Letter From The Editor

OTC Meds for Diabetes, Hypertension and Cholesterol – You’ve Got to Be Kidding! This week we have an interesting item (Item #3, Diabetes and Statin Meds May Become Available without a Prescription) about the FDA’s idea to make diabetes, cholesterol and hypertensive medications available over the counter. Their thought is …

Do you have nine seconds to improve your patients’ care? According to the new JOSLIN’S DIABETES DESKBOOK — A Guide for Primary Care Providers, Updated 2nd Edition those 9 seconds could make the difference in improving patient adherence to your care plan. We are excited to be able to offer you …

Last week I learned something new about fruits and diabetes. According to something someone told one of my new patients, if you eat organic fruits they will not raise your glucose levels. Now we know that this is not true but nothing continues to amaze me like the things that …

We all know that diabetes has reached an epic level in this country and the prospects for improvement in the near future are not that great. Since patients are getting the disease sooner it is likely that they will also need increased care as the future approaches. This usually means …

When it comes to weight loss medications the FDA’s motto appears to be, “If at first you don’t get approval, try, try, again,” and it worked as an FDA advisory panel recommended the approval of Qnexa after two previous rejections (See this week’s Item #3). This might just open the …

We have seen that many of our diabetes patients also have hypertension and or elevated lipids and are often referred to as suffering from cardiometabolic syndrome. Over the past couple of months, Stan Schwartz, MD, FACP, has been educating us on the diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome. He finishes …

Last week I walked into the pharmacy and heard a call over the intercom, “Manager to deli, please.” I didn’t think anything of it until the manager called me back to the deli because one of his employees was lying on the floor with a glucose reading of 36mg/dl. We …

We all know how hard it is to prescribe the right medication for a patient while not having it rejected for non-formulary or prior auth requirements, but do we ever think about how these insurance rules can lead to a disaster? This week we look at how a change of …

Last month, Richard Kahn, M.D., the former chief scientific officer for the American Diabetes Association, stated that even though weight loss can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes, these prevention programs are a “waste of resources” and the health system should focus instead on reducing the likelihood of complications …

Ranolazine is a medication used for the prevention of angina which also seems to have a positive effect on A1c. This makes it a very important drug for cardiometabolic treatment according to Stan Schwartz MD, FACP, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, U of Pa. Check out this week’s Homerun Slides …