Diabetes medication side effects

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Robin Graham - 03 Sep 2004 08:59 GMT

My wife is a type 2 diabetic with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
She has asked me to see if anyone could offer help about the effects of her
medication.

She takes a cocktail of 6 pills, each one once daily, and she's sure that
the side effects are aches in the lower limbs and tiredness. She took
statins for about a year but they caused severe aches and the pill was
changed.

Her pill diet is 75mg aspirin, 50mg atenolol, 5mg plendil, 100mg modalin,
4mg amaryl, 8mg rosiglitazone.

She thinks the modalin is likely to be the major culprit but would like to
know if there are others who share her pill-taking symptoms.

Thank you.

Rob Graham

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oldal4865 - 03 Sep 2004 14:24 GMT

Robin Graham wrote in message ...

>My wife is a type 2 diabetic with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
>She has asked me to see if anyone could offer help about the effects of her
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
>Rob Graham

Some comments:

1. I can't find modalin in Google,

2. Your wife is diabetic. The common sequence for treating high b.p. in
a diabetic is:

first try ACE inhibitors
then try ARB inhibitors
then try beta blockers and calcium channel blockers such as Atenol
and Plendil

There is good reason for this sequence. ACE and ARB seem to have some
very beneficial (extraordinarily beneficial ? ? ?) auxiliary effects on T2
diabetics. In contrast, Beta blockers tend to raise diabetic blood
sugars.

However, your doc seems to have skipped ACE and ARB and went straight to
beta blocker and calcium channel blocker. That's something to discuss
with him/her.

Some recommended reading before such a discussion

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/444960_5

http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/635?src=search

Of special interest to T2 diabetics:

". . . Dr. Yusuf's research team speculates that ACE-inhibitors slow or
reverse the decline in beta-cell function. These drugs could also reduce
insulin resistance in skeletal muscle, liver or fat cells, the researchers
suggest? .
The investigators believe the findings could be of "enormous" clinical and
public health significance if confirmed. With that in mind, they have begun
a prospective Diabetes Reduction Assessment with Ramipril and rosiglitazone
Medication (DREAM) trial, which will involve subjects with impaired glucose
tolerance. JAMA 2001;286:1882-1885. . ."

Regards
Old Al

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SouthrnElf - 05 Sep 2004 00:58 GMT

>However, your doc seems to have skipped ACE and ARB and went straight to
>beta blocker and calcium channel blocker. That's something to discuss
>with him/her.

My doctor did too but in my case I needed a beta blocker for other reasons.
They make your heart beat more efficiently - something I needed - and
increase the circulation to your brain leading to a drastic decrease in the
number of migraines I had. Maybe his wife has more than diabetes.

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kiltyone@dslextreme.com - 05 Sep 2004 01:15 GMT

>>However, your doc seems to have skipped ACE and ARB and went straight to
>>beta blocker and calcium channel blocker. That's something to discuss
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> increase the circulation to your brain leading to a drastic decrease in the
> number of migraines I had. Maybe his wife has more than diabetes.

There is another side to this:
ACE and ARB are far more expensive and not a whole lot better than the
older drugs. There are a number of papers on the subject.

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Jenny - 05 Sep 2004 16:39 GMT

One ACE inhibitor is cheap now that lisinopril (Zestril) is available as a
generic.

Also, the comparison of ACE and ARBs against older blood pressure drugs was
NOT taking into account the benefits and problems for people with diabetes.

For example, the diuretics that the study you are citing recommended, raise
blood sugar and should not be prescribed for people with diabetes.

And there is very good evidence that ACE inhibitors prevent deterioration of
the blood vessel endothelium quite apart from the effect on blood pressure.
This is very important for people with diabetes because that kind of
degeneration is one of the reasons they get heart disease. Plus the ACE and
ARBs have been shown to stave off kidney disease which the beta blockers do
not.

--
Jenny - Low Carbing for 5 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Jenny's new site: What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes
http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/

Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

> >>However, your doc seems to have skipped ACE and ARB and went straight to
> >>beta blocker and calcium channel blocker. That's something to discuss
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> ACE and ARB are far more expensive and not a whole lot better than the
> older drugs. There are a number of papers on the subject.

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Eldritch - 03 Sep 2004 15:17 GMT

> My wife is a type 2 diabetic with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
> She has asked me to see if anyone could offer help about the effects of her
> medication.

    A good place to look up side effects of drugs is:

        www.rxlist.com

     And here's a site where you can check for drug interactions.

                    http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs/1,4109,,00.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/3sl5b

        E

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Robin Graham - 07 Sep 2004 05:50 GMT

Thank you for your replies.

Rob Graham

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