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FDA Approves New Drug for Type 2 Diabetes
Neopallium writes to tell us that the FDA has approved the first of a new kind of treatment for type 2 diabetes. From the article: "JANUVIA belongs to a new breakthrough class of prescription medications called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors that improves blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes. JANUVIA enhances a natural body system called the incretin system, which helps to regulate glucose by affecting the beta cells and alpha cells in the pancreas. Through DPP-4 inhibition, JANUVIA works only when blood sugar is elevated to address diminished insulin due to beta-cell dysfunction and uncontrolled production of glucose by the liver due to alpha-cell and beta-cell dysfunction."
I'll, uh, take your word for it...
What?
Meta will eat itself
The claim that this is first in its class seems suspect when compared to a drug that is already on the market called BYETTA. It also works with the Incretin system. So is it really justified to call JANUVIA "first of a new kind?"
Here's the PubMed link to the Merck Research in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Another downside of obese life eliminated...now if they could just make a pill that would make fat people look attractive at the beach, there'd be no limits to the future of American corpulence!
Is the submission process breaking? This is not slashdot news. It's spam, or an attempt to get a lot of linking.
Can someone who understands this translate it for me to english, because I tried reading the article but didn't understand it, and since my father has type-II diabetes it would be interesting to understand what it's all about.
And some other natural sources do affect the control of glucose levels in a positive way. It is strange that people try to invent stuff where nature can help too. It is the dosis that matters and a good doctor should be able to help you with that.
When the FDA approves something, best bet that they gain profit from it. In money or otherwise....
- Unomi -
While being fat does appear to have a correlation with type2 diabetes, genetics appears to have a greater effect. I am not fat, but have suffered from type2 for a number of years. Any medical advances dealing with this are most welcome.
*faint*
Meta will eat itself
Folks, this is some pretty big news in biotech. While not a cure for cancer, over 20 million people have diabetes. Just taking insulin is a tricky business, and even in the best of cases leads to necrosis (cell death) in the hands and feet, along with blindness and kidney failure. Think of it like a pendulum...the more you mess with it, the farther it swings - like steroids. This works on fixing the problem without that pendulum swing. It's worthy of a front page.
...that gives worms to ex-girlfriends!"
It's an upstream inhibitor of glucagon. Glucagon signals the body that it has low blood sugar. It tells the liver to produce sugars in response, because the body thinks you're in a fasting state. In a normal person glucagon is inhibited when you eat food, because insulin is released. Insulin tells the body - 'It's Dinner Time!!' - and you're liver production of sugar stops as blood sugar is used up. Apparently this system gets screwed up in people with diabetes, as the balancing act between insulin and glucagon doesn't work properly. Therefore this medication will help the body realize, that when blood sugar is high, to stop liver production of sugars (and possibly tell the pancreas to release insulin), which should aid diabetics in controlling blood sugar levels.
Obesity and weight gain in general is closely linked to the control of blood sugar. When blood sugar levels crash after people eat the wrong foods, they get hungry again. It's the body's way of trying to stabilize blood sugar levels.
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The drug companies research on diabetes is closely linked to their research on obesity. So, the next headline you read may be "Drug cures obesity". http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?n
One of the best explanations of blood sugar vs. weight can be found in Barry Sears book "The Zone". http://www.drsears.com/booksbydrsears.page He actually started his research to try to extend his life. His male ancestors tended to die of heart disease in their fifties. He's already lived longer, so that's one indicator that his findings are effective. On of his key findings was the role that blood sugar levels have on athletic performance and weight gain.
The tone of your post is pretty judgemental. The weight gain epidemic in America has way more to do with the choices people are given and not so much to do with the fact that people are a bunch of fat lazy slobs. Someone who's glued to their desk for nine or ten hours a day and then has to spend another three hours commuting, isn't going to get the exercise they need, nor do they have the time or energy to cook a healthy meal when they get home.
BTW. If I had to sum up what Dr. Sears says: Eat way less red meat and way more vegitables. It worked for me.
