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Diabetes Medication

Gain Less Weight By Starting Insulin Early

Three out of every 10 Americans who have type 2 diabetes inject insulin. But sadly, only a few people start on insulin, as many people with type 2 diabetes think that only people with type 1 diabetes or only those people with type 2 who have failed to manage their blood glucose with everything else take insulin.

A survey of Australian adults with type 2 diabetes found that more than half believe that taking insulin means their diabetes has become worse and that insulin causes weight gain. Among Americans, the results are likely to be similar.

Negative beliefs

The majority of those people with these negative beliefs about insulin were wrong to think that taking insulin was the diabetes drug of last resort. Actually, insulin may give you the most control over your diabetes, if you aren’t ready yet to go on a very low-carb diet. And for several years some clinics have been prescribing insulin soon after diagnosis. It works.

by David Mendosa

Diabetes Medication

Most People with Diabetes Should Stop Iron Supplements

When you have too much iron in your blood or stored elsewhere in your body might be why your blood glucose level is above normal. In fact, too much iron can even be why you got diabetes. Yet about one out of every five Americans regularly takes an iron supplement.

For years researchers have suspected that when your body accumulates too much iron you are at risk of a host of diseases, according to Berkeley Wellness. In addition to diabetes, iron overload is linked to colorectal cancer, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries, as well as to strokes, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

But only now do we have studies demonstrating the connection between excess iron and diabetes.

“Even mildly elevated body iron contributes to the prevalence and incidence of type 2 diabetes,” states the news release from the University of Eastern Finland announcing the publication of these studies.

by David Mendosa

Diabetes Medication

Manage with Magical Magnesium

The benefits of magnesium don’t get enough respect. Until now.

But researchers around over the world published their findings in three different professional journals during November and December 2016.

These three meta-analyses give us more confidence than we could have before that magnesium is important for our diabetes health. If people consumed more magnesium, fewer would have diabetes. Many people who already have diabetes would be better able to manage this condition if they consumed more magnesium. And researchers found additional benefits, including for our hearts.

by David Mendosa

Diabetes Medication

Marijuana Component May Help Manage Diabetes

Marijuana can get you high. But for people with diabetes the news is better.

One of its components might also help you manage your blood glucose. This is the startling conclusion of a study in the October 2016 issue of Diabetes Care.

British researchers studied 62 people with Type 2 diabetes with high lipid levels at four centers in the United Kingdom. The study met the high standards of being randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled.

Only the abstract of the study is free at the Diabetes Care website. But the full text of the study’s un-copyedited manuscript is online at the University of Westminster, where one of the researchers work.

by David Mendosa

Diabetes Medication

Correct Your Injection Technique

If you inject insulin or one of the GLP-1 agonists, the chances are that you are putting yourself at an unnecessary risk of a complication.

The needles you use are probably too long. Only 30 percent of the people who use insulin have adopted the much shorter 4 mm needle that became available in 2010. About half of the people who inject diabetes drugs reuse their needles, particularly those who inject with a pen. Only about 40 percent of needle users rotate their injection sites correctly.

by David Mendosa

Diabetes Basics, Diabetes Medication, Psychosocial

High-deductible Health Insurance Can Be Expensive

Every day more people with diabetes sign up for high-deductible health insurance in hopes that they will save money. Because they have low monthly premiums, these plans are increasingly popular.

But instead of being less expensive, they are more costly for most people with diabetes. This is the conclusion of a study that Frank Wharam, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, presented this June at the annual convention of the American Diabetes Association in New Orleans. This is the world’s largest scientific meeting focused on diabetes, and I was in the audience to represent HealthCentral.com.

The proportion of people who have high-deductible health insurance is skyrocketing, partly due to the Affordable Care Act. In 2006, only 10 percent of insured Americans had deductibles of $1,000 or more. But this proportion shot up to 46 percent last year, and Professor Wharam says that it is “likely to explode.”

The way that high-deductible health coverage works is by charging a lower monthly premium than what you would have to pay for a standard plan. But when you use your health care coverage, your out-of-pocket costs are higher.

by David Mendosa

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