Reason to reconsider

Diabetes drugs linked to serious, even deadly, health risks

If you’ve got diabetes and aren’t using natural techniques to manage it, I’ve got some disturbing news that may make you want to reconsider.

The first item of business is a warning that came directly from the FDA about the diabetes drug Byetta. In a matter of about seven months, the agency received half a dozen reports of hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis in patients taking the drug. For those of you not familiar with these conditions, they’re as serious as they sound and involve inflammation of the pancreas that can damage and eventually destroy the organ and the surrounding tissues.

Of the six people whose cases were allegedly linked to Byetta, two actually died — so this is obviously no minor “side effect.”

But before you ask your doctor to prescribe you an alternative to Byetta, consider the second piece of news: A study published in August in the journal Heart showed that one of the common classes of diabetes drugs increases the risk of heart failure. In fact, the researchers found that blood-sugar-regulating thiazolidinediones appeared to “double the risk of congestive heart failure in people with type 2 diabetes.” Drugs belonging to the thiazolidinedione family include Avandia and Actos.

And now for the last piece of news — the GOOD news: You don’t have to make a choice between the lesser of these pharmaceutical evils. Dr. Wright has shared numerous tips over the years for preventing, combating, and even reversing diabetes without the risk laden “help” of patented drugs. To search the Nutrition & Healing archives for the articles he’s written on this topic, visit www.wrightnewsletter.com, log on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue, and enter “diabetes” into the search function.

Sources:

“Byetta (exenatide) – Reports of 6 cases of hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis since October 2007,” FDA MedWatch (www.fda.gov/medwatch/), 8/18/08

“Diabetes drugs may cause heart failure: Study,” HealthDay (www.healthday.com), 8/31/08