Improved health is at the top of many 2009 wish lists. Type 2 diabetes affects many of you, and is one disease that can be well managed, and often totally reversed, holistically.
Diabetes in Tennessee is like a wildfire out of control. Our rate of diabetes has doubled in the last decade, and nearly 10% of our population is diabetic. We are in the national top ten for diabetes-related deaths. Over one of every three American children born since 2000 is expected to develop diabetes, and soon it may be closer to one in two in Tennessee.
I lived most of my adult life abroad, and until I returned to Kingsport in 1996, I did not personally know anyone with diabetes. (I didn’t know anyone with cancer either, but that’s another story.) You can’t tell me our Standard American Diets (SAD) and lifestyles are not to blame.
Most people underestimate the seriousness of diabetes. Blindness and kidney failure are just two complications. Diabetes increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and atherosclerosis. Nerve cell damage (neuropathy) is a major issue. Some total loss of sensation is common, affecting nearly all diabetics eventually. Numbness leads to increased injuries, and combined with wound healing impairment, often results in infected ulcers which may require amputation of feet or limbs. One study found that 7% of type 2 diabetics will have an amputation within 14 years of diagnosis.
Many of these life threatening complications appear after 10 to 20 years, but if the rates of childhood diabetes continue to skyrocket, half of our young people could be facing certain permanent disability by the time they are 35-40 years old!
First, know that controlling blood glucose levels and minimizing fluctuations reduces the risks and age of onset of virtually all complications. Second, know that diabetes medications prescribed to Type 2 diabetics are not an easy way out. Many studies are beginning to raise serious questions about their effectiveness while revealing how dangerous they can be.
A recent report on 42 studies published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the use of Avandia increased the chances of heart attack by 43%! Worse, the risks of death from any cardiovascular cause increased by 64%! Avandaryl, Avandamet, Actos, Metformin, and Duetact also increase the risks of heart failure. A recent study involving Metformin and Avandia had to be stopped early due to the number of deaths, and it wasn’t the only study to end this way.
Actos, in particular, has another worrisome side effect—sudden significant weight gain. This drug actually increases the number of fat cells begging to be filled! This drug may be a prescription for permanent weight gain and obesity for thousands of people. If that isn’t enough, Actos and Avandia have recently been shown to double the risk of bone fractures in women.
Potentially fatal lactic acidosis has been a known risk with Metformin since 1994, yet a study published in JAMA found that 25% of the patients who are prescribed Metformin have one or more “absolute contraindications” such as kidney or heart disease, meaning they should not take this drug at all.
Millions of Americans take these drugs every day, perhaps unaware that the FDA requires them to carry stern “black box” warnings of serious or potentially fatal side effects.
What other choices do you have? Weight loss and exercise are important of course, but there is much more. Most diabetics have significant vitamin and mineral deficiencies that complicate their health issues. Many safe supplements are known to reverse neuropathy, improve insulin sensitivity, and repair cardiovascular damage, for example. Most people are amazed to learn which foods are helpful, and which “dietetic” foods are actually very harmful.
Not all physicians discuss drug associated risks with their patients, and fewer mention the options that holistic health offers. Maybe they don’t know what I know—you are tired of feeling worse with each passing day, and are more than willing to try a different path. You are ready to take control of your diabetes and of your health. Thousands of people have reversed their diabetes and rediscovered what it feels like to be truly healthy and get their lives back. What’s holding you back?
Here’s to a happier, healthier new year!