Diabetic Medication | Diabetic Drugs

The information contained in this section is the reason the writer of this article refused orthodox treatment. The oral hypoglycemic agents in wide use, fall into the following five diabetic classes of diabetic drugs.

These diabetic classifications are defined according to their bio-physical mode of action. These diabetic classes are: Biguanides, Glucosidase inhibitor, Meglitinides, Sulfonylureas & Thiazolidinediones.

In addition to these synthetic diabetic drugs, the physician has available to him a number of different forms of insulin. We will look at all of these agents in this section.

As mentioned earlier, none of the diabetic medications offered by the “drug company-physician axis” cures either Type 2 diabetes or Hyperinsulinemia.

So, recognize that, as we proceed through this section, all that we are really discussing is how to alleviate the characteristic high blood sugar symptom. Note that some of these diabetic drugs increase the insulin level in patients that likely already have too much insulin in their blood stream.

Currently this oral glycemic category has one diabetic drug listed; it is: Glucophage. This is a popular drug manufactured by Bristol Meyers Squibb Company. Its active agent is “Metaformin”. It is packaged in small white tablets containing 500mg and 850mg dosages. It acts, in ways that were not clear in the PDR1, to lower blood glucose levels by three mechanisms. They are:

Its main positive claims seem to be that it does not stimulate insulin production from the pancreas, it does not seem to be metabolized by the liver and it does not cause hypoglycemia.

However the PDR states that there were no studies made on people with hepatic (liver) disfunction. Excretion is by the kidneys; it is contraindicated for people with kidney disease.

Diabetic Medication side effects include: a small percentage risk of possible lactic acidosis, caused by metaformin accumulation in the system; this is fatal to 50% of those who experience it, however. The UGDP study3, which was referenced in the PDR, found increased cardiovascular mortality with this product. It often removes vitamin B12 from the system. Other side effects include, Ketoacidosis, Hyperventilation, Myalgia, Malaise, unusual Somnolence, Diarrhea, Nausea, Vomiting, Bloating, Flatulence and Anorexia.

This category of drug contained only one diabetic drug, Precose. It is manufactured by the Rx. Pharmaceutical Division of Bayer Corporation. Its active ingredient is Acarbose. It comes in 50mg and 100mg tablets.

In its mode of action, it causes a competitive, reversible inhibition of the digestive enzyme Alpha Amylase. This means that it interferes with the operation of an important pancreatic enzyme that digests carbohydrates.

By this mechanism it slows the digestion of carbohydrates and thereby reduces post prandial blood sugar. It is recommended as adjunctive therapy with a Sulfonylurea for Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetic Medication side effects of this drug include, elevated Serum Transanimase and Hyperbilinemia. Both of these are characteristic of liver involvement in the metabolism of the drug.

It lowers serum calcium and vitamin B6. It is not recommended for those with kidney impairment. Its safety in pregnancy has not been evaluated; the drug appears in breast milk when the drug is taken by the mother and may affect the nursing infant.

Other diabetic drug side effects include, Abdominal pain, Diarrhea and Flatulence.

1 Physicians Desk Reference 2 Hepatic glucose secretion is discussed in the section on “Endocrine function’’ 3 A study of oral hypoglycemic agents by the “University Group Diabetes Program”

Again this category includes only one drug, Prandin. Prandin is manufactured by Pfizer. It comes in yellow tablets of 1mg and red tablets of 2mg. Its active ingredient is Repaglinide.

Its mode of action is to stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. It is metabolized by the liver. The principal pathways are direct oxidative transformation and by conjugation via the glucuronic pathway.

Metabolism requires a fully functional cytochrome P450 system. (For a good introductory discussion of how these pathways work see: “Encyclopedia of natural medicine”, Michael Murray, N.D and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D. Rev 2nd Ed. 1998, pp!04-125)

This drug is not recommended for those with kidney or liver impairment. This drug appears in breast milk when the drug is taken by nursing mothers.

Diabetic Medication side effects include, severe Hypoglycemia, increased risk for Cardio-Vascular Mortality, Upper Respiratory Infection, Sinusitis, Nausea, Diarrhea and Headaches.

This drug is manufactured by Pfizer in l00mg and 250mg tablets. Its active ingredient is Chlorpropamide. Its mode of action is to stimulate the pancreas to secrete insulin.

This PDR (Physicians Desk Reference. 53 edition. 1999) sheet was noteworthy in that it contained some statements, which if correctly understood, would encourage people to refuse this drug. I quote:

”This diabetic drug is indicated for use as a secondary adjunct to diet for effective glycemic control” and also ”Controlling the blood sugar alone has not been established to be effective at preventing the long term cardio-vascular or neural complications of diabetes.”

Before proceeding, we will stop and translate those two statements in the PDR sheet for this sulfonylurea drug.

The second statement comes closer than anything I have seen outside of research circles, to tell us that excess insulin is the precursor to Atherosclerosis and Cardio-Vascular events.

This diabetic drug, of course, elevates insulin levels in a patient that most probably already has excess ineffective insulin. Very seldom does the physician check the insulin levels before prescribing this drug.

For example, my physician prescribed this drug without doing a GITT on me. This diabetic drug is contra-indicated if Ketoacidosis is evident; insulin is recommended instead.

Loss of blood sugar control, even with this diabetic drug, will occur under conditions of stress.

Nursing mothers will pass this drug to their babies; the babies will, as a result, suffer reversible Hypoglycemia. This drug is famous for causing Hypoglycemia.

