Oral Medication, So Far

Insulin is not the only diabetic treatment of choice in medicine; there is also a group of oral medications that stimulates insulin secretion. Some of these drugs increase the sensitivity of receptor sites so there are more locations for glucose to enter the cell.

 

Despite their seeming benefits, oral agents, with names such as Orinase, Diabinase, and Tolinase, are cause for concern because of their potential for adverse side-effects.  Most worrisome is an increased susceptibility to heart attacks. Diabetes itself makes a person more prone to heart disease, and diabetic drugs add to the likelihood of this event.

Modern medicine does not allocate time and energy to apply research to Therapeutic Nutrition and Biological individuality. Physicians suggest dietary modifications to avoid all carbohydrates, since this food eventually breaks down into glucose. However no distinction is made between simple and complex carbohydrates. In addition, allergic respond to food is not taken into account. 

Unlike simple sugars, complex carbohydrates may be beneficial to diabetics. Although both are broken down into glucose, the latter do not directly in to the bloodstream. Complex carbohydrates go through a long digestive process and release sugar into the blood gradually. Rather than contribute to high blood-sugar level, complex carbohydrates stabilize blood sugar levels, improving health.

Diabetics are advised to eat high-protein diets, which can cause several additional problems, especially when protein is derived from animal sources. Animal proteins also deliver high fat, making the person more prone to cardiovascular disease. Receptor sites become clogged from fat and cholesterol, leading to greater insulin resistance. The inevitable rise in blood sugar results in the prescription of more medicine. In certain individuals, excess protein is converted back to fat and stored as fat cells. Too much protein is also related to kidney damage. Since the body cannot store protein, it needs to be immediately processed. A high-protein diet stresses nephron cells, causing diabetics to suffer from kidney deterioration. Many patients must receive dialysis or a kidney transplant as a result.

On the other hand, protein is essential to every cell and meeting the demand for cell regeneration, hormone, and the immune system. The kind of protein, and planning in the daily diet, must be individual.

Insulin, is it Safe?

After its development in the 1920s, manmade insulin was deemed a “miracle cure.”  Indeed, it has prevented suffering and countless lives. Before the development of synthetic insulin, diabetes patients were given a bleak prognosis and suffered terribly from disease complications such as blindness, gout, and gangrene. Insulin has extended the lifespan of childhood diabetics from months to decades. Today, many diabetic children live normal, productive lives.

The problem with insulin is that it is prescribed universally, and not just to those with true insulin deficiencies. Giving this hormone to a person with already sufficient level does nothing to correct the underlying problem. Furthermore, its use can be counterproductive. This is because insulin stimulates the development of antagonists in the body that counteract its blood sugar-lowering effects.

When a diabetic receives insulin, and his/her blood sugar begins to fall, the body immediately responds with an output of growth hormones and epinephrine. These hormones keep blood-sugar levels elevated. The result of aggressive insulin therapy, then, is a rebound effect. 

Constant fluctuations in blood sugar can lead to a wide range of disorders. Clinical studies show that diabetics treated aggressively with insulin have a 40% greater incidence of eye problems than those treated moderately. Nevertheless, aggressive insulin treatment is the method choice in mainstream medicine for diabetics with eye problems.  

Another problem with insulin treatment is that it may contribute to inner arterial wall damage and lead to cardiovascular problems. In fact, the incidence of heart attacks and stroke is five to eight times greater among diabetics than in general population. In fact, 75% of all diabetic mortalities are due to heart disease brought on by hardening of major arteries.

Other complications of insulin are the result of damage to microvascular vessels, particularly those leading to the eyes, kidneys, and peripheral nerves.  As these arteries became thick and brittle, it is more difficult for blood to pass through them, and they become less functional. In the eyes, sudden surges of blood sugar created repeated stresses that cause these vessels to hemorrhage and break down. After several hemorrhages, blindness is a likely outcome. This is the second most cause of blindness in older people, following glaucoma.

In the kidneys, similar events can cause renal insufficiency, so that nitrogen wastes can no longer be eliminated from the body efficiently. Interference with blood circulation in both large and small vessels is responsible for the high incidence of neuritis and gangrene, which begin with sensations of tingling and ends with loss of feeling. A frequent outcome of this problem is amputation.