The medicine is great for the people that need it, I'm sure. But let's go off on a tangent; I see a number of posters already are doing so.
Why are so many slashdrones so terribly hostile toward diabetics? It's not possible to post a story mentioning diabetes without various people posting inaccurate information ("Being lazy and getting fat causes diabetes!") combined with hearty invective ("You're sub-human slobs and you all deserve to die!").
(Just for the record, obesity is associated with diabetes but is not the cause. Diabetes is a failure of various regulatory mechanisms and heredity plays a big part. There's lots of good research that indicates the process of becoming diabetic tends to make you fat rather than the reverse. And treatment is severely problematical, often because common drugs cause massive weight gain, a problem this new drug is supposed to address.)
So why all the bile poured out on diabetes sufferers? I really don't understand it. There are lots of other diseases that make people unattractive or can be partially blamed on lifestyle, but I don't see anyone jumping on the "People get cancer because they're stupid!" or the "All alcoholics should be shot!" bandwagons, even though those ideas make about as much sense as condemning diabetics for being sick.
What's up? Anyone want to clue me in?
Instead of making America take more drugs and waste more money, how about they just ban high fructose corn syrup? We might not have the big diabetes epidemic we have right now if we stopped filling all our food with such a dangerous sweetener. But of course, our government is more concerned with the "rights" of big business than the well-being of the people that it supposedly serves. And those pharmacutical companies that "donate" to our politicians stand to make a larger killing off of this than they would with an actual good plan.
I assume it was a 17 patent on it.
People could just eat a proper diet and less crappy foods. Especially avoiding things with that poisonous High Fructose Corn Syrup that manufacturers love to use. This isn't about obesity, it's about diet.
While I wouldn't go so far as to say type 2 diabetes can be totally prevented, it's generally a self inflicted disease. And our society isn't helping either because the crappiest foods are often the easiest to get (eg. fast food).
The ratio of people to cake is too big
disclaimer: I am a pharmacologist. I do not work for Merck or any other drug company. I do work for an ICU specialist group.
This drug works by decreasing the amount of sugar produced by the liver. In most type II diabetics the liver produces too much, for reasons we only partly understand. It also makes the pancreas produce more insulin in response to high blood sugar. This mechanism is also defective in type II diabetes, again for reasons poorly understood. It does these things by a new mechanism of action, and is the first drug that affects the first problem I listed above.
Does your father go to an endocrinologist? Diabetes is still not as well understood as we would like, and this is the third brand new treatment for diabetes in the last couple of years (one of them is for type I diabetics only). There are a lot of new options out there.
Using plain ol' text since 1968
Someday, one of these announcements will actually help those of us with Juvenile Diabetes (Type 1), who have to take multiple shots a day and not just pop a pill.
Genetics sucks.
No statement I can see about how much this treatment will cost. Many new-gen drugs are so expensive that only the super-rich can afford them. So, while nice to know of, they are effectively useless for 99 per cent of humanity. The irony is that the super-rich are much less likely to need such treatments, since they can afford to eat well. No corn-syrup-soaked breakfast cereal for them, no breads mostly containing only fats and air with a few corner-sweepings of wheat thrown in, no vegetables pumped full of water and then covered in salt and sugar.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
haha - funny but backwards - you see in a world where there is little food, it's the fat people who would survive the best. Bet you never thought of it that way have you?
But back to reality - natural selection is kinda of out the door since nothing humans interact with in there environment is natural anymore, plus it takes a million years. Nope, its all dependent on just plain radiation indeuced mutation now. Well that and human controled genetic modifications. Which hopefully someday will address the fat issue.
No it doesn't. That happens when people don't take enough insulin. Then the sugar level in their blood gets too high. A lot of people with diabetes constantly walk around with about 2-3x as much sugar in their blood stream as what's normal.
Sugar is sticky. So it sticks to the insides of the blood vessels. When a blood vessel is coated with enough sugar on the inside, it won't be able to transport blood any more. The first blood vessels to clog this way is obviously the thinnest ones. Like the ones in the hands, feet, eyes and kidneys (see the connection?).
