LifeCare Chiropractic

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beta blockers

RISK OF NEW-ONSET DIABETES MELLITUS (02-23-09)

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A Meta-Analysis of 94,492 Patients With Hypertension Treated With Beta Blockers to Determine the Risk of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus

I remain astonished at the results of this study. Beta blockers are given to patients with high blood pressure to presumably lower their risk of both cardiovascular disease and stroke. However, given the concern that this class of drugs may actually increase progression to diabetes (which would dramatically increase the risk of heart disease and stroke), this study looked more deeply into the question.

What did they find in evaluating studies combining 95,000 patients?? A 22% INCREASED risk of diabetes!! Ok, so they get diabetes, but what about protecting against stroke? How well did that work? A 15% increased risk of stroke. Then, for the icing on the cake, the authors found no change in risk for heart attacks or death. And for this our insurance reimburses the cost???

The bottom line is that, any time we try to artificially mutate a value (like blood pressure) with drugs, there will be a price to be paid. As the wizened turtle in Kung Fu Panda say, “one is likely to meet their destiny on the road they take to avoid it.” Lifestyle is the ONLY answer.

Read entire article here

DOES YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE DRUG CAUSE CANCER?

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As if we didn’t have enough problems with the toxic world we live in. There are a very large number of chemicals that we are unconsciously exposed to. Many of these are well documented to cause problems. Many cause cancer. But what about the drugs we knowingly take in? Maybe we assume they are safe and won’t cause cancer.

 But what if they do? I know there are times that I sound like a broken record. It sometimes seems that I hammer on pharmaceutical approaches to disease and how damaging it can be. My goal, however, is to enlighten my patients to just how dangerous and wrong a society based almost exclusively on drugs to fix problems is. At the same time offer solutions to the problems for which my patients are taking the drugs.

All too often patients don’t want to make significant lifestyle changes. I think this is because they mistakenly believe that the drug they are going to take is going to actually help them prevent the chronic disease they are concerned about (i.e. statins for preventing a heart attack or stroke). This is rarely the case. Rather, many of our drugs do little to change the long term outcome; worse, they increase the risk for what we are trying to prevent or increase the risk of another condition.

In this case, several drugs used for management of blood pressure (angiotensin II receptor blockers, diuretics) increased the risk of cancer in general. Considering that another popular class of drugs for high blood pressure, the beta-blockers, increase the risk of stroke and diabetes, it doesn’t leave many drug options to control blood pressure that are safe. Thiazide diuretics have also been shown to increase the risk of stroke.

Luckily, many studies have found natural ways to lower your blood pressure.  These include:

  • Berry intake has been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Cocoa and tea have been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Biofeedback using the Resperate has been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Switching from daiy to non-GMO, organic soy milk

Of course, these are in addition to an overall anti-diabetic lifestyle that avoids refined carbs, omega-6 fatty acids and cuts overall calories while increasing activity levels.

ARE YOU TAKING THIS BLOOD PRESSURE MED?

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I remember being at a child’s birthday party and speaking with an attendee.  Turns out this person was a pharmacist teaching cardiovascular drugs to pharmacy students.  One could assume that all they are teaching to new students is evidence based and devoid of dogma.

I asked her if beta blockers were still being used given their high risk of creating diabetes (about 22%) and stroke (about 12%).  The pharmacist was unaware of any such association.  Considering that the study I was referring to was in a cardiology journal and involved looking at 95,000 patients, I was sure it was a familiar one.  I was apparently wrong.  Despite the pharmacist / instructor in cardiology drugs’ lack of knowledge in this area, there is no longer any doubt that the beta blocker class of drugs used to treat hypertension creates diabetes and stroke (heck–isn’t that what we’re trying to prevent!!??).  Think of the “ol” drugs like atenolol or propranolol.

But dont’ worry if you’re still on this class of drugs.  This article finds that giving an ACE-inhbitor (think “il” like lisinoprol or captopril) almost counteracts the negative effects of the beta blockers.  What magic!  So, the bottom line is that, if you are written a prescription for a beta blocker that will increase your risk of diabetes and stroke, make sure you get your doctor to write that second prescription to counteract the side effects of the first.

Or……..you could cut out enriched wheat flour, hydrogenated oils and exercise more….

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002914911010277