FDA waited years to warn patients about diabetes drug agony

The pain comes on suddenly. One day you can’t move your elbow — and the next, you can’t bend your knee.

Maybe you’ve been told you have arthritis. Or that you’re just getting older. Doctors may have even told you they don’t know what’s wrong with you.

But our government knows. And it’s known for years.

The FDA is warning that diabetes drugs called DPP-4 inhibitors — including Merck’s blockbuster Januvia — can cause sudden and crippling pain. Patients have been left in so much agony they’ve been hospitalized or forced to choke down pain meds by the handful.

And while the FDA is now pretending that it’s coming to your rescue, it’s clear that the agency covered up the risks of DPP-4 inhibitors — and let countless diabetics suffer in silence.

Your pain, Big Pharma’s gain“I would rather die a natural death than be killed slowly by this drug.”

That’s how one Januvia patient, Jackie, says she felt after one month on the med.

She’s just one of many diabetics who have dealt with constant, debilitating pain in their stomachs, backs, heads, chests, arms and legs since taking Januvia and other DPP-4 inhibitors.

These poor folks have been misdiagnosed for years. They’ve been kicked around to orthopedists and pain specialists who have told them they have everything from sprains to arthritic joints.

And it’s clear now that our government did everything it could to keep these patients from ever knowing that their diabetes meds were causing their pain.

You see, DPP-4 inhibitors are part of a dangerous class of drugs that I’ve been warning you about for years. They prevent key genes from doing their jobs (more on that in a moment) and can unleash side effects that you’d never expect.

But the agonizing pain being caused by DPP-4 inhibitors is something the FDA saw coming a mile away, but chose to ignore. The agency recently issued an alert and wants us to believe that it just discovered that the drugs can cause “severe and persistent” pain, sometimes in as little as one day of use.

Well, it looks like they’ll be trying to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge next.

The fact that DPP-4 meds can cause crippling pain isn’t news. Canada has been warning patients on Januvia and other meds about the risk for years. And even the FDA admits that its own Adverse Event Reporting System is filled with cases of people who ended up in constant pain on DPP-4 inhibitors.

But, as always, our government decided to wait until the outcry was too loud to ignore before doing something.

The FDA is now telling health care professionals that they should consider these DPP-4 inhibitors as the possible reason for sudden and severe joint pain, and to take patients off the drug if necessary. But lots of doctors never read these warnings, so you’ll need to take action if you’re on any of the following drugs:

Januvia
Janumet
Janumet XR
Onglyza
Kombiglyze XR
Tradjenta
Glyxambi
Jentadueto
Nesina
Kazano
Oseni

And remember — even if these meds never cause you pain, you’re still not out of the woods. DPP-4 inhibitors have been linked to kidney failure, a potentially fatal swelling of the pancreas, and even pancreatic cancer!

That’s because these drugs actually interfere with a gene that may be responsible for keeping tumors from growing. That’s right — Big Pharma invented drugs that literally turn off your body’s natural cancer-fighting switch. And they convinced millions of us to take them.

Talk about blood money!

If you’re ready to get off these meds, trust me, it could be the healthiest thing you ever do. In fact, patients say the pain they cause — symptoms you may have been dealing with for years — can go away in as little as a month.

Even better, you’ll be protecting yourself from whatever terrible side effect pops up with these drugs next.

Sources:

“New FDA warning about Januvia joint pain side effect” The People’s Pharmacy, August 28, 2015, peoplespharmacy.com

“FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA warns that DPP-4 inhibitors for type 2 diabetes may cause severe joint pain” FDA, August 28, 2015, fda.gov