a result of this I plan to increase the dose of Byetta in my patients who fail to lose much weight. As long as they can afford the cost of the medication, I will offer it to them.”

Anyone taking Byetta more than twice a day needs to be prepared to pay for it. I doubt if any health insurance plans will cover it, and Byetta is expensive. The best price that I have been able to find for a 10 mcg cartridge is $208.79 at Drugstore.com.

John has been on Byetta almost 17 months. That’s a lot longer than the nine months that I have used it. I am already thinking ahead that I may have to go to Byetta three times daily, in part because of research in The Journal of Austrian Family Physician that Dr. Joe just reported in his newsletter, “Weight, Weight Don’t Tell Me".
“All diets seem to work for about 12 months,” he reports, “but seem to cease working at the end of the 12 months.”

Byetta is, of course, not a diet. It’s much more than that. And so far, I am still losing weight. My blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels are down, while my energy level is way up.

But I’m ready to change to three shots a day and pay whatever it costs, if I need to in order to control my weight. Like John, I know that getting this weight off is a matter of life or death.