Feds promote risky meds for diabetic nerve pain but ignore safe remedy

The best way to treat diabetic nerve pain isn’t an Rx med

You would think when a federal agency is described as working to “make healthcare safer,” and “keep patients safe,” it would sort of operate with that principal in mind.

Well, that’s the listed mission for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which works under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

So why then would it be proposing some of the riskiest meds out there as a way to stop the pain of diabetic peripheral neuropathy?

And why wouldn’t it at least include one of the easiest and safest ways to relieve this problem — one utilizing a cheap and readily available supplement?

But somehow, this common vitamin was overlooked while doctors were urged to find new uses for some old risky drugs in their medicine chests.

The remedy they forgot to remember
“We hope our findings are helpful to doctors and people with diabetes” is how Julie Waldfogel, a Johns Hopkins doctor of pharmacy, explained the new “systematic review” she authored.

Dr. Waldfogel is specifically referring to those diabetics who suffer from the excruciating shooting and burning pain of peripheral neuropathy — something it’s said that around half of all those with diabetes will get at one time or another.

What that “helpful” review found is nothing more than an endorsement for some of Big Pharma’s riskiest drugs to be used in treating that agonizing nerve condition — especially the antidepressants duloxetine (also used to treat fibromyalgia), venlafaxine, as well as the anti-seizure meds pregabalin and oxcarbazepine.

And as you might have guessed, these drugs come with some serious side effects.

Duloxetene (better known as Cymbalta), for example, can cause difficulty breathing, swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat, anxiety and panic attacks, depression and suicidal thoughts — and that’s just the short list.

Pregabalin, which goes under the brand name Lyrica and is already prescribed for nerve pain from shingles and diabetes, can cause things such as agitation, aggression, and “dangerous impulses.” As if that wasn’t enough, some of the more common side effects are dizziness, blurry vision, weight gain, and swelling of your hands and feet. It has also been linked to the development of blood vessel tumors.

And both duloxetene and venlafaxine are said to potentially increase serotonin levels in the blood — something that can be life-threatening.

But while this agency that says it promotes patient safety was busy researching these risky meds (in no less than 106 different studies!), it made no mention of something that’s not only non-toxic, but been proven to be extremely effective in helping diabetics with this kind of nerve pain.

And that’s vitamin B12.

In fact, a classic symptom of a B12 deficiency is peripheral neuropathy! And guess what has been found to be “unequivocally demonstrated as the prime factor” linked to a B12 deficiency? None other than the first-line diabetes med metformin.

One particular study we told you about two years ago, done at Bethesda Diabetes Research Center in the Netherlands, found using metformin could increase the risk of a B12 deficiency by 19 percent. On top of that, around 25 percent of people in the U.S. are deficient in B12, whether they’re diabetic or not.

Other research has confirmed those findings and added another group of culprits to draining your B12 — those acid-suppressing meds called proton pump inhibitors like Nexium and Prilosec. If anything, they’re are the perfect recipe for a B12 deficiency.

But instead of telling the public about such well-documented causes of diabetic nerve pain, the AHRQ is recommending additional meds diabetics can take.

So here’s what you should do: if you’ve been on metformin for any length of time, or have been taking one of those PPI drugs, it makes perfect sense to have your B12 levels checked.

And of course, if you’re currently suffering from peripheral neuropathy, taking a B12 supplement instead of a drug that can cause you to have “dangerous impulses” would make even more sense!

“Which drugs effectively treat diabetic nerve pain?” American Academy of Neurology, March 23, 2017, newswise, newswise.com