Overtreatment of type 2 diabetes can be deadly

Television ads for drugs are out of control.

The most recent figures say that Big Pharma spent over $6 billion — yes, that’s with a “B” — on selling its products to us. You can’t watch more than five minutes of TV without hearing about hepatitis C, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, strokes, heart attacks, blood clots, and a host of other ailments.

The drugs that treat type 2 diabetes, however, take the (sugar-free) cake when it comes to airtime.

And some very important news has just come out about type 2 — especially where seniors are concerned.

These are findings that could mean the difference between life and death — so it’s urgent that you learn what these researchers have discovered and talk to your doctor about it ASAP!

One size doesn’t fit all
If you’re dealing with type 2… and you’re old enough to remember when gas cost a mere 30 cents a gallon… chances are good that you’re on a drug to control your blood sugar.

But there’s also a very good likelihood that you don’t need to be.

In a new study, Dutch researchers have found that not only are older diabetics (70 and over) sitting ducks for aggressive treatment… but that overtreatment is likely to go on and on regardless of what their numbers are!

Apparently, even when you reach your “A1c” goals (your blood sugar readings averaged over the past three months), it’s likely that nothing in your treatment plan will change.

And that can put you at a big risk of serious life-threatening side effects — like your blood sugar plummeting to too-low levels (a.k.a. hypoglycemia).

It gets even worse. Because according to what these Dutch researchers found, despite telling their docs about too-low blood sugar events such as dizziness and falls, the patients in this study continued to be prescribed the same dosage of diabetes meds.

While these findings may be shocking, they’re far from new. Only last fall, another study by Duke University and VA researchers discovered a similar trend: Those with type 2 who are on Medicare are more likely to be overtreated than undertreated.

And the consequences can include heart attacks, cognitive problems, and fractures from falls.

But there’s more.

Two years ago, we told you about research that looked at another type of overtreatment — diabetics being given multiple type 2 meds to get their blood sugar down — the norm for more of them than you might think.

The researchers, from Mayo Clinic and Yale, looked at data from more than 31,000 Americans with type 2 and found that over 25 percent of those given multiple meds were at risk for complications of hypoglycemia.

And those can happen at any time… without warning.

It’s as if physicians have somehow forgotten what the point of these drugs are — and what the deadly consequences can be if someone is taking more than is needed!

As the lead author of this new study commented, doctors need to “abandon the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach” and realize the benefits of “de-intensifying” drug treatments.

Those benefits, in fact, are enormous, and they can translate into preventing an episode of hypoglycemia that can cause your heart to race, make you dizzy and prone to falling and fainting, and even put you in jeopardy of seizures, coma, and… death.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s still vital to check your glucose a couple of times a day. But it turns out that it may not be enough to protect you.

So, if you have type 2, it’s urgent that you get an accurate picture of your glucose readings over the past several months. And the only way to do that is by becoming very familiar with your numbers, especially your A1c.

And if you’ve been reaching your blood sugar target consistently, it’s time to have a serious talk with your doc about lowering the amount of medication you’re taking.

“Overtreatment common among older people with diabetes” Miriam Tucker, January 24, 2018, Medscape, medscape.com