Posted on 09/09/2011 5:46:44 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
A study that the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) published recently shows just how dangerous the side effects of diabetes drugs are. The study is a meta-analysis, one that combines the results of several studies to more powerfully estimate the real effect of something. In this case that something is the diabetes drugs that most of us take.
The BMJ editors thought that the article is so important that they made the full-text free online. You may want to read through its dense, scientific language for yourself. Here is a taste from the concluding paragraph: “The overall results of this meta-analysis do not show a benefit of intensive glucose lowering treatment on all cause mortality or cardiovascular death. A 19% increase in all cause mortality and a 43% increase in cardiovascular mortality cannot be excluded.”
Note that the meta-analysis reviewed studies of intensive glucose-lowering treatments. Still, as the authors point out, “It is paradoxical to propose intensive glucose lowering treatment when available drugs have no proved intrinsic efficacy.”
Does this mean you should throw away your pills? I would never give that advice. Instead, I urge as many of us as possible to use the safest diabetes drugs that we can and only as a temporary measure. When you and your doctor agree that you are managing your diabetes well enough with your diabetes drugs, you can then become drug-free with the only alternative that works.
(Excerpt) Read more at healthcentral.com ...
FYI
Ping
Thanks, Pining.
Ping for later scrutiny
The Type 2 Diabetes Breakthrough. Go here to see Dr. Frank Shallenberger’s website with a discussion of this and other books he wrote.
http://www.realcuresletter.com/products.aspx
Wife is on glyburide and metformin. Will be starting insulin next week. Hoping the insulin is only needed during the rest of her pregnancy.
ping
lifestyle change for me. List 70 pound, took supplments and changed the diet. A1c dropped from 6.4 to 5.3. Doc says at this rate, I’ll could be off my meds once I reach my target weight.
One is likely an auto-immune deficiency that strikes one in 300 people out of the blue and is forever. The other seems to be, in most cases, the result a lifetime of too many carbs and too little motion, leading to insulin resistance.
They don't even seem to have a lack of insulin in common, since insulin resistance, not a lack of insulin, seems to be the major issue with type 2.
The causes, the conditions themselves, and the treatment options have nothing in common. I wonder why they continue to share a name, leading to bad headlines like this one.
later
FRiend, I am a woman, 5’9”, 126.8 pounds, and I exercise a LOT. I hike for miles through woods and hills in the a.m. with the dogs, do stable work, ride my horse (jumping and dressage) until we’re both tired, then walk/run a few more miles with the dogs at night. Also do some spot exercises, yardwork, wood splitting, etc. I don’t eat anything white anymore. But diabetes is still creeping up on me. So it’s not just a matter of getting off your ass, exercising, and not eating carbs. I’m really frustrated.
bttt - thanks for posting!
I wasn’t offended by your words, because for the most part they are accurate. The fact is that the majority of diabetics really are fat, don’t exercise, and eat a lot of carbs. But it’s not invariably the case.
A very dear man who was a former manager at my workplace got in the shower one morning and saw blood running down the drain. It was coming from his foot. He thought he had accidentally stepped on something and cut himself, though he couldn’t feel a cut. He lifted the foot and found that the bottom was completely gone—it fell off. There was no pain because diabetes had destroyed the nerves in the bottom of his foot. He had no idea that he had diabetes because he was slender, walked a lot, and ate a healthy diet. His foot was amputated.
Another man I know has had something similar happen. Again, he is slender, fifty, and fit. He has spent months in the hospital struggling with this but fortunately hasn’t lost his feet yet.
It’s disturbing. What’s causing this? One feels so helpless. What on earth else can I do? I swear I don’t have one unhealthy lifestyle trait.
I agree with you and really get tired of hearing people say that diabetes is completely avoidable....as a 40 year type one I;d like to slap them when I hear that.
It could be even more confusing than it appears! Some believe there is even a type 3 diabetes, and in some folks it is actually difficult to determine if they have type 1 or type 2. Don’t ask me how this is, because I have no idea. Diabetes, in all its forms, is a much more complex disease (or diseases!) than people thought.
Not all type 2 diabetics are fat. As people age, their bodies stop working properly, and everyone’s blood pressure, blood glucose, etc. get out of whack. Aging is a definite risk factor in type 2 diabetes, but you don’t see people telling folks to stay young.
Type 2 diabetes has a very strong genetic component. Researchers are finding several genes that are linked to the disease. Diabetes also involves more than just weight. The brain, bones, liver, and even “active” fat cells play a part in the disease.
Finally, it could be that diabetes is what makes some people fat, not the other way around. To make judgments about people with a disease based on popular conceptions and prejudices is no differnt from people in ancient times who thought epileptics were possessed by demons. But for the grace of God, go you.
I’m sorry for your plight, ottbmare. I’m sure it is frustrating. I don’t think there are really effective treatments for diabetes, and that is why it has become so prevalent. For that matter, many diseases seem to appear almost as epidemics, even though there is no obvious infectious agent. Don’t know why this is. The only suggestion I can give you is to limit your carbs, and keep up with the exercise. Diabetes affects everyone differently. I will pray for you. Take care.
For the record, I am NOT advising anyone to discontinue their medications. I’m certainly not a doctor. I’m just someone with a strong family history of diabetes who wants to avoid what happened to my father. I want people to do some research, think for themselves, and find out what works best for them.
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