So all of those issues isn't because people are taking insulin, they are because people are *not* taking their insulin. Under-dosing some other drug won't help either.
Installed the Bubblemon yet?
My wife is Type 1 diabetic, and her take on this is that $5 a pill is a lot of money for something that doesn't really work any better than the existing therapies available at 50 cents a pill. Getting A1C readings down to 7 is nothing to crow about. 7 is still too high. To minimize the long term complications of uncontrolled blood sugars, you really want your A1C down around 6.
Alright, you did say "most people". But some are slim, physically active people who happen to have inherited one of a large number of genetic faults that cause their glucose metabolism to malfunction. Me, for example, I have never been overweight in my life - yet I have the same DM 2 condition that my mother and her mother had. Diagnosed at the age of 54. ... )
(I could have slugged that eye specialist. He examined my eyes carefully and told me I had no diabetic damage to my retinas. As I breathed a sigh of relief, he added, "but you have beginning cataracts on both eyes". Grrr
There is a word that describes people without glucose in their blood. :-0
It's "dead". It's what happens if you shoot too much insulin.
Every cell in your body needs glucose, it their fuel! If you don't eat carbohydrates at all, the body will start manufacturing glucose
from fats and proteins. Unfortunately the byproducts of this process are poisonous and can kill you - WILL kill a diabetic.
If you're not a diabetic, I think it's called the Atkins diet and can kill you by starvation
For people skipping AC post, this is what he wrote:
Umm, if you're not ingesting carbohydrates, and don't have glucose in your blood, you won't need insulin (an incredibly destructive hormone anyway), and thus, your lost pancreatic islet cells can remain lost.
and you've chosen early heart attack. The link between red meat and heart disease is pretty strong.
n sf/en/gr112100e.html
The same way you imply that fat people are lazy slobs who can't control their appetites reflects back on you because you can't control your desire for red meat. There are reasons why our population is so fat and being judgemental about it won't cure the problem. It turns out that it isn't a particularly easy problem to solve but I think the tide is turning. The food industry is presenting us with a lot more healthy alternatives these days. For instance the market for organic food is increasing at over ten percent per year. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inimr-ri.
I had a heart attack at the grand old age of 30 six years ago, and was diagnosed diabetic at the same time. I was out of the USMC by only a few years, and while I did have a stressful job with the sometimes according eating habits, I was by no means fat/obese, and didn't certainly live on sugar. (No family history either FWIW). No definitive cause was found, but strongly suspected the undiagnosed diabetes as the impetus. In my case, I had symptoms for several years, but simply attributed them to...getting older and being tired. It was suspected that I had gotten a bacterial infection at some point that essentially shut down my pancreas-instant diabetic essentially. Thankfully, I had a great doc who treatment centered around the concept of "jumpstarting" my pancreas, and today, I'm fully controlled by now with only one oral medication taken daily. I can say that I am excited by these new drugs as I *have* put on weight since having to take the current classes of drugs-probably 40 pounds. I exercise, eat decently, and can do both to extremes by can't seem to lose/maintain weight no matter what (all sideffects of the current class of drugs).
New drug breakthroughs, same old pricing.
The good news is, if you're not at least upper-middle class, then in 5 or 6 years, when a better drug comes out, you'll finally be able to afford this one!
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
Europe is sooooo much better than America!! Just admit it! All you Americans are useless slobs!!!
Can someone mod the parent down as offtopic? Christ, he thinks he's going to solve the world's health problems in a slashdot post.
If you really think that Europeans are generally better than Americans at making health decisions then you are clueless. I mean, Europe invented foie gras. If you don't know what that is, then look it up. Then come back and tell me how much healthier Europeans are.
Finally, I am willing to bet that the only reason Europe has smaller drink sizes is that soda costs more in Europe. Oh, but I forgot, in Europe, they don't care about money. Businesses just give their products to the poor and needy because everyone in Europe is more moral than us American slobs and our rabid, fast food consuming families. Really, they gave up money years ago in Europe. IT's SO 20th century!
