Diabetes- The Money's In The Treatment, Not The Cure

[HarleyDog]

(10-18-2022, 12:55 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I was thinking of taking the rest of his pills and ingesting them myself, since it has also been prescribed as a weight loss med lol (but I don't **** with drugs unless I'm prescribed them and need them).

(10-18-2022, 04:07 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, I've been on Ozempic for a few months now and have been doing well with it, though I can definitely see why some people would have problems. I definitely find my appetite decreased on it but haven't had the other side effects people talk about, fortunately. The hope is, though, that the only meds I will still be taking after my surgery will be the mental health ones because the sleeve gastrectomy should resolve hyperlipidemia and diabetes, my two biggest issues. Well, and my obesity. I've been obese since I was like 5 years old, so I am looking forward to that, as well.

I started taking Jardiance (stuff is expensive). I believe the drug is for diabetes but my Dr. prescribed them to prevent heart attack and stroke (even though my glucose levels are above range). One thing he mentioned is that it makes people lose weight. That must be common among medicines for diabetes. 

[Belsnickel]

(10-18-2022, 04:55 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I started taking Jardiance (stuff is expensive). I believe the drug is for diabetes but my Dr. prescribed them to prevent heart attack and stroke (even though my glucose levels are above range). One thing he mentioned is that it makes people lose weight. That must be common among medicines for diabetes. 

I'm on Jardiance as well, so believe me I know. I have some stellar insurance, though, so the most I pay for any prescription is $90 for a 90-day supply. Still pricey, but not bad compared to a lot of people.

Anyway, it is common, but there are some that have a reverse effect. Some people have a really hard time losing weight on metformin, one of the most common diabetes drugs.

[*michaelsean*]

As far as I know, there is no cure for Type 1. Your body doesn’t produce insulin. Type 2 is completely curable through diet and exercise.

[Belsnickel]

(10-18-2022, 10:04 PM)michaelsean Wrote: As far as I know, there is no cure for Type 1. Your body doesn’t produce insulin. Type 2 is completely curable through diet and exercise.

Type 2 isn't actually curable. It can be managed with diet and exercise in many people, but also not even that is a guarantee. Also, the chances of managing it without medication decreases the longer you are diabetic. So, if you manage to make the lifestyle changes early on you have a higher chance of being successful with it, but the longer you wait the less likely the chances. Same with bariatric surgery like what I am getting. Doctors are optimistic for me, but I know my chances aren't all that great. But, even with that management early on your body still has insulin issues. The damage done by the disease isn't reversible and the genetic components to it mean that it is always with you.

[CJD]

(10-18-2022, 06:47 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: That's quite literally the only solution to problems like this. Government regulation is supposed to be a tool for exactly these types of scenarios. Adam Smith was full of shit.

No, no, no. If you just appeal to the drug company's good nature, they will voluntarily make less money off of their monopolistic control of a patented product that millions of people need to stay alive (and thus has an inelastic demand).

Have you never read Ayn Rand?

 (/s)

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(10-18-2022, 04:07 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, I've been on Ozempic for a few months now and have been doing well with it, though I can definitely see why some people would have problems. I definitely find my appetite decreased on it but haven't had the other side effects people talk about, fortunately. The hope is, though, that the only meds I will still be taking after my surgery will be the mental health ones because the sleeve gastrectomy should resolve hyperlipidemia and diabetes, my two biggest issues. Well, and my obesity. I've been obese since I was like 5 years old, so I am looking forward to that, as well.

Good, I'm glad you don't have any of the nasty side-effects; I mean, my dad's aren't as bad as, "this drug may cause such and such, which can be fatal!" (seriously, these commercials you Americans have are just hilarious and freaky at the same time), but I could never live my life being vomity for half of my waking hours.

As also mentioned in all those drug commercials, the side effects vary from person to person, so I guess that's why it doesn't work for him.

I hope the surgery helps; I'm not huge, but I've been overweight from about age 7 myself (when I had cancer at 21, I got down to 192, which was the lightest I had been since I was 12) and as an adult living on my own, I finally found the formula diet-wise, to stave off weight gain... but my job is an absolute killer and is the reason why I can't LOSE any weight either, so I've been in the same 15 pound range for the past 5 years.

So yeah, I know the struggles with weight and have learned to live with it, but I'm bummed I can't fit into some of the clothes I used to be able to fit into and that I can no longer eat some of the unhealthy stuff I used to...

But, since my diet is excellent and I do walk to work for 9 months of the year (December, January, February are non-negotiable, as my walk is not always on paved ground), my BS is always excellent, my BP is typically around 110/71, I have the cholesterol levels of a healthy 15 year old male (exact words of my doctor) and most-importantly, I FEEL good, despite the weight.

It's a struggle, that's for sure, but I sincerely hope that the surgery will pay massive dividends :)

(10-18-2022, 04:55 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I started taking Jardiance (stuff is expensive). I believe the drug is for diabetes but my Dr. prescribed them to prevent heart attack and stroke (even though my glucose levels are above range). One thing he mentioned is that it makes people lose weight. That must be common among medicines for diabetes. 

The less you eat (of good food, of course: if you eat a small quantity of shit, you're still eating shit lol) = the less glucose your body has to break down, thus many diabetes meds work in trying to have you avoid eating/eating less: this was what Ozempic does (it constricts your stomach sphincter and the connection to your esophagus, apparently, thus forcing you to eat less), but my dad had the nasty side-effect of nausea and vomiting, which Matt seems to not have.

Drugs can be awesome things or awful things, depending on the person.

[*michaelsean*]

(10-19-2022, 08:31 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Type 2 isn't actually curable. It can be managed with diet and exercise in many people, but also not even that is a guarantee. Also, the chances of managing it without medication decreases the longer you are diabetic. So, if you manage to make the lifestyle changes early on you have a higher chance of being successful with it, but the longer you wait the less likely the chances. Same with bariatric surgery like what I am getting. Doctors are optimistic for me, but I know my chances aren't all that great. But, even with that management early on your body still has insulin issues. The damage done by the disease isn't reversible and the genetic components to it mean that it is always with you.

Got it.  Thanks

[NATI BENGALS]

I always thought I was pushing myself to the brink of diabetes when I laid there and ate mountains of cookies and candy and popcorn.

I don't get it. So is it a switch that I can flip and it won't ever flip back. Or am I just genetically predestined for it to happen?

[NATI BENGALS]

(10-17-2022, 08:35 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: As some people might remember, I have posted the idea that there's a cure for cancer or there would be but, every time someone gets close or finds one, the drug companies buy it and destroy it because the money's in the treatment, not the cure. A cure would be difficult to patten and companies would just keep finding cheaper ways of making it.

One of my professors in college first told our class that theory and I had never thought about it, but then I told my dad about the idea and wondered his thoughts on it. He's diabetic, agreed with my professor, and said that's why there will never be a cure for diabetes because the insulin companies will buy it up and destroy it.

I finally decided to look into how much money insulin makes and, in 2021, the market size was 20.55 BILLION DOLLARS!

No wonder they'll do whatever they can from keeping a cure from becoming available to the public!

Speaking on the money being in the treatment and not the cure. There are people out there who will tell you that fasting can be beneficial to your health. And there are some facilities where people go to fast with medical observation, which I'm assuming someone pays for. But other than that it's pretty hard to make money off of someone not eating and the human body healing itself.