If you have arrived at this page without viewing other pages of this web site, I would advise you to read MY STORY, PLAN OF ATTACK AND DIET PLAN, before reading this page.

People have the mistaken belief that drugs will be a cure all.  They think that they will stop all of the nasty problems associated with diabetes.  According to the American Diabetes Association, 5 to 10 percent of people stop responding to the oral diabetes drugs within twelve months.  At least another 50 percent will eventually stop responding.  Do you really want to start injecting yourself with insulin?

With any new drug the real guinea pigs, are the people who first use them.  Animals react differently to humans and what can appear safe in animals can have disastrous results in humans or no effect on the ailment that they wish to treat.  Below is a list of some recent diabetes drugs that have been withdrawn or discontinued from trials. Bear in mind that all of these drugs were extensively tested on animals and found to be safe.

Just because a drug continues to be used does not mean that there are no serious side effects.  If your doctor wants to put you on to drugs, ask him for all the information he has available on the side effects of the drugs.  If he tries to just fob you off by saying that it is safe to take, explain that you would like to read the information available so that you can make an informed decision on your health.  The doctor should have all the information on side effects; if he doesn't, how can he decide on what is best for you?  With some diabetes drugs there have been warnings regarding heart problems as a side effect (Avandia and Actos)

Take the information home with you and research the drug on the internet.  Once you have the information you are then in a position to go back to the doctors to discuss your choice of treatment.

When you have finished reading the rest of this page, take a look at the links page for some more information on diabetes drugs and drugs in general.

I can still remember my first appointment with the diabetic doctor at my local practice.  I said that I wanted to use homoeopathy and the doctor said that they had a new drug that I might want to try, I was just the sort of person it would help.  I refused his offer and said that I would stick to homoeopathy and diet correction.  You can see from my blood readings how well I have done. I would have been putting myself at risk of the side effects of the drug (side effects that were unknown as well as the known side effects) as well as placing a financial burden on the National Health Service, as diabetics are entitled to free prescriptions.  On a subsequent visit my doctor told me that there had only been one other person who had got their blood readings under such good control as me and that person had gone on to drugs initially but been able to come off them due to greatly improving their diet.  

Always remember that drug companies are only interested in products that they can patent.  They can't patent garlic, fenugreek, fennel, vitamin C; you using these products puts no profit in their pockets.  Never forget that they are in business to make MONEY, MONEY is their main priority. 

On finding out that I am diabetic, many other diabetics have suggested that I join Diabetes UK.  I do not want to fund vivisection. Diabetes UK (previously British Diabetic Association) have funded vivisection in the past and  will continue to do so in the future.  In 2002 their income from pharmaceutical companies was approximately £1.5 million. One of their aims is to stimulate and fund research into diabetes.  They also tell diabetics that they can consume sugar, something that I find bizarre.  (One recipe on their website for a Lemon Sponge Cake contains 5½ ounces of caster sugar and 4½  ounces plain flour,  plus 6 tablespoons of jam, with icing sugar to serve.  As a non diabetic you would be ill advised eating that little lot of junk, but as a diabetic you would be doing yourself no good whatsoever.)  We are talking here about a disease where there is too much glucose in your blood.  You are producing insufficient insulin to cope with the amount of glucose in your body or your bodies cells are resistant to insulin. The glucose  is coming from the food you eat.  You do not need to be a scientist to realize that cutting out all forms of refined sugar (glucose, glucose polymers, sucrose, fructose, lactose, all sugars including the different types of brown, golden syrup, maltodextrin, blackstrap molasses, treacle, glycerin/glycerol,) will relieve the burden on  your pancreas.  The naturally occurring   glucose in whole foods is released at a very slow rate in easy to handle amounts.  It has been well documented, how bad sugar is for you, even if you are not diabetic.  Have Diabetes UK read any of this information?  Are they aware that sugar has been implicated as a cause of diabetes?