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
oh well.. first of all, this is not a prevent medicine.
Second, this disease does not necessary come with eating bad food or being a fat person although it is one of the major causes. There are lots of people in the world who started contract with this disease due to generation and other factors. I think it is big hit.
People with diabetes also suffer from the side effects of the disease over time (heart disease, kidney failure etc...) while being careful about their diet. I think this medicine will help those people by producing natural hormones instead of taking insulin everyday to live.
Lets appreciate the good contribution of today's science.!!!
Finally, I dont work for that company or I am not diabetic. This is a pure appreciation to a good science.
I have been doing this for the last few months and it has really turned the tide for me, before I really felt like I was loosing the battle against diabetes. The only trick is finding the right *kind* of cinnamon can be difficult. There are hundreds of types of cinnamon and the kind you want is commonly called "cassia" or "cinnamonium aromium" (sp?) or sometimes "cinnamonium romulus" (generally the chinese name). It is grown in indonesia and china. Problem being that most cinnamons sold in the US are blends of Saigon Cinnamon which does not seem to have the same properties. A number of nutrition stores sell cinnamon pills (vitamin shoppe, gnc) that have the correct cinnamon in them. Currently the best price i've found is at GNC -- if you buy their GNC card ($15/year) it knocks a bottle of 200 pills down to about $12. Before you say "thats expensive for cinammon" as yourself -- what are you spending on medication right now? On your glucophage, on your metformin, on your zocor, on your benazepril, on your insulin?
For me the cinnamon does not have the horrible side effects of things like metformin and glucophage. The side effects (sudden intense hunger, increased appetite) make me eat more, gain weight, and thus require more medication. I am not suggesting you replace your medications for cinnamon, but if you are having trouble controlling your blood sugar, try adding cinnamon to your diet. If you are not having trouble, try replacing some of your medication with cinnamon.
I am planning on starting a website soon about this to try and get the word out. How many times in life is there something simple and safe that can improve your health?
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Why are so many slashdrones so terribly hostile toward diabetics?
It's not about you. It's about them. They're better than you -- that's their point. They're "the good people". How would you know how much better they are if they didn't tell you how bad you are in comparison? More importantly, how would they know?
Similar people drive a Prius, only buy organic food, support smoking bans in taverns, and "only watch PBS on TV".
http://www.nerf-herders-anonymous.net/images/Wilfo rdBrimley.jpg Unavailable for comment.
nothing
If you're at risk for diabetes, control your diet, exercise, and take chromium. Chromium for diabetes is not new. It's three or four decades old.
The link to the vendor I provided listed only the positive studies. There are some negative studies as well. Because chromium opens up the cell gateway for fat, my personal unscientific opinion is that it accelerates fat loss or gain, depending on diet. That's been my experience -- when on chromium, I gain or lose weight faster.
And while I'm on the topic of unpatentable vitamins, at least half the people on Prozac should just be taking copper and zinc instead. The theory goes that they're no longer present in our food due to overfarming, so we need to take them as supplements.
IANAD
I've got Diabetes II. Really, you *don't* need drugs to treat it. It sounds clichéd, but exercise, a good diet, and (if it's your thing) supplements like garlic and cinnamon and you'll be fine.
I get a little annoyed at the "Illness? Take a pill!" attitude I see so much of today.
Sweet!
I completely agree. I am a Type 1 diabetic, the kind that you DON'T get from being lazy and fat. In fact, I am quite normal in size and was when I was diagnosed. Type 1 just happens to you and it's not anyone's fault. My body decided to attack its own pancreas. And somehow that's my fault?!?!? I think not.
I'm not bitter, I'm just unsweetened.
This jerk has no clue about the real causes and just wants to blame the people that suffer from a disease for the disease itself.
It isn't funny, and is very indicative of a class of people in this world. We generally refer to them as "jackasses".
And no, it isn't funny either.
