Committed exercisers dread getting sick because they have to stop exercising. They know it is easy to lose momentum and difficult to start again. So what should they do if they are feeling under the weather? Should they continue exercising? How long should they rest? How soon can they return to exercise? Read the rest of this entry »
A cataract is a clouding of the lens, a clear tissue located inside the eye behind the iris, the colored part of the eye. Cataracts can result from many conditions, but the most frequent cause is the natural aging process. Other causes may include eye injury, chronic eye disease, and diabetes. More than half the people over age 65 will have some degree of cataract development.
Several eyedrops are currently being marketed locally as “anti-cataract” medications. These are made by well-known pharmaceutical companies here and abroad. These companies have conducted their own clinical trials to show that their products are “effective” in stemming the development of cataracts. However, there is still no convincing medical or scientific evidence that these drops are effective in controlling cataract progression. Currently, surgery is the only medically accepted and scientifically-proven treatment for cataracts.
Many eye diseases and conditions share common symptoms. Treating yourself for a specific symptom or the wrong illness may delay proper treatment of a more serious eye disease. It is important to have your eye examined by an eye doctor in order to obtain an accurate diagnosis, get proper advice and receive the correct treatment.
Having diabetes puts you at an increased risk for certain eye diseases. Diabetes puts people at risk for cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness. The longer someone has diabetes, the more likely he or she will get diabetic retinopathy. Nearly half of all people with diabetes will develop some degree of diabetic retinopathy during their lifetime. Read the rest of this entry »
Patients with metabolic syndrome (a precursor to diabetes) who also have high blood pressure or hypertension should be wary of taking a class of drugs called thiazide-type diuretics (TZ) because it may increase their risk of developing diabetes, results of a new study say.
Results of STAR (Study of Trandolapril/Verapamil-SR and Insulin Resistance) show that using a TZ in combination with a blood pressure-lowering drug called a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocker increased the risk of developing diabetes among patients who have the metabolic syndrome and hypertension.
STAR compared the effects of a RAS inhibitor combined with a TZD and a RAS inhibitor combined with another class of blood pressure-lowering medication called calcium channel blockers (CCBs) in maintaining blood sugar control in hypertensive patients with metabolic syndrome.
Study investigators used a fixed-dose combination of trandolapril plus verapamil, marketed as Tarka, versus a fixed-dose combination of losartan plus hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), marketed as Hyzaar. Results of STAR show that blood sugar control significantly worsened in the losartan/HCTZ group versus the trandolapril/verapamil SR group. It was further shown that the 21 percent of people in STAR who remained on the low dose losartan/HCTZ had a significantly higher risk for developing diabetes at the end of the study. In contrast, the fixed-dose combination of trandolapril/verapamil SR effectively lowered blood pressure without worsening blood sugar control.
The findings suggest that using a RAS blockade with a TZ did not protect against the negative metabolic effects associated with the TZ. Researchers likewise suggest the need for reassessing the current management of hypertensive patients with metabolic syndrome for whom a metabolically neutral add-on therapy to RAS inhibition might be a more appropriate choice than a TZ to further reduce blood pressure without worsening blood sugar control.
Chanting “Om” may do more than just bring you inner peace; a new study claims meditation may improve your cardiovascular health by decreasing the risk of metabolic syndrome.
A study that transcendental meditation can significantly decrease insulin resistance, lower blood pressure and decrease heart rate variability. Transcendental meditation involves sitting quietly while your mind settles into a quieter and quieter state until you are not thinking at all, or literally “transcending the thinking process.”
Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at the Maharishi University of Management in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, said that it is possible to use the mind-body connection to tap into the body’s own inner intelligence to bring about changes in physiology to reverse the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Dr. Schneider adds that the reduction in insulin resistance caused by transcendental meditation can be equal to the reduction brought about by intensive exercise or a large weight loss. The researchers recruited 103 people who had already been diagnosed with heart disease for the study, and examined the effects of transcendental meditation on heart disease risk factors. Eighty-four of the recruits completed the 16 weeks of study, who were randomized into two groups.
One group received training in and practiced transcendental meditation twice a day for 20 minutes at a time for four months, while the other group only received health education about heart disease. It was found that transcendental meditation lowered blood pressure, had positive effects on heart rate variability — a measure of heart health, and lowered the fasting blood glucose and insulin levels.
Researchers made clear however that these benefits aren’t limited to transcendental meditation but likely is the same with other forms of relaxation like yoga, tai chi, guided imagery, biofeedback and even exercise. However, researchers point out that right now, transcendental meditation is the only method that has been proven in a randomized clinical trial to have such benefits.
They further explain that meditation and other forms of relaxation have beneficial effects because they activate the parasympathetic part of the autoimmune nervous system. The body’s sympathetic system, when activated by stress, causes the body to release hormones that help make the body resistant to insulin. But when the parasympathetic system is activated, it helps the body’s cells to become more responsive to insulin.
Recurring episodes of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar that are severe enough to cause a loss of consciousness or seizures do not appear to affect intellectual (cognitive) function, according to results of a long-term study. Investigators at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts presented the results of the study during the session of the American Diabetes Association.
