Posted on 04/05/2013 12:59:11 PM PDT by neverdem
A new diabetes drug that hit the market in the past week boasts it can drop your glucose levels and flush out "guilty" calories every time you use the bathroom.
Experts say that every time the patient urinates, out goes all the unwanted sugar and calories.
Doctors say this drug could even help prevent Type 2 diabetes.
KVUE's sister station KENS went behind closed doors at the Veterans Affairs hospital to witness clinical trials for other drugs similar to Invokana.
Last Friday, the FDA approved Invokana, a drug experts are hailing as a game changer for Type 2 diabetes treatment.
The drug works in the kidneys and blocks an enzyme that would put sugar back in the bloodstream.
Dr. Devjit Tripathy with UT Medicine San Antonio, the clinical practice of the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center, says the drug helps curb obesity.
"This drug not only has the potential to treat Type 2 diabetes but also obesity," Tripathy said. "With the loss of a lot of glucose, you lose a lot of calories and by that you lose weight."
He said the same weight loss results can occur in non-diabetic subjects, but he emphasized that so far the drug is only approved for Type 2 diabetes patients and not specifically as a weight-loss drug.
"In San Antonio, we have a very big problem with obesity," Tripathy said. "This drug will definitely help us."
He also said this drug has the potential to help prevent Type 2 diabetes.
Keep in mind taking this drug doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want. The doctor said the drug is limited on how much sugar is excreted, so it's important to continue watching your diet.
Experts say they are still assessing the long-term effects of the medication.
How soon before the ambulance chasers start the commercials about how you can get billions by suing the drug manufacturer?
Funny how the FDA never gets sued.
My husband has wild and crazy dreams almost every night, you may be on to something.
Hope it’s in front of the TV. Only way I can survive the 6 miles on the treadmill I endure every day.
Recumbant bike has handle bar thingies that I can prop a book on. I usually read. I’m trying to get back to riding for 30 or 45m a day. Soon it will be garden season and I’ll get plenty of exercise then.
The brain is a powerful thing.
Unless it's encased in the skull of a liberal.
I've lost ten pounds and I am not stopping until I am drug free.
Every time I go to the kitchen, I look at this huge bandage, and think of my mangled finger. What a damned waste. I should have dumbass tattooed on my forehead.
In my case this incident was completely avoidable.
Get your sugar under control. Get off the meds.
Or the best thing they will do is slice your finger open like a hot dog.
As many Type 2 diabetics have figured out, high blood sugar at night means more trips to the restroom to expel sugar. It sounds to me like this treatment could cause some people to lose sleep. Urine isn’t the only fluid that expels excess sugar. The body can send it out through the sinuses also. Clogged sinuses, dry mouth, sleep apnea, and waking to drink fluids are not pleasant experiences. I bring all this up because many doctors don’t have a clue that these maladies are related to high blood sugar. They may not use any discretion when recommending when patients should take this drug. Just my 2 cents on the subject. Feel free to disregard it.
I wonder how much they will charge for this new drug.
Probably megabucks!
I'll assume you are black. Blacks taking vitamin D supplements could have an increased risk of calcified arteries.
Vitamin D, Adiposity, and Calcified Atherosclerotic Plaque in African-Americans
One of my favorite quotes is by Truman Capote:
Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.
It just doesn’t work for some of us. I follow a strict diet and exercise program and still cannot get my sugar level down. I am also on metformin. I’m at the point where I will try anything...
does metformin work?
I started 500 mg and it doesn’t seem to be doing much after 30 days
I/ve resumed exercise now that winter is said to be over
Bookmark for later...
Bookmark for next time I see doctor.
bfl
Diabetes has a strong genetic component. It is not the preventable disease people seem to think it is.
The article about this new “wonder” drug does not mention that there have already been reports of some possible side effects - serious ones, like heart problems.
I agree with a doctor who said he doesn’t prescribe any drug that hasn’t been on the market at least 10 years.
Don’t know how you define pre-diabetes, but they keep lowering the numbers for what constitutes disease states for blood sugar, hypertension, and weight. As we age, all these things tend to rise. If they keep lowering the numbers, pretty soon we will all be considered to be diabetic, hypertensive, and overweight.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prediabetes.html
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/prediabetes.printerview.all.html
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/prediabetes_ES/
I moved a couple of years ago and started going to a new, young doc. Nice guy, competent as far as I could tell and he was worried about my high fasting glucose.
Tried a bunch of stuff, no difference at all.
Finally found all my old blood reports; turns out I had been pre-diabetic for .... 30+ years. I think as recent as 15-20 years ago above norm was 115. Then 110 and now 100. My fasting glucose hadn't changed, the norms had.
Got sent to a specialist who had a few years on him and he said sheesh, you're just at the high end of the norm just as there will be people at the low end and got caught up in the changes to the standards which don't mean anything other than the medical profession is trying to catch stuff earlier. Which is a good thing but if not taken into account with other factors can be misleading.
I've always always been skinny, in the last 30 years never more than 12% body fat, usually something less than 10%. And I'm an old guy. Don't eat carbs for the most part. Not for any dietary reason, I just feel better when I don't eat them.
Bottom line the Doc told me I'd do more damage to myself taking medication for something that wasn't a problem and worrying about it.
Again, not trying to give you advice, just maybe something you might want to talk to your doc about, or even another doc that might have a few more miles on him and heck, maybe my guy was wrong and my pancreas in getting ready to fall off but I thought I'd pass this along.
Sound advice, thanks.
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