At first I got excited about the inhaled insulin, but after reading it again, it seems pretty lame. It's freaking huge (12"?!?!), doses are very imprecise, and only good for people who take more than 60 units of short-acting insulin per day. I despise large testing/insulin devices as I try to be as discreet and normal as possible and I only take about 15 units of short-acting insulin per day. So basically, this thing is useless to me. I guess I just have to wait another 20 years...
I'm not bitter, I'm just unsweetened.
Your oh-so-funny post conveniently ignores the contribution of genetics in the predisposition to Type 2 diabetes.
No not really, my oh-so-sarcastic post simply failed to mention my own genetic predisposition for type 2 diabetes and it also should have mentioned that I used to be one of those lazy nerds. Crawling behind a genetic predisposition for cover won't help you any more than it helped me. It is a statistical reality that the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes have been obese. Most of the time (there are exceptions as another poster here pointed out) a genetic predisposition to get diabetes only causes you to get diabetes 2 at an abnormally early age if you eat like a pig and never get off your ass and exercise which is how I contracted my diabetes. Several of my extended family also have this predisposition and have led very normal lives regardless because they eat and live healthy. My luck was that because of the genetic predisposition there are a few others in my family who have diabetes 2 and so I was dragged kicking and screaming to a doctor who diagnosed my diabetes very early. As a consequence of that early diagnosis and due to the fact that I became a sports fanatic I suffer very mildly from diabetes. So long as I stick with my diet and exercise I will probably never suffer very badly from it although there will always be some consequences. Unfortunately of the other people which I know and who also contracted premature diabetes 2 at an early age some 70-80% only take medication and do little else to deal with it. I shudder to think what sorts of medical problems they will have in 20 years time.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Europe invented foie gras. If you don't know what that is, then look it up. Then come back and tell me how much healthier Europeans are.
Well, if even you think Europeans have to "look it up", perhaps you know how often we eat the stuff. Not very often. It's good but expensive.
So, yes, we are healthier. Not because of the food we eat, but because of the amount of food we eat. Less. A lot less. (Have you ever been at a restaurant with a couple of stars in the guide michelin? There's no "all you can eat" places there.)
Thanks to McDonalds we're catching up though.
I'm in my final year of medical school and I find it interesting that in our diabetology course, which was about six months ago, they didn't mention either 1. DPP-4 inhibitors or 2. the incretin system. In fact, I've never even heard of either. Most people think that medical schools teach their students everything known in medicine, but this is impossible (as evidenced here). The next time you're visiting your GP, ask him to recount the Kreb's cycle for you (a famous biochemical pathway). I highly doubt that he still can! Back to the topic, since I'm not familiar with this new class of drugs, I cannot speak intelligently about them. However, I do hope that the research done and the testing for approval has been adequate and that Merck didn't just "push this one through" as they did with Rofecoxib (Vioxx). It'll be interesting to see whether or not more and more patients can meet their HBA1C goal of 7%, and how this will affect the average diabetic's daily insulin dosage plan. Another interesting question is how they arrived at a price of 4.86$US per tablet!
In my mom's family *EVERYBODY* died from type 2 diabetes upon
getting 45-55 years old. They all lived in Russia and Ukraine,
and none of them were obese or overweight. Believe me, they
could not get corn syrup or fast food even if they wanted
to.
IT IS A GENETIC DESEASE and it's really nasty. It is very insulting
to hear "diet and you'll be fine" comments from people how know
nothing about his disease.
P.S. Yes, it's very likely that I too will die from it. And no,
I'm not obese or overweight.
This is really cool news indeed. I should also mention that if you're diabetic and haven't read this collection of 6 articles, you might be able to save your feet and eyes and kidneys. It's non-commercial, just a collection of papers and a diabetic writer who's putting it together.
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/ Most important conclusion: If you can keep blood sugar controlled enough, Type-2 need not deteriorate. Don't reply until you've read the article and references.
I will be on the lookout to see if it works for feline and canine diabetics too (I run the wiki on for diabetic cats & dogs: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/ )
You have no idea what you're talking about. Before you go around calling other people ignorant, maybe you should pick up and read a good scientific study on the subject.
