Everyone with diabetes has had that moment. You know, the one where you check your sugar and shake your head in disbelief.
You rechecked it, but it was no mistake. Your sugar is still sky-high. And when it stays that way, no matter how hard you work, it’s frustrating.
If you’re like most people, you end up blaming yourself. Figuring you failed somehow.
But new research reveals you might be off the hook here. Because your worsening diabetes may not have a thing to do with your diet choices or exercise efforts.
It turns out it could be one of your meds.
Statins could make your diabetes worse
If the out-of-control blood sugars hang around too long, you might be tempted to ask your doctor to write you a prescription for another med. And I get it. In that situation, I’d feel a bit desperate too.
But before you do, you should know the real problem might not be that you need a new med. But instead, that one of the drugs you’re already taking is responsible for things getting worse. And you might want to talk to your doc about getting OFF that one first.
The new study finds that the statins so many diabetics take to reduce cholesterol could cause their diabetes to slowly spiral out of control.
And, of course, that means more than just worsening diabetes. It means you’re facing everything else that can accompany that, including heart disease, cognitive decline, dementia, vision loss, nerve pain, and more.
According to researchers, statins can decrease insulin sensitivity. This is a huge problem because that’s how type 2 diabetes typically starts in the first place… dropping sensitivity.
You see, insulin’s job is to usher glucose into the cells to be used for energy. But when insulin sensitivity falls, your cells stop responding efficiently to the hormone. That means instead of getting burned off, a lot of the sugar ends up staying in your bloodstream, causing damage.
And the new research shows this drop in sensitivity can happen even at the lowest statin doses. In fact, low-intensity statin therapy could raise your risk of worsening diabetes by 43 percent.
Moderate-intensity statins (higher doses) could raise those odds by 55 percent. And if you’re on the highest dosages, your risk can jump through the roof, with statins increasing the likelihood of disease progression by a stunning 83 percent.
The truth about LDL
Plus, those same statins could also raise your risk of…
- persistent hyperglycemia (HIGH blood sugar) by 13 percent
- ketoacidosis (uncontrolled diabetes) by 24 percent
In other words, if you’re diabetic and taking these drugs, you’re facing some serious added risks. But perhaps most frustrating of all is that you likely don’t even need those statins in the first place.
Statins do reduce LDL cholesterol. But as I’ve shared many times before, LDL alone isn’t out to hurt you.
In many cases, these “fluffy” particles are simply bouncing through your blood vessels, harmlessly doing their job of transporting cholesterol to the cells that need it. And they will continue to do so, even if your levels are “high” by the official standards.
The real danger comes when those LDL particles are small, dense, and damaged by oxidative stress. Because in that case, even “low” LDL can build up and stick to blood vessel walls. And this is what leads to the hardened arteries and blockages we’re constantly being warned about.
That’s why it’s crucial to get a complete look at your cholesterol and blood vessel health. And that should include a look at the numbers that most docs ignore, including remnant cholesterol and VLDL (very low-density lipoprotein).
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of either of those. Most folks haven’t. You can click here to catch up.
Natural solutions such as vitamin K2, fish oil, olive leaf extract, and resveratrol can help support healthy cholesterol and a healthy overall cardiovascular system.
Speak to a naturopathic or integrative medicine doctor about testing. And about replacing statins with proven non-drug treatments that can protect your blood vessels WITHOUT causing your diabetes to get worse.
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