Januvia update

I have not kept up on the blogging like I wanted to!!  I was hoping that I’d do it, but…. I’m slow…  :)  So…

Without wasting any MORE time, here is the update about my meds….

First, a quick recap…

Januvia is different than any of the other meds I take.  The Lantus and Novolog insulins I take provide me with insulin since my body’s own insulin isn’t doing its job or there isn’t enough of it.  Metformin helps my body make use of the insulin that it makes.  Januvia is supposed to help the insulin in my body react to food the way its supposed to.

I started taking 100 mg of Januvia once a day, per my doctor.  For the first week I felt a little bit sick to my stomach.  I’m still not sure if I just had a weird week or if it was the pill.  Since then I have no had any issues with it that I can see or feel. 

I have not miraculously lost any weight (bummer!), but I have also not gained any.  Again, I have no idea if this is because of the pill (doubtful).  In addition, I have been able to raise my insulin to carb ratio from 1:4 to 1:6, which means less insulin per injection, and longer time between prescription refills!

The interesting thing though, is that I really don’t know if the change in carb ratio is due to the Metformin or the Januvia.  I started the Metformin about a month and a half before the Januvia.  I don’t know how to really tell without removing one of them from the lineup though.

I will not be going back to the doc for another month, so I don’t know what the effect of the meds are having on my a1c.

After about a week I got a letter from my health insurance telling me that they allowed this prescription to be filled “to make things easier on me” but that they won’t be filling it again because it hasn’t been proven that Metformin doesn’t work for me.  Basically I felt like it was telling me that in order to allow me to take both of these medications I would have to stop taking the Metformin, get really sick for 3 months, and then that would prove it. I was like… well that just doesn’t make sense!  First, why would filling it once make my life easier?  All that’s making me do is have to talk to my doctor and possibly have a battle with my health insurance to allow me to continue with it.  What if my doc had really felt this was the ONLY thing that would work for me (instead of just wanting to see if it hells)?  Then I would be stuck without meds while they figure it out?  I would have rather they flat out say NO! and then I can fight it, without getting all excited that it seems like they’re working and then have it taken away from me!  I guess this would have been more of an issue if I was ONLY taking Metformin and it had actually failed and I didn’t have any backup plan.

I knew that that might happen though, because other people had noted that they had issues with it being covered.  And granted, its not covered WELL… its still not a generic, so it still costs me a lot of money to get it.  But if I can lower the amount of insulin I need to take and possibly even remove the NovoLog, that would be one less prescription to fill anyway!

So I contacted my doc and she contacted the insurance company and apparently everything went well, because she sent me a letter telling me that the Januvia is covered and they didn’t even have to battle! 

And I went and refilled the prescription and they refilled it without any questions.

And now, a week later, I got a letter from my health insurance telling me that they allowed this prescription but….... sigh … I guess I’ll be calling my doctor again…