by Jennifer Kirkman

Created on: October 20, 2009

Amylin, known as Symlin is a new treatment in injectable form to help people with diabetes stabilize their blood sugar levels. What Amylin aims to do for a diabetic is to lower the post-meal blood sugar levels. Your post-meal blood sugar levels are the most critical part of blood sugar management. People that are free from diabetes at all, have a pancreas that signals insulin to work exactly in conjunction with the rise of blood sugar levels after eating. Blood sugar levels in a non-diabetic person will rarely if ever go over 140 milligrams. But in someone with diabetes of either type 1 or type 2, these rises are often a problem that need correction.

Overall Amylin, (Symlin,) works to lower your A1C levels, controls your urges to binge on foods, and helps to blunt the after-meal highs experienced by many diabetic people. As a result of this action, Symlin should help you to lose weight steadily.

The goal of Amylin is to slow the rate at which glucose enters the blood, by working in conjunction with insulin. Amylin helps to control your appetite so thereby you don't eat as much. The next objective of Amylin is to suppress the action of glucagon, which is a hormone that is stimulated by the liver causing blood glucose rises. And the other thing that Amylin does is to control the rate at which the stomach places food into the small intestine. Your small intestine is where your blood sugar is absorbed when all of your carbohydrates are being metabolized. The muscle contractions of the stomach are slowed by Amylin, which causes food to slow down into the next portion of the gastrointestinal tract.

When your doctor adds Symlin to your therapy, you may find that you go too low. In this case, your dosage will need adjustments to your insulin doses. So for this reason, you must also follow your doctor's instructions very carefully. You should NEVER mix Symlin together in the same syringe as your insulin. You may inject one at a time close together, but never in one shot all at once.

With taking Symlin, you will probably start with a low dose at first which is usually 60 micrograms injected into your skin. You will probably be instructed to decrease your rapid-acting insulin when taking this medication. The dose will probably increase up to 120 micrograms if you haven't had any upset stomachs with the 60 micrograms. Your doses will change and be adjusted according to how your system is responding.

Overall it is best to take your Symlin as soon as you beging eating. Then after injecting Symlin at the start, take your rapid acting insulin before you eat your last bites of food.

Always test your blood sugars regularly when using Symlin and insulin together. Through doing this, you can avoid a low blood sugar reading, and make a correction by eating some fast acting carbohydrate before reaching a severe low.

Symlin can have side effects such as nausea which is most common. If this effect is too bothersome, you need to talk to your doctor.

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