Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hashmi on April 26, 2011 at 11:40pm

One of my old doctor says always take that medicine which keeps your BS level under control...Exercise is a must.

Permalink Reply by Craig on June 13, 2011 at 6:39pm

Sounds like a pharmaceutical company wrote that article! Do NOT take a statin drug just for the sake of keeping your cholesterol "normal"! They are bad enough if you are trying to control your high cholesterol! The side effect will never go away if you have them.And in all the commercials for them they say it a rare condition.. BULL! I have not talked to one person on a statin that does not complain of muscle aches! I have tried every statin on the market and all with bad side effects, muscle aches, not like "i am getting old" aches, terrible charley horse, back aches, 25,000 volt kinda shocks in your back.. I am done with statins I have been on and off them for 10 years. Sure they lower your numbers, but wont prevent a heart attack. Sounds ironic, but I trusted the DR. What more can you do? Stay away from STATINs.. My Dr. has me taking the max dos. of Metformin 2 times a day as well as insulin. He said if I stop the Metformin, I will gain weight. I do take a blood pressure pill Rampril to prevent high blood pressure though, but there are no side effect so I don't mind paying the co-pay. Especially now that I am not taking any statin drugs! Statin=Satin

Permalink Reply by wickhamster on October 20, 2011 at 4:38am

I my travels, I spent a year in the UK. I discovered that ALL diabetics MUST take blood pressure and cholesterol medications. It's the rule there. It was very nice to be handed a card that gave me all medications (not just diabetic, everything except cosmetic) free ... but I didn't see why I should take things I didn't need.

Permalink Reply by mistee71 on February 20, 2012 at 5:08am

I know this is an old post but I'm new here and am English. I have to put this right. We dont all have to take the other meds at all. You only take it if you need it. I am on 1000g x2 of glucophage sr (slow release metformin) and 100g x1 a day of sitigliptin. We do however get free prescriptions for life which is a nice bonus.

Permalink Reply by wickhamster on February 20, 2012 at 5:37am

The free medicines are great. I still have of those cards.

And they can't make you take things. Even though my cholesterol results were good, they insisted I was supposed to take Lipitor. Which I didn't.

I find with all my traveling I need to be well informed enough to make my own decisions, because 'rules' and treatment plans vary from country to country and I have had to work out what works for me and stick to it. The latest little annoyance is my insurance (like they know) tell me that - even though I'm on insulin I "don't need to test every day" and therefore they don't pay for strips at all.

Permalink Reply by mistee71 on February 20, 2012 at 6:13am

The testing strips type 2 has to pay for. If your type 1 you get it free as you have to test several times a day and type 2's dont. When i think about it, we dont get anything free over here. You pay medical insurence if i got that right where as we have it taken from our wages before we get it. Just like tax is automatically taken out, so is our national insurence. It's only about £3 a week though.

Permalink Reply by wickhamster on February 20, 2012 at 6:29am

Good old NHS ... But one wonders how long it will be able to keep going! Here in Malaysia our employee pays for ING insurance which gives access (in these rather rural parts) to some ... Little clinicS which are barely more than pill dispensaries. The rule here is "type 2s take Metformin" full stop. I arrived as a fancy foreigner demanding more, and they have come good with everything ordered from the big city month by month. The government hospital has specialist clinics which don't cost much - I go there for eye checks - and the doctors are good, but the system is terribly overcrowded. An "appointment" will rob you of 3 - 4 hours of your life as you sit in a hall full of people waiting for your number to be called. But ... Life moves slowly here and the people are delightful, never Argo or anything.

Permalink Reply by mistee71 on February 20, 2012 at 6:46am

Good job we have some knowledge then. I only got diagnosed October type 2 but think they got the type wrong. Some of my symptoms fit type 1 but trying to get the doctors to listen is proving hard. I hear all the time that if your an adult you get diagnosed T2 automatically. I,m sat at my computer having tantrums now. Just rang my docs to make an appointment to talk it over and they are shut for staff training.

Permalink Reply by alimar on January 12, 2012 at 4:36am

I have been on bp meds for 9 years now (due to a history of stroke in my family) and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes nearly 3 years ago (17.2.2009). I am now on 4 Metformin tabs a day along with the bp stuff, pravastatin, glimepiride and Actos - if you shook me, I'd rattle, but I went to the diabetic clinic today and - woo-hoo! The combo seems to be doing the trick! I'm down to 75 - I've still got a way to go, but I don't have to go back for another 4 months instead of the usual three. They did try me on Victoza for a while, but after a promising start, it just wasn't working quickly enough, but at least it got me used to having injections - I didn't even flinch at the dentist's last week!