There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Just essential fats and amino acids.
The vast majority of your cells can subsist on protein and fat synthesis, and, in fact, do better that way. For the few types of cells that do need glucose, your body can produce it from protein (and it will never approach the toxic levels that require diabetics to shoot insulin).
Humans evolved over the past 2 million years eating primarily meat and fat obtained from hunting and some occasional fruits and vegetables when they were in season. It's only in the past few thousand years that people have begun getting most of their calories from starches and sugars, and in the process generating numerous "diseases of civilization", including type-II diabetes.
This drug isn't really so imoportant as it seems at first sight. With oral theraphy, you can only slow down the progress od diabetes. You can shorten the time to Insulin teraphy. When pills fail, the patient has to go on Insulin. This new drug is not really more effective than the ones existing at the moment. So I don't see any real progress.
showed significant mean differences in HBA1C from placebo of -0.8% and -0.6%
This is the most important part. The lovering of HBA1C is in the range of other antidiabetic drugs (to be true, a litle lower then the older ones). This drug also doesn't change the cause of diabetes, it only slows the progress.
It isn't problematic, that this news comes to slashdot. It is problematic, that it is handeled as big news, but in the reality it isn't.
I would not want to take this. It's tricking your beta cells to produce more insulin. Beta cells die off after so many tries at insulin production. beta cells are not regenerative. Everyone has thier x number of beta cells. it sounds like you get the same
results if you take metformin and avandia together..which I will not do. Beta cell depletion will just lead to type I symtoms and you will need to be on insulin. Here's what I do. I take 100mg of metformin a day along with 1000mg of chromium picolinate.
My hba1c number is now normal! I am hoping to wean off metformin and just take the chroimium picolinate for a while, eventually
no chromium picolinate either. And I measure my glucose now even though it's pretty flat and normal now.
This drug that's mentioned is only going to lead to injecting insulin later in life.
I was diagnosed with JD when I was 6 ...at 6 I was reasonably healthy and at and Ideal weight. Through the years I have been very good about taking care of myself and today (I am 18) I no longer have to take my meds as frequently and am no longer on insulin.Every day I exercise, I eat very well and am always mindful of the amount of sugar I intake.Ihave a little bit of a weight problem . I weigh 170-180 pounds, and am 5'8. Even though I exercise well, I still have a belly.
People who have Diabetes can sometimes be Obese without fault on themselves.My entire life I have had to deal with Uneducated oblivious fucks telling me I am to blame for my illness.
What do you call someone who had a type I diabetic mother, survived cancer, and then became a type II diabetic? Sports and exercise are not an option, due to side effects of previous problems, like "Chronic left subdeltoid Burrsitus with inpingement syndrome" to screw up one shoulder and a hip screwed up by the process of doing a bone marrow biopsy during cancer treatment?
"Eating like a pig" has nothing to do with it. There is nothing about lifestyle CHOICES that causes oen to get the disease.
Crawl back under your rock and thank someone that YOUR condition isn't more serious.
I'm going to try this! I'm on metformin and I am taking (thanks to the net) 1000mg/day of chromium picolinate.
My HBA1C is now 7.2! 3 weeks of chmium picolinate and 6 months of 100mg/day metformin. I'm going to add the cinnimon! I would
love to dump the metformin. Once I am down to 6.9 I will tell the Dr. "No more metformin for me!"
I wol d never take stuff like this drug mentioned. It sounds similar to a combo of metformin and avandia. Avandia stimulates your
pancrease to produce more insulin. Good old high school bioligy teaches you have a finite number of beta cells. When you use beta cells they eventually die. So each beta cell is capable of x amount of insulin. So eventually you end up on insulin.
I think attacking the problem with chromium supplements and cinnamon is more direct. At least if the docs on the internet have been correct.
Note: I read that up to 5000mg/day of chromium picolinate is ok, over that you can run into problems.
1000mg/day for type II is recommended, under that you may not see results.
I've been lucky so far.
