Browsing Tag

Diabetes Drugs

Diabetes Medication, Exercise For Diabetes

Choosing Exercise or Antioxidants

Based on what I’ve read recently, some of which I have reported here, I’ve grown more and more wary of the wisdom of taking supplements. Few of the them seem to help.

And now comes a new study indicating that the two most common supplements can actually work against us. Those supplements are vitamins C and E.

It seems that we have a choice of exercising or taking large doses of those supplements. We know that exercise has lots of good effects like increasing our sensitivity to insulin, which is of great importance to all of us with diabetes.
Continue Reading

by
Share 
Diabetes Medication

Diabetes Drug Dangers

A single research report that found risks in one of the medications that we take to control our diabetes would warrant our attention. But when three separate studies find serious side effects from all our major drugs, the time is right for us to reconsider how we control our blood glucose levels.

Most of us think of our diabetes drugs, diet, and exercise as the three basic ways we do that. But drugs come first. Maybe they should come last, at least for all of us with type 2 diabetes, who unlike type 1s have a choice.

Since March 10, studies have called into question the side effects of metformin, the glitazones, insulin, and the sulfonylureas.
Continue Reading

by
Share 
Diabetes Medication

Comparing Insulins for Type 2s

Some of our doctors don’t help us when they use insulin as a threat: “Unless you reduce your blood glucose, I am going to have to put you on insulin.”

So it’s no surprise that many of us who have type 2 diabetes think we have failed when our doctors prescribe it. This comes from thinking of injecting insulin as a last resort.

It isn’t. More and more of us are now starting to take insulin as soon as our doctors have diagnosed our type 2 diabetes. Probably half of the men in my diabetes support group started taking insulin as a first choice.
Continue Reading

by
Share 
Diabetes Diet

Comparing Low-Carb and Low-Glycemic

Nobody ever compared whether a low-carb or a low-glycemic diet works better to control our blood glucose levels. Until now.

Both diets improved A1C levels and helped participants in a 24-week study to lose weight. But the low-carb group did a lot better.

Five doctors at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, just reported their results in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism. Led by Eric Westman, M.D., the study, “Effect of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet versus a low-glycemic index diet on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus,” appeared on December 19.
Continue Reading

by
Share 
Diabetes Medication

Regenerating Islet Cells

Maybe it won’t cure diabetes. But a compound slated to begin a new Phase 2b clinical trial early next year stands a good chance of knocking diabetes back into remission.

Almost never do I write about new drugs unless they are at least in in the final stage of development, a Phase 3 trial. The odds are against them.

Of 100 drugs for which developers submit investigational new drug applications to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, about 70 will successfully complete Phase 1 trials and go on to Phase 2. About 33 of the original 100 will complete Phase 2 and go to Phase 3. And 25 to 30 of the original 100 will clear Phase 3.
Continue Reading

by
Share 
Diabetes Medication

Statin Rage

People seldom make me angry any more. When another driver cut me off yesterday, I didn’t even flip him the finger or honk my horn. I just figured that he was in a bigger hurry than I was.

Recently doctors have determined that when we are younger and when we are older we are happier than when we are middle-aged. That can’t be generally true, because I still remember my miserable youth.

My life instead has been one of increasing happiness. I’m much more likely to shed tears of joy, as I did on the evening of November 4, than to weep with rage.
Continue Reading

by
Share