Diabetes UK spend 4.5 million a year on research.  Despite over 100 years of animal experimentation there is no cure for diabetes.  Animals used in diabetic research include dogs, pigs, sheep, monkeys, rabbits, rats and mice. The following experiment is one that was part funded by the British Diabetic Association. (The following information is taken from the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) 2002 Summer Report).

MONKEYS AND MICE SLAUGHTERED - BRITISH DIABETIC ASSOCIATION (DIABETES UK)

Eight week old mice were killed (by breaking their neck), their abdomen was then opened and their pancreas removed to collect 'islet cells'. Four macaque monkeys were then anaesthetised, their abdomens cut open and the mouse islets (suspended in a clot of the monkey's own blood) placed inside the protective capsule around the monkey's kidney.   The monkeys were allowed to regain consciousness after surgery but were killed 24 hours later and their kidneys cut out for examination.  This is xenotransplantation (cross-species transplantation), and all previous attempts at this kind of procedure have failed as a result of 'hyperacute rejection', ie the recipient's body destroying the foreign tissue.  The researchers wanted to see if this would happen with transplanted islets. It did.

Supported in part by a grant from the British Diabetic Association (Diabetes UK)

Reference: Transplantation (2001) 72:1867-1874 Transplantation of mouse pancreatic islets into primates-in vivo and in vitro evaluation.

Animal models used in diabetes research usually involve removing or damaging the pancreas in some way, to artificially induce a diabetic state in the animal.  Sometimes the pancreas will be wholly or partly removed surgically.  The kidneys may also be damaged or removed at the same time, causing both diabetes and kidney failure.  Instead of removal the pancreas may also be damaged by injecting a toxic chemical streptozotocin (STZ). (Source BUAV)

I certainly would not want my pet dog used in research,  just to enable me to carry on eating junk.  Perhaps you are thinking 'Are but they are not pets, they are bred specifically for the purpose of vivisection'.  Firstly let me say that pet or no pet they suffer just the same.  Secondly in the year 2000,  7,500 abandoned animals (including dogs and cats)  were sent to labs throughout Japan. (BUAV Report Summer 2002)  Japanese drug companies produce diabetic drugs.  I don't know if a stray was used in the diabetic drug research, all I know is that we have a choice to change our diet; those animals have no choice or chance.   You might think 'Well just me changing is not going to make a difference'.  If everyone takes that attitude nothing will ever change: vivisection will continue, animals will continue to suffer.  Always remember that everything you do in life has either a direct or indirect effect on others.  By continuing to eat junk food you will eventually become ill and an animal in a laboratory will suffer so that you can have a drug to make you better.  Choose not to put a profit in the drug companies pockets and choose not to be party to animal abuse..  Change your lifestyle and diet.  You will benefit and the animals will eventually benefit.

In the UK alone 2.73 million experiments were carried out on animals in 2002.  The total number of individual animals used was 2,655,876. (BUAV Autumn 2003 report) The BUAV believe that the figures published by the Home Office do not paint an honest picture of the true number of animals used.  Currently excluded are the missing millions of animals bred for vivisection but killed as 'surplus to requirements'  or as 'non-conforming products', those killed purely for blood, tissue or organ products as well as in military experiments or animals enduring long term experiments that straddle more than one year. (BUAV 2003 Autumn report)   The BUAV believe that the figure would increase by millions if these statistics were included. Bear in mind that this is solely in the UK, this picture is repeated in countries worldwide. If you would like further information, the BUAV website is listed on the links page.

A Beagle at a vivisection unit (Photograph provided by BUAV)

Monkey in a vivisection laboratory. (Photograph provided by BUAV)

FOR THE SAKE OF ANIMALS LIKE THESE, MAKE THE EFFORT AND CHANGE YOUR DIET AND LIFESTYLE.  IT WON'T BE EASY BUT YOU HAVE A CHOICE, THESE ANIMALS ARE DEPRIVED OF ANY CHOICE.

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