Is anyone else talking Wegovy for heart disease?

Posted by HomeAgainLA @llynch17056, Jun 30 8:35am

The FDA recently approved Wegovy for heart disease. My medicare Advance Plan now covers it at $99 a month so I started on it this week. I cannot take any statins, I couldn’t even take red yeast rice. I was on Repatha which brought my numbers down, but it has the nasty side effect of maybe making you diabetic which worried me greatly. Repatha brought my numbers down so now that i have switched to Wegovy I’m wondering if Wegovy will maintain those lower numbers for me. I do like the Wegovy side effect of weight loss. I LOVE how my brain is thinking about food now.

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What is the source for your comment that Repatha maybe “making you diabetic “?
Hope Wegovy helps.

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Many sites report this. This is from the Repatha site.

The most common side effects of Repatha® include: runny nose, sore throat, symptoms of the common cold, flu or flu-like symptoms, back pain, high blood sugar levels (diabetes) and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site.

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Thank you for sharing. I can't seem to get my Medicare Plan (Humana) to cover it at all.

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Try again. They are required to cover it once it is approved by the FDA for heart disease, which it has been. You also have to have a BMI of 26, I think. 26 is just very slightly overweight on the scale. Not much. I also have Humana and they very recently started covering it. Two weeks ago they didn't cover it. Keep checking with them.

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@llynch17056

Many sites report this. This is from the Repatha site.

The most common side effects of Repatha® include: runny nose, sore throat, symptoms of the common cold, flu or flu-like symptoms, back pain, high blood sugar levels (diabetes) and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site.

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Understand what companies have to report as side effects: anything that a patient says must be reported, without investigating or if the reported symptoms can possibly be related to the tested drug (I've been a patient in drug trials so this is from personal experience). While I'm not in a position to say whether any of the symptoms are true, again, from experience, I'm on Repatha and have none of the above. No symptoms at all other than it stinging for about 30 seconds after the injection. And it's done an amazing job in lowering total cholesterol, LDL, and lipoprotein B for me, in addition to the statin I've been on for more than 20 years.

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@agb

Understand what companies have to report as side effects: anything that a patient says must be reported, without investigating or if the reported symptoms can possibly be related to the tested drug (I've been a patient in drug trials so this is from personal experience). While I'm not in a position to say whether any of the symptoms are true, again, from experience, I'm on Repatha and have none of the above. No symptoms at all other than it stinging for about 30 seconds after the injection. And it's done an amazing job in lowering total cholesterol, LDL, and lipoprotein B for me, in addition to the statin I've been on for more than 20 years.

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The side effects listed have occurred in users, not every user, but enough to be listed as a side effect. It’s not listed as a rare side effect which would mean that most people don’t get diabetes, but a low percentage have. Like any drug, you may or may not experience the side effects. A Repatha side effect is diabetes. I don’t want to take that chance. I hope you never get diabetes from Repatha, but the fact that you haven’t gotten it yet does not mean you won’t.
“Among the 16,676 patients without diabetes mellitus at baseline, the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus during the trial was 8.1 percent in patients …Jun 23, 2018“

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@llynch17056

The side effects listed have occurred in users, not every user, but enough to be listed as a side effect. It’s not listed as a rare side effect which would mean that most people don’t get diabetes, but a low percentage have. Like any drug, you may or may not experience the side effects. A Repatha side effect is diabetes. I don’t want to take that chance. I hope you never get diabetes from Repatha, but the fact that you haven’t gotten it yet does not mean you won’t.
“Among the 16,676 patients without diabetes mellitus at baseline, the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus during the trial was 8.1 percent in patients …Jun 23, 2018“

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Yes, but by itself, that 8.1% means nothing, unless you can compare it against the general population. Below is from the CDC. A bit hard to read as it's copied, but the population estimate of diabetes for 2019-2021 is 10.1% of the population aged 45-64 and 6.8% over 65, so without knowing anything else, the Repatha numbers look pretty normal.

And I agree, some people have side effects, others don't.

Characteristic Population Estimates, 2021a
Number in Thousands (95% CI) Incidence Estimates, 2019–2021
Rate per 1,000 (95% CI)
Total 1,211 (1,094–1,328) 5.9 (5.1–6.9)b
Age in years
18–44 305 (241–369) 3.0 (2.1–4.2)b
45–64 633 (550–716) 10.1 (8.2–12.4)b
≥65 273 (222–325) 6.8 (5.1–8.9)b

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@agb

Yes, but by itself, that 8.1% means nothing, unless you can compare it against the general population. Below is from the CDC. A bit hard to read as it's copied, but the population estimate of diabetes for 2019-2021 is 10.1% of the population aged 45-64 and 6.8% over 65, so without knowing anything else, the Repatha numbers look pretty normal.

And I agree, some people have side effects, others don't.

Characteristic Population Estimates, 2021a
Number in Thousands (95% CI) Incidence Estimates, 2019–2021
Rate per 1,000 (95% CI)
Total 1,211 (1,094–1,328) 5.9 (5.1–6.9)b
Age in years
18–44 305 (241–369) 3.0 (2.1–4.2)b
45–64 633 (550–716) 10.1 (8.2–12.4)b
≥65 273 (222–325) 6.8 (5.1–8.9)b

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When side effects are listed you make an informed decision whether the benefit is worth the risk.

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Is Wegovy a replacement for taking Repatha? I did notice, since I've been on Repatha since Feb or March (switched from Praluent due to insurance) and my sugar last month has now risen to pre-diabetic and every bone in my body is hurting.... wondering if it's the Repatha??? That's the feeling I had whenever I tried every single statin on the market. However, finally, the Praluent and Repatha injections brought my #s down immediately. I'm going to ask my cardiologist about Wegovy.

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@gerrycf

Is Wegovy a replacement for taking Repatha? I did notice, since I've been on Repatha since Feb or March (switched from Praluent due to insurance) and my sugar last month has now risen to pre-diabetic and every bone in my body is hurting.... wondering if it's the Repatha??? That's the feeling I had whenever I tried every single statin on the market. However, finally, the Praluent and Repatha injections brought my #s down immediately. I'm going to ask my cardiologist about Wegovy.

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That was my fear on Repatha and why I got off. I certainly don’t want diabetes caused by a medication

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