Posts Tagged ‘American Diabetes Month’

Last week, I recommended the book, Drug Muggers by Pharmacist Suzy Cohen. Drug muggers is a phrase author Cohen uses to describe prescription medications (and lifestyle habits) that can rob your body of necessary vitamins and minerals.

To combat the drug muggers in our lives, many of us should be taking supplements to replenish what has been depleted by our medicines.

In my first blog posting on drug muggers, I wrote about statins or cholesterol lowering medicines and the things in your body that are lost with their use. You can read that blog HERE.

This week, since November is American Diabetes Month, I thought we should discuss diabetes medication drug muggers and what supplements you should take if you are on diabetes medicine.

Diabetes medicines include:

• Glyburide (Diabeta, Glynase, Micronase)
• Metformin (Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Fortamet, Riomet)
• Metformin and Sitagliptin (Janumet)
• Tolazamide (Tolinase)
• Glipizide (Glucotrol)

Some of the side effects that can occur with diabetes medicines when certain nutrients are in short supply:

• Fatigue
• Weakness and muscle cramps
• Memory loss
• Heart disease
• Frequent infections

Diabetes medications can leave you deficient in:

• Coenzyme Q 10–necessary for the proper functioning of our muscles, including the heart. Decreased levels can lead to muscle weakness and pain, as well as problems with the heart.
• Vitamin B6–(pyridoxine) needed for normal nerve and heart function.
• Vitamin B12-(also known as methylcobalamin) necessary for energy, sleep, as well as for our nervous systems.
• Folic Acid (also known as Vitamin B9 or 5-MTHF/5-methyltetrahydrofolate or Folate in its natural form)–Folic acid is necessary to make red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout the body. Folic acid is also needed to make DNA, our genetic code, and is thus vital to prevent birth defects. Folate and the other B Vitamins also play an important role in heart function.

We carry a line of supplements in the pharmacy known as Replenish. Replenish has a supplement, Oral Hypoglycemic Complete, specifically for people who are taking diabetes medications. For less than 50 cents a day, you can take this supplement to help restore the vitamins and minerals that have been drug mugged by your diabetes medicines.

During the month of November, we will be giving away four copies of Drug Muggers. So please stop in the store and fill out a raffle ticket. There is a ton of wonderful information in this book about many classes of prescription drugs–more information than I can possibly summarize in my blogs.

There is also an end cap in the pharmacy featuring Statinzyme and the vitamins and supplements needed if you are taking diabetes medications.

As always, please check with your doctor and let them know about any and all vitamins and supplements you add to your daily regimen of medications.

November is American Diabetes Month. Started in 1940, the American Diabetes Association is celebrating their 75th Anniversary this year. American Diabetes Month brings awareness to the disease and focuses attention on those who suffer with diabetes year round.

To celebrate our many wonderful diabetic patients, we are planning several events throughout the month of November.

We have over 140 Sugar Free items in the store!! Sugar free items have their bar codes on the shelf highlighted in green to make it easy to spot them. We also have over 250 Gluten Free items if you are looking for those. Their bar codes are highlighted pink.

Did you know that we can order diabetic shoes and slippers in the pharmacy? Well, now you do! Rebecca is our diabetic shoe expert, so ask to talk to her or one of our pharmacists if you need help with shoes from our Dr. Comfort line. All month long, you can enter a raffle to win a pair of slippers from Dr. Comfort. We’ll order in exactly what you need if you are the winner.

We’ll also be giving away Truform diabetic socks throughout the month. If you are diabetic, ask for your FREE GIFT–a super pair of Truform socks.

Additionally, Incrediwear offers fabulous circulation socks for diabetics. We have a whole rack of Incrediwear socks for you to shop. And we’re giving everyone a coupon–buy one pair of socks, get the second pair (of equal or lesser value) at half off–which you can use for the Incrediwear line or any other socks in the store!! Our staff all have Incrediwear socks that they wear and they love them. They are also my very favorite socks, too!

Did you know that your diabetes medications can rob your body of important nutrients and vitamins? I’ll have a blog posting specifically about diabetes medication “drug muggers” this month, but you can also enter a raffle to win one of four copies of Suzy Cohen’s book “Drug Muggers.” Stop by the front counter to enter the raffle for the book and the slippers.

If there is anything else we can do for you or order in to make your life better, please ask.

To download the 2015 fact sheet on American Diabetes Month go HERE.