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Drug therapy
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There are many drugs that are now used to treat
diabetes. Quite a change from the "old days" (that is, about ten years
ago!) when we had but a few. Some of these drugs are used exclusively
in people with Type 2 diabetes, but many are used for both Type 1 and Type 2
diabetes. Some of the drugs that are used can be classified as follows:
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Anti-hypertensive medicines (that is, pills to
lower blood pressure; but once again, to be accurate I would note that often
we use "blood pressure" drugs such as Altace to lessen the risk of
certain complications - heart attacks and strokes for example - even if
one's blood pressure is perfectly normal). |
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Aspirin (ASA) (given for its
heart protective, not its analgesic properties). |
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Insulin (of
which there is quite some number available). I remember one
colourful speaker calling insulin "the Viagra of the
cell." Sounds like something Yogi Berra would have said,
eh? |
The good news: these medicines are proven to protect
the organs and prolong life.
The bad news: doctors like me keep asking
people with diabetes like you to take more and more pills (and often for problems that
aren't even making you feel sick!).
Click on one of the drug groups above to go to a
further discussion on these different medicines.
Other therapies:
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Glucagon:
Glucagon can be considered an antidote to insulin and can be given (by
injection into a muscle) to raise the blood glucose level. It is typically
not given
by the patient (if you are awake enough to give it to yourself, you don't likely
need it), but rather is given by a companion to a person with diabetes having a severe
insulin reaction (i.e., extremely low blood glucose to the point of
unresponsiveness or extreme confusion). It is a stop-gap measure until the
patient is awake enough to eat something, or, more commonly, until an ambulance
arrives. It's most valuable use is to treat a severe episode of
hypoglycemia occurring when emergency services are not readily available (such
as if one if one treks off into the bush).
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