Type 2 diabetes is on the rise. It’s one of the diseases afflicting humans that is often preventable. Preventable because lifestyle plays a large role in the development of type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2 – it’s caused by the pancreas’ inability to produce insulin. On the other hand, in type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does produce insulin but either not enough or the body can’t properly use the insulin that’s being produced.
It used to be that type 1 diabetes was called juvenile diabetes and then the name changed to insulin-dependent diabetes. Originally, it …read more

Depression… Obesity… Type 2 Diabetes. It sounds like almost one third of every patient I have ever seen. Now the kicker… mostly women. Middle aged women are more at risk for all 3 before mentioned ailments. We need to do something now and stop this cyclical pattern!
Go get yourself some anti depressants you say? Now although I do agree with and absolutely stand behind the use of such medications, they are not always the answer.
Certain SSRI’s and many other anti depressants, not to mention atypical antipsychotic medications (AAP), have side effects such as weight gain, glucose intolerance and metabolic changes. …read more

Researchers out of University of Ottawa have discovered a mutation in a gene that is considered to be a major controller in the way that energy levels are used in our bodies. This is a big discovery for endurance athletes as well as diabetics.
What gene is being examined and how does this pertain specifically to diabetics? The gene adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, AMPK, which controls the amount of energy in our cells by becoming active when fuel stores start to deplete such as in extreme exercise. The mutation showed a doubling of the energy use in the cells. In …read more

True Blue… That is what they are saying about the older, cheaper diabetic drugs. As if the newer, more expensive, highly debatable drugs needed anymore “bad type” press. This could hurt sales for such drugs as Avandia even further.
 
The clear winner: metformin, sold as Glucophage and generically for about $100 a year. It works as well as other diabetes pills but does not cause weight gain or too-low blood sugar, the analysis found. It also lowers LDL or bad cholesterol. Consumer Reports also published a guide of the results. Besides metformin, it rates glipizide and glimepiride, sold …read more

“Diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia often coexist in patients,” said Dr. Bays. “This study provides evidence that colesevelam HCl is not only safe and effective in improving cholesterol levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, but may also lower glucose levels as well.”
These findings will be presented at the ADA poster session today in Kentucky. The hopes is that we can once again kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Patients will benefit exponentially if we can lower both A1C and LDL.
Parameters on the study did include…
The addition of colesevelam HCl tablets was compared to the addition of placebo …read more

Type 2 diabetics have something to celebrate. There is a 2 in 1 pill that was given federal approval this week. It is called Janumet. The medication is a combination of metformin and Januvia, 2 pills that are being taken separately by diabetics to help control their blood sugar.
Merck hopes the combination version will make it easier for those diabetics to control their blood sugar levels.
This comes only 5 months after the drug Januvia was approved by the federal drug administration. Januvia is the first of its type on the market.
JANUVIA is a once-daily pill …read more

Type 2 diabetics now have another choice when it comes to their treatment. Along with the multiple choices of oral medication, a new injectable drug is now FDA approved and being prescribed. Being a type 2 diabetic myself, I can honestly say I would not be interested in another needle or two throughout the day. My fingers will thank me later! But for some diabetics, BYEETA has been the answer to their disease happiness.

Patients receiving BYETTA achieved a significant A1C reduction of 1.2% at Week 30 and 1.1% at 2.5 years1
Patients with a baseline A1C of …read more