The Diabetes Drug Risk NOBODY Talks About

The moment you’re diagnosed with diabetes… or even pre-diabetes these days… you’re headed for some pretty heavy-duty prescription drugs.

These meds are supposed to keep our blood sugar in line, so we can avoid serious problems like heart disease, blindness, amputations, and even Alzheimer’s.

But many diabetes drugs come with a risk that most doctors and patients never discuss.

And seniors in particular may need to be especially careful.

Diabetes occurs when your blood sugar is too high—so the drugs to treat it involve reducing blood sugar levels.

It makes sense on the surface—but sometimes these drugs can deliver way more than you bargained for.

The study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care looked at data from nearly 200,000 type 2 diabetics.

What they found was that drug-based treatment of diabetes sometimes triggered dangerously low blood sugar levels—a condition called hypoglycemia—which could be much more risky for elderly individuals than high blood sugar levels.

High blood sugar levels cause damage over time, but low blood sugar levels are a problem now.

I’m not terribly surprised by this. High blood sugar needs to be addressed — but it’s often treated overly aggressively.

If you’ve ever experienced low blood sugar, you know it can make you feel irritable, shaky, fatigued, and confused.

But severe acute episodes of hypoglycemia can cause seizures, coma, and cardiac arrhythmia—which are all especially dangerous for older people.

And prolonged hypoglycemia can cause permanent neurological disorders.

One of the most common causes of hypoglycemia is the drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes.

It’s important to closely monitor your blood sugar and communicate with your doctor if you’re experiencing any of the symptoms of low blood sugar.

Adjusting your medication dosage — or trying gentler, natural treatments — may be in order.