Researchers studied more than 18 years of follow-up data on 1,509 patients enrolled in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and subsequently followed in the Epidemiology of Diabetes Intervention and Complications (EDIC) study.
It was shown in the DCCT that tight blood sugar control reduced the risk of long-term complications, including blindness, kidney disease and neurological decline, but increased the likelihood of severe hypoglycemia.
To date, it was reported that 348 patients in the study have had one to five episodes of severe hypoglycemia and 59 patients have had more than five and up to 23 episodes of severe low blood sugar during the study period. These same patients were asked to complete a cognitive function test at the beginning and at the end of the study. It was found that changes in scores were unrelated to history of hypoglycemia.
Researchers say that typical episodes, including even those that are severe enough to cause coma or seizures and those that last many minutes in duration, have no effect on cognitive function and no additive effect over time.
Teenagers with type 2 diabetes are more likely to have signs of kidney damage and high blood pressure than teens with type 1 diabetes.
A group of investigators examined the prevalence of diabetes-related complications among young people with both types of the disease.
It was found that microalbuminuria (a sign of kidney damage) was detected in 28 percent of the type 2 diabetic patients compared with six percent of those with type 1 diabetes. High blood pressure was present in 36 percent of type 2 diabetes patients compared with 16 percent of type 1 diabetics.
Retinopathy was the only complication that was found to be significantly more common in type 1 diabetes patients than in those with type 2.
Experts say the findings of the study underscore the importance of screening children for complications when they are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes to reverse complications.
Two new experimental drugs, the firsts in a new class of type 2 diabetes drugs, seem to help older diabetes drugs lower patients’ blood sugar, with the added bonus of a little weight loss.
The once-a-day medications work by increasing the levels of a hormone that triggers the pancreas to produce more insulin to process blood sugar while simultaneously signaling the liver to stop making glucose. They act by blocking the production of an enzyme called DPP-4 that normally inactivates that hormone.
Medical experts say the positive effects of the drugs, coupled with fewer of the negative effects associated with other diabetes treatments, is what sets the drugs apart from other drugs for diabetes. Doctors further say that the drugs’ effects can be equal to the combined effects of three to four classes of drugs used today. However, they caution that the expected cost of these two drugs could likely curtail their use.
Pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. and Novartis AG have both filed for regulatory approval to be able to sell the drugs.
Merck said its pill,Januvia or sitagliptin, has been shown in a yearlong clinical trial to have lowered blood sugar HbA1 c levels by 0.67 percent, just as much as the olderdrug glipizide. In the said trial, roughly two-thirds of patients given sitagliptin reached the 7 percent goal set by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Aside from lowering blood sugar, Merck said sitagliptin also caused weight loss among patients who also experienced fewer episodes of excessively low blood sugar than those on glipizide.
Novartis, on the other hand, said its pill, Galvus or vildagliptin, was shown in a six-month trial to reduce blood sugar HbA1c levels by 1.9 percent when used with another older drug, pioglitazone. Of the patients given vildagliptin, nearly two-thirds or 65 percent reached the ADA recommended blood sugar level. Patients given the drug were also shown in the said trial and a second clinical trial, to have either lost some weight or showed no significant weight gain.
Diabetics who need to continuously monitor their sugar levels are increasingly getting high-tech help from devices that provide not only blood sugar readings but also information on when and how much insulin a patient needs.
Continuous glucose monitoring systems are devices that help those with diabetes test their blood sugar levels continuously and inform the patient when and how much insulin is needed. It also shows whether his glucose level is rising or falling, and gives a picture of how fluctuations occur around the clock. This allows the patient to anticipate changes in blood sugar levels and helps him decide how to adjust his insulin doses to correct for them.
Clinical trials have shown that the new monitors increase by 26 percent the amount of time each day that a patient’s blood sugar levels are in the normal range and reduce long-term high sugar levels.
Researchers are now focused on developing in the future a three-part device that includes an insulin pump, an accurate and reliable continuous glucose monitor and a computerized formula that will take the monitoring data and give information on how much insulin to give.
Ultimately, researchers also dream of an artificial pancreas, a device that can be implanted in the body that would measure glucose from the blood and deliver the right amount of insulin back into the bloodstream. As of now, continuous glucose monitoring systems like the Medtronic MiniMed system, a combination of insulin pump and glucose monitor, has been helping many diabetics take better control of their sugar levels.
Patients who have had a recent episode of stroke or heart attack should keep their blood sugar under tight control, according to a new US study.
The study, which involved 216,000 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU), found that high blood sugar is linked to higher death risk among certain patients, and that the risk varied according to disease type.
It was reported that the increased deaths associated with high blood sugar in intensive care units was highest in those without diagnosed diabetes and in those admitted with cardiovascular disorders such as heart attacks, unstable angina, and strokes.
The study further showed that even a very slight increase in blood sugar — as little as one milligram per deciliter above normal — increased the risk of mortality.
Stroke patients were found to have the highest risk at 15 times greater than normal in patients with the highest blood sugar readings. It was also noted that high blood sugar did not appear to increase death risk in ICU patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or liver failure.
Researchers conclude that the findings suggest that different disease states are variably affected by high blood sugar, with the strongest association in those with cardiovascular disorders.