If beta cells die off after insulin production we would all be type 1 diabetics. Additionally, from what I understand about these incretin enhancers it seems that beta cell functionality IMPROVES and beta cell mass can INCREASE. They are also weight neutral and shouldn't have hypoglycemic side effects. So there is no reason for this medication causing a need for insulin injections. With Avandia and Actos your cells are actually producing MORE insulin receptors so they draw more insulin in. Great for lowering blood sugar, bad for weight control. For any person who has diabetes or is borderline, talk to your doctor, an endocrinologist or a pharmacist about treatments and monitoring.
1000mg of chromium picolinate Are you sure you didn't mean 1000 mcg?
I have stayed away from chromium because it is believed to be a mutagen.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
This means the endocrine system has to work well. Look it up. we have a finite number of beta cells.
If you have type II diabetes, you burn more off the beta cells than most if untreated or on avandia.
That's how you have type II with type I symptoms.
read up on the pancreas and beta cells.... It is a finite supply designed to outlast us. But if you need more insulin than
most, you run out of beta cells and have to inject insulin. I'm not making this up. It's a major problem.
Avandia doesn't increase the workload on beta cells. If anything it REDUCES the beta cell workload as your cells are more responsive to the effects of insulin. In fact, metformin should also reduce beta cell workload as it decreases the amount of glucose produced in the liver. The exact mechanism of beta cell decline in patients with T2DM, at least as far as I know, has not been definitively answered although chronic hyperstimulation is one proposed mechanism. If you have new research which answers that, please let me know.
Check up on the Chromium carefully - it may not be as safe as once thought.
Linker3000
(T2 on Metformin and Novonorm (repaglinide) amongst other things)
AT&ROFLMAO
My glucose measureing records prove that the metformin/chrmomium picolinate is working better for me than straing 100mg of metformin
a day. the first day I took chrmium picolinate I was 50 points lower. Now my bg is flatter and less high spikes. No more swings
from 180 to 110! now it's pretty much 90-150. Much better, and it's after the chromium picolinate.
I'm getting more info together. next month I'm going to aff 2000mg/day of cinnamon.
Once the A1C is down to 6.9 I am going to drop metformin and see where I stabilize.
if the bg is around 80-140 I will drop metformin completely.
TYPE I is an autoimmune disaease
TYPE II is a syndrome. there are many causes. you do not have to be heavy. I am not heavy, I play football, soccer, softball.
Ride bikes, air hockey... etc.
Good for you, but next time could you address the previous post?
Really. It's been a while since I went there, but they are always eagerly looking for new cures for diabetes. Please, please go to that newsgroup and tell your theory there. I'll step back and watch as they flame you to a crisp ...
Yeah, I'm leery of stimulating the beta cells.
My thinking is that if diet, exercise and metformin don't keep your glucose under control you might as well start injecting insulin. Adding insulin is not ideal for a type 2, but some people need it. If you need more insulin, don't push your beta cells harder, just inject the stuff and give your poor beta cells a break.
Two injuries.
Chronic left subdeltiod bursitus with impingement syndrome Aquired in the service of my country, the USA.
And my hip was messed up by one of the bone marrow biopsies that were done to diagnose and cure my cancer, which predated the diabetis.
Any more bright comments, jackass?
It's not my theory, it's the theory of everyone who's ever read a study on the subject. Do yourself a favor and google "bernstein diabetes".
Avandia and januvia will let the beta cells "rest" also. The only two classes of drugs I can think of off the top of my head that actually stimulate beta cells are the sulfonylureas and meglitinides. I dispense a fair amount of sulfonylureas but we don't even keep either of the meglitinides in stock.
I've tried the cinnamon and not seen any improvement.
I could have been using the wrong kind.
What I have found to be most beneficial in knocking down my levels is a Colloidal formulation of Chromium and Vanadium. [ Basically Metformin but in a colloidal (liquid) state.]
1 teaspoon and it's -85 to -100 points immediately.
Can be found on Amazon. [ Future Biotics ]
To Life!
