Do you have diabetes? Are you struggling to live with diabetes? Are you looking for information online about diabetes? Are you unsure as to what types of foods you should now be eating to help keep a check on your glucose levels? If you have answered yes to any of these questions this article may well be of interest and benefit to you.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.

There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, unfortunately, 6.2 million people (or nearly one-third) are unaware that they have the disease.

In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes.

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes.

In the OGTT test, a person’s blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.

Major Types of Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes
Results from the body’s failure to produce insulin, the hormone that “unlocks” the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes
Results from insulin resistance (a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin), combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.

Medications for Type 2 Diabetes

Sulfonylureas:
- GLUCOTROL XL (Glipizide)
- AMARYL (Glimepiride)

Meglitinides:
- PRANDIN (Repaglinide)
- STARLIX (Nateglinide)

Biguanides:
- GLUCOPHAGE (Metformin)

Thiazolidinediones:
- ACTOS (Pioglitazone)
- ACTOPLUS MET (Pioglitazone/Metformin)
- AVANDIA (Rosiglitazone)
- AVANDAMET (Rosiglitazone/Metformin)

Other medications:
- KARELA and DIABECON

Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women – about 135,000 cases in the United States each year.

Pre-diabetes
Pre-diabetes is a condition that occurs when a person’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. There are 54 million Americans who have pre-diabetes, in addition to the 20.8 million with diabetes.

Additional Information

Recently Diagnosed
You or someone you love has just been diagnosed with diabetes — chances are you have a million questions running through your head. This area of our Web site can help ease your fears and teach you more about living with diabetes or caring for someone with diabetes, and connect you with others affected by diabetes who will listen and share their own experiences.

Diabetes Symptoms
Often diabetes goes undiagnosed because many of its symptoms seem so harmless. Learn what they are in this section.

Diabetes Risk Test
More than 20 million Americans have diabetes — nearly one in three does not know it! Take our diabetes risk test to see if you are at risk for having diabetes. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Diabetes Myths
Find the truth about some of the most common myths about diabetes.

The Genetics of Diabetes
You’ve probably wondered how you got diabetes. You may worry that your children will get it too. Unlike some traits, diabetes does not seem to be inherited in a simple pattern. Yet clearly, some people are born more likely to get diabetes than others.

Metformin (brand name Glucophage) is a biguanide. Biguanides lower blood glucose levels primarily by decreasing the amount of glucose produced by the liver. Metformin also helps to lower blood glucose levels by making muscle tissue more sensitive to insulin so glucose can be absorbed. It is usually taken two times a day. A side effect of metformin may be diarrhea, but this is improved when the drug is taken with food.

Product description

Most Important Information about Glucophage (Metformin)

Pharmacokinetics

Possible Side Effects

More information about Glucophage (Metformin):

Cancer Benefit for Diabetes Drug Glucophage

Kidney Fund concerned about Glucophage fatality risk

FDA approves new indication for Glucovance oral antidiabetic

To get more information about Glucophage: GLUCOPHAGE MEDICATION.

To buy GLUCOPHAGE click HERE: My Family Drugstore

The FDA has approved Glucovance, as an adjunct to diet and exercise, for use in combination with another class of antidiabetic agents known as thiazolidinediones (TZDs), when adequate glycemic control is not achieved with Glucovance and diet and exercise.

The new indication provides physicians with yet another Glucovance therapy option by offering the flexibility of adding a TZD when patients require additional blood sugar control.

“Glucovance works by treating the major problems associated with type 2 diabetes — the inability to release sufficient insulin and the inability to use it effectively,” said George Dailey, M.D., head of the Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Scripps Clinic. “This new indication for Glucovance is an important treatment option in the struggle to control type 2 diabetes.”

The new indication for Glucovance is based on results from a 24-week clinical study, which evaluated the effects of adding rosiglitazone (a member of the thiazolidinedione class of agents) or placebo to the therapy regimen of patients with type 2 diabetes not adequately controlled on current oral antidiabetic therapy (either monotherapy or combination therapy) who were first switched to Glucovance.

In the study, 42 percent of patients on Glucovance plus rosiglitazone achieved an A1C level of <7 percent, which is the treatment goal recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Glucovance is a product that combines glyburide and Glucophage® (metformin HCl tablets) — two widely prescribed oral antidiabetic agents — in a single pill. In clinical studies, Glucovance showed significantly greater reductions in glucose levels than glyburide or metformin. Glucovance was originally approved by the FDA in August 2000 and more than 8 million prescriptions have been written for the product during the past two years.

