Curious to know whether anyone has been diagnosed with PMR after starting on Januvia.
I started this medication in Feburary and within days started having severe hip pain and stiffness. Diagnosis still up in the air, but have found many posting in diabetes forums with similar symptoms following the prescribing of this medication. I am continuing with severe pain and limitation even though the medication has been stopped. The medication appears to have triggered the illness.
Would like to hear from anyone with similar experience.
csoehl
What exactly is Januvia? and for what is it prescribed ?
I am interested because we are running and international survey on pmr-gca (scroll down for Int Survey blurb).
Have you got a diagnosis yet - if not we can email you a diagnostic chart which is in the process of being cleared for issue in the UK.
pmrfighters@yahoo.co.uk
Januvia (sitagliptin) is a medication used for Type II Diabetes to lower blood glucose. It acts by suppressing DPP-IV. Here is the widipedia definition for DPP-IV:
The enzyme Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) also part of the CD26 surface region is associated with immune regulation, signal transduction and apoptosis. It is a rather indiscriminate enzyme for which at least 62 substrates are known. [1] Furthermore it appears to work as a suppressor in the development of cancer and tumours. [2] DPP-4 plays a major role in glucose metabolism. It is responsible for the degradation of incretins such as GLP-1.
DPP-4 also binds the enzyme adenosine deaminase specifically and with
high affinity. The significance of this interaction has yet to be
established.
One of the jobs of DPP-IV is to clean up inflammatory molecules (chemokines) in the body. Research has shown that people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have very low levels of DPP-IV, so suppressing it in the body could have nasty unintended consequences. In many of the online diabetes forums, people are posting about having symptoms very similar to those of polymyalgia rheumatica within days of beginning Januvia.
When the Phase III studies for this drug were first discussed online in 2006, joint pain was a listed side effect. This is currently not a listed side effect in patient information or prescribing guidelines for physicians.
The company that makes Januvia (Merck) is under criminal investigation in New Jersey for failing to disclose information they held concerning the side effects of Vioxx, which has been implicated in cardiac damage.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com