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, my source of reference for my statement that you can avoid insulin by dying from the diabetes induced complications first, which was a touch of self-targetted sick humour, is the direct experience of watching my father die from the massive brain haemorage (forgive spelling - I've no dictionary at hand)when I was ten years old and he was 64. This was accompanied by his being certified blind, not having the use of his legs through diabetic ulcers, and losing his mental faculties. A highly unpleasant experience resulting from the poor understanding at that time of the very issue we are now debating - because he was type 2, he was not considered to require insulin.
but of course, that depends upon your definition of "cure." Normal blood sugars without any medication sounds like a cure to me.
This is an obvious marketing ploy - the website got slashdotted, but "alphatradefn.com"? Does that sound like a reputable medical site to anyone?
And there appears to be critical levels of astroturfing going on, part of it pushing this new drug (Yes, it's another class of meds for type II diabetes, but metfromin and Avandia/Actos work pretty good already. Actually, they will probably work better in the long term, since they don't work by stimulating insulin production... insulin production is usually increased early on, the main problem is insulin resistance, where the cells in the body don't respond properly and fail to take up enough glucose/stop glucose production.) and part of it pushing cinnamon/chromium (Which have some evidence to support them, but they aren't a serious treatment for diabetes that has progressed far enough for someone to consider trying this stuff.).
Seriously, I have no idea where to start. Every single statement you posted is wrong, with the partial expection that this is decent news for biotech.
IT guys, help me out here. How do you deal with someone who thinks the CD tray is a cupholder?
The gov't medical coverage in the states only covers the latest and most expensive brand name drugs? That's crazy, though I guess it explains a few things.
Pharmacare's LCA (lowest cost alternative) rules switch to covering just the cost of the generic so fast that occasionally we have trouble getting it in. Though when there isn't a cheaper alternative, it can sometimes be overly generous - it will cover ridiculous $$$ amounts of triptans even when the patient is using the drug everyday and almost certainly getting medication-induced headaches.
Everyone who has only read Bernstein's study, you mean. Thanks,but no thanks, I'll stick to the peer-reviewed ones.
Next Monday, I go to see the Melbourne Retina Association, because my optometrist has identified (he thinks)wet macular degenration in both of my eyes. I am using 100 units (not sure if that means any thing in the US) twice a day of Mixtard 30/70 to control my blood sugar levels, and on insulin, weight control is MUCH more difficult, according to my Endocrinologist AND my GP, but I have managed to maintain, and slightly decrease, my weight since I started on insulin injections.
What does this all mean? Well, for one, it means that the time that I can continue to contribute to forums such as this is probably limited, as when I lose my central vision, and am left with just peripheral vision, I don't believe that computers will be a resource available to me any more. Then there are the small veinous haemorages in the lower ventricles of my heart, that currently only show up after forced, vigorous exercise, and which will get worse over time. Add to that the lack of any hair on my legs (yes, hair disappears from the lower extremities) and the much lowered libido that comes with the tablets that they pump in to you.....
Do any of you think that I am enjoying going down hill like this? Or that if more exercise and an even more rigorous diet would help that I wopuldn't be at it straight away? If you do, then you are in cloud cuckoo land!
Now, I for one resent the "Fatties of the world" tag, and find the smart arse comments distasteful, to say the least.
Will those of you who think that you know what you are doing, get out of the way of those of us who know what we are doi
but I had a pretty busy week. "Metformin decreases hepatic glucose production, decreases intestinal absorption of glucose, and improves insulin sensitivity by increasing peripheral glucose uptake and utilization" (from the package insert). However the primary mechanism of action by far is the last of these (improving insulin sensitivity), which is why it is used in type I as well as type II diabetes. Perhaps I oversimplified, but the OP seemed not to be looking for complexity.
By the way, I love wikipedia, but it is often quite wrong about prescription drugs (not too far off this time, though). Try drugs.com or drugdigest.org - both are free and have good info. Wikipedia is just too vulnerable to armchair experts to be a good medical resource.
Using plain ol' text since 1968