KOCHI: When patients are prescribed diabetes medicine, there is a frequent question they ask, “Doctor, if I take this medicine, will my kidney get damaged?”
The drugs available for diabetes today do not affect the kidney. Some of them, in fact, help improve kidney function as well. Also, these drugs help in increasing the working capacity of the heart as well. The new medicines are also extremely helpful for patients suffering from diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.
Today, medicines for diabetes not only control the illness but also work toward controlling its complications to a limit too. The discovery of medicines such as SGLT2 inhibitors (canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, empagliflozin), GLP1 analogues (liraglutide, dulaglutide, Semaglutide) has paved the way for such changes.
The majority of diabetes patients are obese. Medicines that belong to the above-mentioned category also help in reducing their weight to an extent, which is also an added advantage. Medicines that are a little more beneficial for obesity are now available in foreign countries. We hope that it will be available in our country soon as well.
In recent years, there has been a significant change in insulin drugs as well. The fact that some of the insulin drugs can be taken just before food is also a gain. It is important that people who take insulin monitor the sugar levels in their bodies at regular intervals. Most of the patients check this with a glucometer, which is used by pricking one’s finger. However, as an alternative to a glucometer, today, sensors that can be attached to your hands are available in the market.
Known as continuous glucose monitoring devices, these innovative systems can be used to know the sugar levels in your blood, 24 hours a day. With these devices, it is possible to ensure that sugar does not fall more than a certain limit.
To control diabetes in a better way, you can use insulin pumps. With this, insulin can be taken at correct amounts in regular intervals, and besides, diabetes can be controlled. Although medicines that can be used to cure diabetes are not available today, some will help us control it and stop it from creating further complications. This way, a diabetic can move on with his/her life just like a healthy and non-diabetic person.
Every day, new developments in the treatment procedures and drugs for diabetes are being reported. Let us all hope that through research, we will find medicines that can eradicate diabetes completely.
The writer is an associate consultant at the endocrinology and diabetes dept, KIMSHEALTH, Thiruvananthapuram
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