Diabetic Control Solutions Including Statin Drugs

Let's face it, if you have diabetes you're always on the lookout for new and better ways to control your condition. But new and more is not always best. Sometimes we need to remember diabetic control solutions that have been around for a while. They may not be new and exciting, but they're worth remembering and following.

One such diabetic control solution is watching out for your cholesterol levels. Now don't go away! Just take a moment to read this article and you'll see that this diabetic control solution is tried and true, and you'd do well not to discard it from your diabetic care regimen.

For some time now, some doctors have been recommending that diabetics take what are known as statins. These are drugs specifically designed to get cholesterol under control. But the reason they're important to diabetics is that diabetes dramatically increases the chances of your getting strokes or heart attacks. If you reduce your cholesterol level, you'll also reduce your risk of stroke or heart attack --- so that's where statin drugs come in.

There are definitely pros and cons of statin drugs as part of diabetic control solutions.

Pro

A recent study in the UK and Ireland studied two groups of people suffering from Diabetes 2. One half of the group took a statin drug and the other half took a placebo. The results showed that a 37% reduction in major cardiovascular events (strokes and heart attacks) occured in the group that took the statin, and the overall mortality rate in this same group was 27% lower. No results are given for the placebo group, but in general these results looked good.

Con

However, there are side effects to statin drugs, which may make some diabetics reluctant to make them part of their diabetic control solutions. Some you can probably live with, including mild diarrhea or constipation. However, statins can also cause liver damage --- already a risk for diabetics. Diabetics on statins can also experience muscle problems, even possibly leading to impaired kidney function.

Now it's important to know that the study that produced such good results for statins was partly funded by a pharmaceutical company that produces these drugs, so obviously they are going to play up the positive results. That doesn't mean the results are not true, but it does mean you can't just assume the results are unbiased.

Dr. Jay S. Cohen is an expert on drugs and their side effects, and the author of "What you must know about Statin Drugs and their natural alternatives", and he has made serious studies of statins, their benefits and their not-so-nice side effects. His feeling is that many diabetics can, in fact, benefit from taking statin drugs. However, he urges us to talk to our doctors and make sure we start on low dosages, rather than diving right in with big doses of the "star" names of the statin world. Start with low dosages and see what difference that makes --- it's quite possible that you won't need any more. If your diabetic control solution demands a higher dose, then make sure your doctor prescribes the increase slowly.

Dr. Cohen also stresses that increasing exercise and losing weight can do a lot to reduce cholesterol on their own, without statin drugs. So even though we all know this, many of us don't take the trouble to actually follow a routine that might help us bring our symptoms under control without extra medications.

So the bottom line is, as always, we should certainly take advantage of modern medicinal remedies, but our diabetic control solutions should also include lifestyle changes and an investigation into the many natural remedies also available.