Glucovance is not for everyone. In rare cases, Glucovance may cause lactic acidosis (build-up of lactic acid in the blood), which is serious and can be fatal in half the cases. This occurs mainly in people whose kidneys are not functioning properly. Patients should tell their doctor about their alcohol use because it can increase their risk. Patients should not take Glucovance if they: have kidney problems, are 80 or older (unless their kidneys have been tested), are taking medication for heart failure, are seriously dehydrated, have a serious infection, or if they have or have had liver disease.

Source: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

Product description

Most Important Information about Glucophage (Metformin)

Pharmacokinetics

Possible Side Effects

More information about Glucophage (Metformin):

Cancer Benefit for Diabetes Drug Glucophage

Kidney Fund concerned about Glucophage fatality risk

To buy GLUCOPHAGE click HERE: My Family Drugstore

Glucophage is a biguanide hypoglycaemic developed by Lipha (Merck KGaA) and licensed to Bristol-Myers Squibb for the U.S. The product helps the body use insulin and is among the most common drugs for the management of Type II diabetes.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the product can cause a rare side effect, lactic acidosis, a build-up of lactic acid in the blood that is fatal in about half of all cases.

Although the drug package insert warns of this side effect and states that Glucophage should not be used by patients who have kidney disease or those taking drugs for heart failure, the concern is that patients may have kidney disease and not know it.

Product description

Most Important Information about Glucophage (Metformin)

Pharmacokinetics

Possible Side Effects

More information about Glucophage (Metformin):

Cancer Benefit for Diabetes Drug Glucophage

FDA approves new indication for Glucovance oral antidiabetic

For more information look HERE: My Family Drugstore

Review Data
Research was carried out at the University of Dundee in Scotland and included an analysis of data from two large registries: the Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Study (DARTS) and MEdicine MOnitoring unit (MEMO).
DARTS included data from about 13,000 people with diabetes in Britain, while MEMO included all pharmacy-dispensed prescription records from England�s National Health Service. The findings by Alistair Emslie-Smith, MB, ChB, and colleagues, were briefly reported in the 4 June 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal.
The study reported that 983 people with type 2 diabetes were diagnosed with cancer within one year of being diagnosed with diabetes, and these cases were compared with data from 1,846 people with type 2 diabetes who did not have cancer.
An analysis of data revealed no factors to explain the difference in mortality rates due to cancer, except for taking Glucophage. Some potentially distinguishing factors that they examined included gender, age, severity or duration of diabetes, weight, smoking and cholesterol levels. Researchers noted an inverse relationship between Glucophage exposure and cancer mortality (i.e., – higher doses and longer use were associated with lower cancer risk), but they also noted a trend toward lower cancer mortality even among people who took only one dose of Glucophage.

Hypothesis or Proof?
The study findings, while provocative, are not considered conclusive. Bo Ahren, MD, PhD, a professor of clinical metabolic research at Lund University in Sweden, commented to MedPage Today that he remains unconvinced that Glucophage offers protection against cancer. “I�ve seen the data,” he said. “I believe the data, but it has to be confirmed.”
The group who analyzed the data agree – noting, for instance, that they have not yet linked taking Glucophage with prevention of a particular type of cancer. Similarly, they are unprepared to suggest that Glucophage could lower the risk of cancer in non-diabetics.
“It is too early to think it (Glucophage) will become mainstream for patients to prevent cancer, but we know it has a role in pre-diabetics,” Dr. Emslie-Smith commented to MedPage Today. “If long periods of [Glucophage] are shown beneficial, then maybe that will justify using it earlier in patients at high risk.”

Sources:
EASD: Cancer Benefit Seen for Popular Diabetes Drug,

MedPage Today, 12 September 2005.
Metformin and the reduced risk of cancer in diabetic patients, Evans JMM et al., British Medical Journal, volume 330, pages 1304-1305.

Product description

Most Important Information about Glucophage (Metformin)

Pharmacokinetics

Possible Side Effects

More information about Glucophage (Metformin):

Kidney Fund concerned about Glucophage fatality risk

FDA approves new indication for Glucovance oral antidiabetic

To buy GLUCOPHAGE click HERE: My Family Drugstore