Diabetes MedicationsDIABETES MEDICATION It has already been proven that Lifestyle is better than medication at preventing diabetes, even in people at high risk for diabetes. And yet many doctors still push pills for prevention. . . Huh? I don’t get it? And it has been proven that there are side effects from every medication, and those side effects often require more medication to fix the side effects. But wait a minute, there is more than one way to deal with diabetes and it is up to the patient to choose! Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group study The New England Journal of Medicine, Feb 7,2002;346;6;393-402. Lifestyle intervention reduced the incidence (new cases) of type 2 diabetes. Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study. Lancet.2006;368:1634-1636. Lancet. 2006;368:1673-1679. (pills for prevention)Presented at: American Diabetes Association 67th Annual Scientific Sessions; June 22-26, 2007; Chicago.Endocrine Today July 2007. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.2007;92:1305-1310. GlaxoSmith Kline ADOPT review. Endocrine Today March 2007. It saddens me to see so many people thinking that they are “trapped” in this medication excess. Many seniors will say they take so many pills that they don’t even know what they take or what it’s for. . . so,sometimes they don’t even take them. Most were never given the choice of lifestyle control over their diabetes.  To be perfectly clear, blood sugar medicine, if taken at all, should only be taken TEMPORARILY. If a patient does not want to make changes and would rather take a pill, then so be it. But let them be aware that there will be further damage to their bodies. Blood sugar medication taken for just 1-3 months can give someone a kick start in the right direction. But for a diabetic to permanently rely on a pill for blood sugar control and improved health is an oxymoron. A diabetic cannot have improved health with these pills. Permanent medication for other chronic conditions may be necessary, but not for blood sugar control. Most of the time all of a diabetic’s medication can be gradually replaced by The Healthy Plate Program. I had the pleasure of working with a Harvard trained medical doctor that asked his newly diagnosed patients “Do you want to go on The Healthy Plate Program or do you want to go on pills?” Another doctor I work with asks his patients “Let’s try lifestyle for 3 months and if that doesn’t work for you then we will start you on some medication.” These patients are overjoyed with the choice. These doctors educated the patients with just those simple introductions. These statements told them “yes, you do have a choice” and “yes it really is your choice.” “Self management is crucial to a self-managed disease. Diabetes is a disease of decision-making and that is what self-management is designed for. It is not the health care provider’s role to make decisions for patients; it is their role to provide support to help patients make choices.” Ann Albright, Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation, Center For Disease Control. 2008 Ok, so it is proven that lifestyle is better at preventing it but what about once you have been diagnosed? Why would someone choose to make the lifestyle improvements of The Healthy Plate Program? It would just be so much easier to keep on the way you are and just pop a pill, and then another pill and then another. Well, get ready to learn how the blood sugar medicine takes quality of life, and control, away from you and puts it in the hands of the chemical companies. “Feeding the medication” Think about it! Blood sugar medication like glipizide, glyburide or insulin force the blood sugar DOWN. . . and what is something that diabetics hate to experience?. . . low blood sugar. Ask anyone. They will do whatever they needed to do to avoid low blood sugar. So what would they need to do while taking these chemicals? EAT. They will need to eat more food than is required for a healthy diet. Usually much more. And often the same person that prescribes the medication that increases their appetite will scold them for their appetites. In fact, most blood sugar medication prevents people from eating a healthy balanced diet. Nice chemical trap, huh? Metformin (Glucophage) This medication causes liver damage, weakness, folate and B12 deficiencies. Published in an article in an article in an American Diabetes Association magazine, was a study that showed that out of 204 patients taking metformin, 1/3 of them should not have been taking it! They either had kidney or liver damage, or were drinking alcohol, or were taking drugs for heart failure. This medication was determined to be the best weapon in the arsenal against diabetes. “Metformin (glucophage) has best benefit to risk profile.” Annals of Internal Medicine (online).2007; 147. Archives of Internal Medicine 2002. Endocrine Today. So, let’s take a look at their best weapon. The chart below shows a liver enzyme level over a period of time while the patient was taking metformin. Whenever there is a rise in the amount of a liver enzyme, it is an indication that there is liver damage. The red line is the highest level that the enzyme should be to still be considered normal.  This patient started taking metformin (glucophage) in January of 2003 and you can see when the damage started. The big blue arrow is when I insisted that the metformin be stopped. The liver enzyme then came back down to normal and without the medication her blood sugar is still normal (6.0 a1c). And this medication is their best weapon? “Metformin indirectly interferes with vitamin B12 absorption. About 30% of long term metformin users do not absorb vitamin B12 properly,””B12 deficiency can lead to anemia, nerve damage, tiredness, weakness, depression, weight loss and numbness. People with diabetes run a heightened risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.” Diabetes Forecast April 2007 “Metformin users at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency. Each additional 1-gram per day dose increase of metformin was associated with an increased vitamin B12 deficiency.””this study calls for heightened vigilance and monitoring of vitamin B12 among people undergoing high-dose or prolonged course metformin therapy.” Archives of Internal Medicine 2006;166:1975-1979 Avandia This one is complicated. It is the most dangerous and the most helpful. Let me explain. When Avandia was first approved by the FDA and became available, a study had been conducted that showed that this medicine caused heart disease in 20% of the people who took it. That is just the beginning of the “bad news.” But they later found out that it actually reduced cortisol, and that’s the good news! If you read the website link on “The Cause of Diabetes,” you know that cortisol is too high in diabetics so then this medication might have been helpful. OK. . . so this medication might have been a great answer for diabetics if they took it TEMPORARILY (1-2 months) to