Post-market study shows diabetes med ups your chance of losing a leg
If you or someone you love is diabetic, I’m sure you’ve gotten the hard sell about how important it is to take your meds.
Skip those pills or injections, the mainstream will tell you, and you’ll be on the fast track to heart disease, blindness, and kidney failure.
You may even need to have your toes or legs amputated.
But now a shocking new study is proving that diabetics may be at greater risk than ever of losing their limbs.
And, believe it or not, it’s all thanks to those same drugs that Big Pharma is forcing down our throats.
The only people who might care less about our health and well being than Big Pharma are the fat cats on Wall Street.
And even they thought Invokana — and diabetes meds like it called SGLT2 inhibitors — shouldn’t have been approved.
In fact, before Invokana got the green light a few years ago, Goldman Sachs was warning its clients that it would never see the light of day.
But when it comes to the FDA, the odds are always with the drug maker — and not with folks like us.
And ever since Invokana hit the market, we’ve been hearing nothing but horror stories about its side effects.
This latest one, though, may take the cake.
A new study has found that patients taking Invokana are experiencing up to twice the rate of amputations as those taking a placebo.
That’s right — it looks like this same drug that’s supposed to be protecting you from amputation could end up costing you your limbs instead.
While these amputations have included the loss of legs and feet, the FDA was quick to tell us that mostly toes were involved.
Are you kidding me? Is that supposed to make us feel better?
So how in the world are we just learning about these risks now, after Invokana has been prescribed to people all across the country?
Well, as I’ve told you before, the FDA rushed Invokana to market (because Heaven knows we needed more diabetes drugs) under one of the most ridiculous and risky ideas ever.
It’s called post-market approval. And that basically allows a company to start selling meds now, while it spends years conducting follow-up studies to see how risky they are.
That makes all of us guinea pigs while drug companies rake in billions. And with Invokana, there may be more than our limbs at stake.
This same safety study, which won’t wrap up until 2017, is also checking to see if the drug can cause major heart problems.
And I’m betting that it does.
Invokana and other SGLT2 inhibitors work by dumping glucose in your urine. And experts have warned that can cause dehydration, abnormally low blood pressure, and damage to the kidneys and heart.
On top of that, the FDA has already issued other warnings about the drug. I told you almost a year ago how Invokana can trigger a life-threatening condition called ketoacidosis.
So what’s the FDA going to do about all this? In a word, nothing.
It says it’s “investigating” the problem with amputations, and will get back to us later when it knows more. In the meantime, diabetics need to contact their doctors right away if they have any new foot problems.
Well, thanks for nothing.
I’m sure you’ll agree that sitting around waiting for the FDA to do its job is not an option.
So if your doctor has prescribed Invokana, Invokamet, or another SGLT2 inhibitor,* it’s urgent that you talk with him as soon as possible about what your alternatives are.
Your limbs — and maybe even your life — could depend on it.
*Other SGLT2 inhibitors include: Farxiga, Jardiance, Glyxambi and Xigduo XR.
Sources:
“FDA: Canagliflozin linked to amputations in post-marketing trial” Parker Brown, MedPage Today, May 18, 2016, medpagetoday.com