The diabetic medication side effects and adverse reactions that have been experienced with this drug read like a list of the possible diseases that we can acquire. They include, Hypoglycemia, Cholestatic, Jaundice, Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Anorexia, Hunger, Pruritis, Uticaria, Maculopopular Eruptions, Porphyria, Cutanatarda, Hepatic Porphyria, Photosensitivity, Anemia, Exfoliative, Dermatitis, Leukopenia, Eosinophila, and Water Retention.

The actual list is longer than this. I list here just enough to illustrate the idea.

This class lists only one drug, but it is a beauty. It is called Rezulin. This drug is manufactured by Parke-Davis. Its active ingredient is Troglitazone.

It does not act to increase pancreatic secretion of insulin. It does not act to interfere with the digestive process.

Its mode of action is to decrease hepatic glucose secretion and to increase glucose disposal in the skeletal muscle.

It reputedly reduces Hyperglycemia, Hyperinsulinemia and Hypertriglycerdemia. It is used for Type II diabetes.

This diabetic drug is metabolized in the liver by the sulfate and glucuronidation pathways. It requires a healthy cytochrome P450 liver detoxification system.

This diabetic medication is said to be compatible with the Sulfony urea class of oral hypoglycemics discussed above and for adjunctive use with insulin for Type 2 diabetes patients.

It is contra-indicated for pregnant or breast feeding women, for patients with impaired liver function and for patients with heart problems. Among the adverse reactions listed are: Hypoglycemia, Reversible Jaundice, Hepatic Disfunction, Hepatitis, Nausea, Vomiting, Abdominal Pain, Fatigue, Anorexia, Dark Urine, and Abnormal Liver Function.

This diabetic drug may render oral contraceptives ineffective. This drug may stimulate ovulation in premenopausal women.

Some time ago, The Denver Post reprinted an article from the Los Angeles Times about this particular drug Rezulin. The Rezulin manufacturer mentioned in the article was Warner-Lambert although our more recent PDR information lists Parke-Davis as the manufacturer.

The article went on to explain that this drug has been removed from the British market by their counterpart to our PDA.

This diabetic medication was rejected by a veteran PDA medical officer assigned to review it because it was seriously damaging to the liver.

According to this article, this officer, Dr. John L. Gueriguian, was subsequently removed from the review process by his administrative superiors. After the first few deaths attributed to this drug, another PDA
medical officer, Dr. Robert I. Misbin, estimated that more than 12,000 Rezulin users would experience liver damage.

He advised his superiors that 2,000 of these patients were likely to die from liver failure unless they were carefully monitored by their doctors. This drug went on to achieve fast track approval by the FDA and is currently being prescribed to American diabetes patients.

According to Dr. John J Brooks, the FDA has just recalled this drug from the American marketplace because of its link with liver cancer (JJ Brooks. M.D.. “Alternative Medicine research”. Vol. No 9. 3-26-00).

A Minnesota law firm (Law offices of Charles H Johnson & Associates, Toll free: 1 (800) 535-5727 as of April 26. 2000) is apparently preparing a major law suit against the Rezulin manufacturers.

They, the law firm, ran an ad in the Denver Rocky Mountain newspaper on April 25, 2000 in which they asked former Rezulin users to call them to discuss possible damage compensation. One cannot help but wonder about the connection, if any, between the law suit and the recall of the drug.

Although injectable insulin is usually thought to be useful primarily for the Type 1 diabetic, it is selectively used for Type 2 diabetes as well.

Insulin was first isolated by Banting, Best and Macleod, a Nobel prize winning team of Canadian researchers (JAC Brown, M.B.. B. Chir.: “Pears medical encyclopedia, illustrated” , 1971, p250).

They saved the life of a 14 year old girl who was dying in Toronto general hospital of “diabetes.” This was in 1922.

The injectable insulin therapy, which had been the object of intensive search since 1889 worked for the first time.

The therapy worked because, unbeknown to the physician, the “diabetes” being treated was what we now know as Type I diabetes.

At that time Type 2 diabetes was just beginning to surface as a major epidemic and it was not recognised as the entirely different disease that we now know it to be.

During this period diabetes exploded from the relatively rare Type I to include a huge population of not clearly recognized Type II diabetics.

Later, when the distinction was made between the two types of diabetes, this problem disappeared. Today insulin is made from pork pancreas or beef pancreas; and, it is made with recombinant gene technology.

Insulin is a protein; it consists of a unique chain of amino acids. The pork and beef derived insulins differ from human insulin by one or more amino acids.

The injection of what the body sees as a foreign protein, sometimes causes an allergic response.

Insulin made with genetic techniques from bacteria is claimed to be identical to human insulin and minimizes the potential for allergic reaction.

Some contain preservatives; some indicate that they do not contain preservatives.

They fall into three groups according to how long after injection the hypoglycemic effect occurs (R Berkow M.D.; Editor in Chief, “Merck Manual of Medical Information”, 1997, p721):

Rapid acting - Starts in 20 minutes, maximizes at about 2 to 4 hours, lasts 6 to 8 hours.

Intermediate acting - Starts in Ho3 hours, maximizes in 6 to 10 hours. Lasts 18 to 26 hours.

Long acting - Starts in 6 hours, lasts 28 to 36 hours.

Manufacturers mix and match insulin of the above three basic types to obtain a finer control on the time and dose response of the patient.

When insulin was isolated in 1922 it quickly gained a reputation for saving lives because without insulin the diabetic, at some point, went into diabetic shock and died.

The fact that the patient had to continue to take the insulin was considered to be a major disadvantage of the treatment. It was used only because it saved lives.

Many wanted a treatment that would cure the disease without the need for continuing treatment. However, it is obvious that no economic incentive exists within the medical community, as it is presently structured, to find a real cure or to eliminate continuous treatment.

Thus with the disappearance of pressure to find a better medication, none was sought.

Diabetic Medications

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