reduce cortisol, which would then reduce blood sugar, but it wouldn’t be long enough to develop heart disease. But physicians have prescribed this, knowing it causes heart disease, and left patients on it. Their plan of action is to stop the Avandia when the patient develops heart disease. It has also been shown that Avandia increases the risk of bone fractures and increases LDL, the bad cholesterol. I wish that was the end of the bad news. Diabetes Care 2007;30:234. Physicians Desk Reference 2006. “Rosiglitazone (Avandia) increased risk for fractures.” Diabetes Care 2007;30:234-238. “Rosiglitizone increases risk for heart failure.” Diabetes Care 2007;30:2148-2153. “Add-on Rosiglitizone treatment led to some peripheral edema, more weight gain” Diabetes Care.2006;29:554-559. Avandia was banned in a European county because it caused congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema (that’s water around the lungs). “Avandia treatment decreased HDL (the good cholesterol) particle size and showed a trend in reducing concentrations as well.” Diabetes Care. 2007;30:2458-2464. Now here comes the really bad news. Medical researchers conducted a study called the ACCORD study to investigate the use of Avandia (rosiglitizone) in 5128 people. They tried to get tight control over blood sugars and reduce A1c down to 6.0 in these people. This study was stopped after 3.5 years due to the fact that there were 54 more deaths in the intensively controlled group with Avandia and these deaths were related to the Avandia. Other analysis’ have been initiated and found that Avandia is definitely related to at least Congestive Heart Failure. It is predicted that Avandia, like so many other glucose medications, will fade away due to the controversy over its harmful effects in some people. Endocrine Today August 10, 2008,March 10 2008. They tried to tightly control blood sugar down to normal levels with exercise, a balanced healthy diet and Avandia. They were aiming for an A1c below 6.0. When they realized that there were 54 more deaths in the Avandia group they stopped the study. In other words, they found that the Avandia was killing people who tried to achieve normal blood sugar numbers. BUT they already knew Avandia caused heart disease in 20% of the people taking it. . . and it is known that it can cause low blood sugar. . .and they still conducted this study with these trusting victims. The analysis that physicians have accepted from this study is - Aiming for an A1c below 6.0 was dangerous and could kill people. Huh? Yea, that’s right. It was decided that it was too dangerous to try to aim for 6.0, that was just too low. 54 PEOPLE ARE DEAD DUE TO A MEDICATION THAT THEY ALREADY KNEW COULD CAUSE HEART DISEASE OR LOW BLOOD SUGAR. Someone somewhere said “Man, we better blame it on the A1c or we could be facing CRIMINAL charges.” Not just malpractice but CRIMINAL charges. So now some doctors actually tell people that an A1c below 6.4 is too low. So how come people who have followed The Healthy Plate Program have gotten their A1c below 6.0, without medication and are very happy campers? (see testimonial link on this website). The whole Avandia issue is a lot to chew on! Actos This one is simple. It is fairly effective at making the cells more sensitive to insulin, which then reduces blood sugar. In many cases, those cells are not burning sugar because excess body fat interferes with the cells ability to burn sugar. So when excess body weight causes this situation and Actos is prescribed it makes me crazy, because Actos causes weight gain in some people. Still more frustrating is that many patients, as hard as they try, have great difficulty losing weight while on this medication. So with weight gain or no weight loss, over time, that may require more Actos or an additional blood sugar medicine or a weight loss medication. What’s wrong with this picture? Actos reduces “gluconeogenesis”, and increases sensitivity to insulin. These actions reduce blood sugar. Diabetes Care 2006;29:2275-2281. OK but if adrenal hormones increase gluconeogenesis and they decrease sensitivity to insulin. . . . why don’t they just look at the adrenal hormones?, life would be so much simpler. Insulin I will never forget meeting a young girl who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She was immediately put on insulin by her doctor and she was all puffy and stressed looking. She was at the beck and call of her doctor. She did not feel she had a choice. Tried to explain that reversing diabetes was really easy with The Healthy Plate Program and no medication or insulin was needed, but she felt she doing what was best. The patients I was with got so upset by her ignorance that they insisted that I take them home to get away from the insanity. Insulin causes fat storage and eventually that will cause the need for more insulin and will eventually, over years, tell the pancreas to stop making insulin because the needs of the body are being supplied by the shots. Glipizide, Glyburide These two cause low blood sugar so it is rarely possible for patients to eat an appropriate diet for weight loss or weight maintenance. What does that mean? People will eat more than is necessary in order to prevent low blood sugar. Ever experience low blood sugar? It’s life threatening. In mice this medication causes heart spasms and death. University of Chicago McNally, 2002. “Treatment with combination of glyburide and metformin raised mortality risk. Glyburide is associated with an 8.7% increase in deaths when used with metformin. Presented at the 42nd European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting; Sept. 14-17, 2006; Copenhagen Denmark. Article in Endocrinology Today, December 2006. Byetta “Acute pancreatitis possibly associated with exenatide (Byetta). FDA warns of possible link with use of the type 2 diabetes drug,” Endocrine Today November 2007 And if all that isn’t enough it was found that some cholesterol medications increase your blood sugar and so does HCTZ (hydrochlorothiazide) “Simvastatin was found to increase blood sugar” . . . “these findings serve to remind us that statins may not uniformly improve all metabolic parameters associated with cardiovascular risk.” Endocrine Today March 10 2008. There are many medicines found in nature that can help with blood sugar, such as cactus juice or greasewood tea, but the medicines made by the chemical companies are not “magic bullets.” The blood sugar medications are not safe. Let me put it this way. . Your mom has diabetes and because of all the medication, that never really controlled her diabetes very well, she now has heart failure and excess weight and must be treated with more medicine. Her doctor gives her insulin to add to oral medicines and she dies in 2 years because of the combination therapy of insulin and metformin. . . and people will say “oh poor lady, her heart just gave out” or “she died from the complications of diabetes.” Medication is a complication of diabetes. |
