The latest prediction by the CDC is that new diabetes cases will surge in the U.S. by 2050 unless something is done about the obesity epidemic. It is estimated that 1 in 3 Americans will have the disease.

The overwhelming feeling is that the key is in prevention. The fact that people are living longer and diabetes patients are living longer after diagnosis are two more reasons that the incidence of the disease is expected to greatly increase. Weight loss through both diet and exercise is the only hope to correct this dangerous trend.

Weight loss and exercise can prevent or at least delay the patients with prediabetes from developing Type II diabetes. People at risk due to their weight, family history, ethnic background, and other factors need to get screened. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · diabetes · obesity · prediabetes · weight loss and exercise

As most everyone who is taking the diabetes drug Avandia knows the medication has been under scrutiny in the U.S. and in Europe for some time. The FDA has decided to allow continued marketing of Avandia in the U.S. with restricted access while the European Medicines Agency has announced that all drugs containing Avandia will be off of the market in the next few months. They announced that the information that they now have no longer supports the view that the benefit of using the drug outweighs the cardiac risks involved.

The restricted access plus the fact that there is another drug available like Avandia without the same cardiac risks may signal the end of the popular diabetes drug. Restricted access means among other things that:

• in order to prescribe the drug doctors must be part of a registry that certifies that they are familiar with the cardiac risks involved with the use of Avandia
• they are prescribing it only because their patient has exhausted all other medications to try and control their blood sugar
• patients also have to understand the cardiac risks involved in taking the drug 

Patients currently on Avandia should be hearing from their doctor’s office soon to discuss their use of Avandia. If they don’t they should give them a call. bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

Avandia · diabetes · European Medicines Agency · FDA

On Saturday the New York Times published an article concerning the possible cardiovascular risk to patients taking Avandia for diabetes. This has been in the news for sometime now but until recently had died down. The concern is whether taking the drug raises the user’s risk of having a heart attack or developing heart failure. 

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a report saying that they were reviewing clinical study results and observational studies to determine if Avandia posed a big enough risk to be removed from the market. They stated that no conclusions or recommendations had been reached at this time but they planned to release their findings at a public meeting in July.

Meanwhile, the FDA suggests that all patients continue to take their Avandia unless they are told to stop by their doctor.

A bipartisan Senate investigation of the situation reported that GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Avandia, are responsible for the drug’s current problems because they failed to alert patients for years concerning the drug’s dangers. So the Avandia debacle continues as does the many woes of the Food and Drug Administration. I don’t mind admitting that BEFORE all of this hit the news many months ago, I was taking Avandia.  bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: 7/14/2010 and 7/16/2010

Avandia · danger of Avandia · diabetes · Food and Drug Administration · GlaxoSmithKline

Most of us realize that diabetes is a very costly disease. Both in dollars and in mortality and mobidity numbers. Several months ago the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (Nov. 2009) released the following staggering numbers concerning diabetes.

• 24 million Americans with diabetes
• $174 billion spent on diabetes in 2007
• $11,477 average annual cost in 2007 to an American with diabetes
• $60 average cost of a box of 100 blood glucose test strips
• $70 average cost for a vial of insulin

One of the scariest facts is that the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes is growing everyday. I think that there are 2 main reasons for this. (1) Lower lab number results are now used to diagnose the disease. Until recently the medical community found that it was missing too many diabetics using the old numbers. (2) And the growing problem of childhood obesity. Many young people are now being diagnosed with Type II diabetes which is something that rarely ever happened in the past.

Educate yourself, get plenty of exercise, watch what you eat and maintain a healthy weight. As the old T.V. commercial used to say, “The life you save may be your own.”  bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

diabetes · exercise · health · healthcare · lose weight · wellness

Many of you folks know that the hemoglobin A1c test has long been used to monitor glucose control in diabetics. It’s the test that averages what your blood sugar has been doing over the last 3 months. Since a fasting glucose has been the main test used to diagnose diabetes it has long been desirable to come up with a non fasting test since most patients have eaten when they go to their doctors appointment. The American Diabetes Assoc. now recommends that the A1c be used for diagnosis! An A1c of approximately 5% is non diabetic, 5.7% – 6.4% = prediabetic, and 6.5% and above = diabetic. Screening for diabetes will be much easier now with a non fasting test available. Be sure to ask your doctor about this.   bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

American Diabetes Association · diabetes · health · hemoglobin A1c · non fasting blood test