Drug pairing & Older Drugs Are Often Best

The antidepressant Paxil and cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol are commonly prescribed in conjunction with one another, but a new study indicates that the combination may lead to dangerous increases in blood sugar in all patients, particularly those with type 2 diabetes.

Due to the fact that medications are given Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval independently, it is not always possible for doctors to predict the effects combinations of drugs may cause. The team then examined the medical records of 104 patients who had diabetes and were being treated with the drugs. The data showed that these individuals experienced dramatic blood sugar increases after starting the combination treatment. The records of non-diabetic patients taking the two drugs also showed blood sugar increases.

read more: Drug pairing may raise blood sugar, putting type 2 diabetics at risk

For Those With Diabetes, Older Drugs Are Often Best
Most Type 2 diabetes patients take one or more drugs to control blood sugar. Diabetes drugs are important to the pharmaceutical industry, more lucrative than drugs for many other chronic diseases, Dr. Alexander noted in an interview.

Step 1: Fight diabetes with lifestyle changes.

Cost: Free or low cost.

Step 2: If you need to begin taking a drug to control blood sugar, start with metformin, the most common and one of the least expensive diabetes drugs.

Metformin almost always works as a first-line drug, except for patients suffering from severe kidney disease, said Dr. Bennett. “The expensive drugs are third- and fourth-line drugs,” said Dr. Marvin Lipman, chief medical adviser for Consumer Reports Health and a practicing endocrinologist in Westchester County, N.Y. “If you don’t get results with the less expensive drugs, you go to those. Avoid: Certain newer diabetes drugs have been associated with heart failure and other risks.

Step 3: Choose combination drugs from among inexpensive generics.

Patients should discuss each drug’s pros and cons, as well as cost, with their doctors.

read more…. For Those With Diabetes, Older Drugs Are Often Best