You may already know that insulin is used in diabetes patients to help them manage their blood sugar levels, but do you know much about Liraglutide?
Liraglutide is an ingredient in medications designed to help you manage your blood sugar and lose weight, so you can see how this could be beneficial for diabetes patients too.
So what happens if you take both together?
Would it be dangerous, or could you take both treatments safely?
Let’s find out together as we learn more about taking insulin with Liraglutide.
What is Liraglutide for?
Liraglutide has two uses — as a type 2 diabetes medication and as a treatment for obesity.
It’s a type of medication called a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which means that it works with your hunger hormones to stimulate your insulin production and slow down your stomach emptying after a meal.
These effects make it easier for weight loss patients to stick to a calorie-controlled diet and help diabetes patients keep their blood sugar levels from getting too high.
Liraglutide is supplied under different brand names, so you’ll get different treatments depending on what the medication is being used for.
If you’re using Liraglutide for weight loss you will be prescribed it as Saxenda, whereas diabetes patients will be prescribed Victoza — the same active ingredient under different names.
What is insulin?
Insulin is a hormone that is created in your pancreas as a part of your digestive process.
It’s a vital part of your body’s blood sugar regulation system, helping your body judge when it should take the glucose from your food and use it for energy.
Type 2 diabetes patients either don’t create enough insulin or create insulin that isn’t as effective as it should be, which is why they are often prescribed insulin injections.
The insulin in these injections can come from a number of different sources, including human insulin, animal insulin, and analogue insulin, which is laboratory grown and genetically altered for different purposes.
Can you take insulin and Liraglutide at the same time?
Some patients can take insulin and Liraglutide at the same time, but this should only be done under the supervision of a healthcare professional.
As insulin and Liraglutide are both injectable medications, making sure you’re taking the right dosage of each one is very important and it can be easy to mix up your medications if you’re not careful.
Your healthcare team will be able to help you take your medication safely and offer some advice to help prevent medicine mix-ups.
Can diabetes patients take Saxenda for weight loss?
Some diabetes patients may take Liraglutide as Victoza alongside insulin as a part of their treatment plan — but what about those who aren’t taking Liraglutide already?
Obesity can be a serious risk factor for type 2 diabetes, so some patients who aren’t already taking Victoza may be prescribed Saxenda to help them reach their weight loss goals.
However, this should only be done under the supervision of a healthcare professional, so they can help you to be sure that this combination of treatments is both beneficial and safe for you to take.
We hope we’ve cleared up your questions about taking Liraglutide and insulin together and what your next steps should be as a patient.
If you’d like to learn more about Saxenda and similar treatments like Wegovy, why not check out some of our other articles about these fascinating medications?
Here are a few we think you’ll enjoy.
