A recent study found that 87% of patients who experienced an adverse symptom from a prescribed drug spoke to their doctor. However less than half of the doctors went through with filing the adverse event paperwork to notify the drug manufacturer. Why is this?

The research was published in the latest issue of Drug Safety. Doctors dismissed patients' complaints, and told them their symptoms were not connected to use of the drug. One doctor commented that the time it takes to complete the adverse event drug paperwork is time-consuming, and often not worth it unless it is life threatening. Would Hippocrates have accepted that answer? Please review your Hippocratic Oath, doc.

Your doctor is too busy to file the necessary paperwork to notify the FDA a drug is potentially harmful. What is a patient to do? Good question and here's an answer! If you experienced any adverse side effects from the use of a prescription drug, please let the FDA know. Click BEGIN and bring this monkey business to an end!

The recent post about the death of the little girl in Wales from undiagnosed diabetes gave me a heavy heart. It also sparked a memory of the weeks leading up to my brother's type 1 diagnosis.

I actually profited from my brother's warning signs. In the six weeks or so leading up to his diagnosis, he was devoid of energy. He was also incredibly thirsty, trying to satiate a steadily rising blood sugar wracking his teenage body. I was only nine years old, but recall delivering gallons of ice cold water to him as he lethargically lay on the couch. For each gallon, he paid me $1.00. He proposed the deal out of desperate thirst. I only thought it an oddly-made fortune, and happily watched the rising stack of dollar bills.

As my brother's symptoms worsened, my mom's worry and frustration rose. A eureka moment arrived when she watched my brother drag his feet while playing ping-pong with my dad. Suddenly a thought popped in her head -- could it be diabetes? She called a doctor friend, only to have her notion dismissed. Stubbornly suspicious, she headed to a pharmacy to pick up a urine test strip to measure blood glucose ... this was back in the 1970s, remember those? The pharmacist steered her away from the test strips and recommended my brother get a blood test. Long story short, he was tested the next day. His blood sugar was off the charts. The lab had to dilute his blood three times to finally measure a 990 mg/dl blood sugar. After two weeks in the hospital, he was stabilized and sent home on a new regimen for life.

This article in WebMD clearly outlines the warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Early symptoms include frequent urination, extreme thirst, weight loss,and increased hunger (not always) over a few days or weeks. Rapidly rising blood sugar can also result in ketoacidosis, a deadly condition characterized by flushed/hot/dry skin; loss of appetite/abdominal pain/vomiting; strong, fruity breath; rapid, deep breathing; and possible coma.

Spread the word, we need more awareness on early warning signs of type 1 diabetes.

Hold on to your seats, folks. This story is pretty controversial but fascinating enough to make an appearance on Prime Time television 2x tonight on the evening news! A treatment involving the annihilation of the immune system, followed by a period of rebuilding the immune system is being tested in Brazil as a cure for type 1 diabetes.

The patients involved were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and between the ages of 14 to 31 years old. The 15 diabetics were treated at a bone marrow center at the University of Sao Paulo. Timing is key in this method of therapy because if you wait too long - the window of opportunity where the body's ability to repair itself closes. The procedure involves stimulating the body to produce new stem cells and harvesting them from the patient's blood. Next comes several days of high-dose chemotherapy, which shuts down the patient's immune system. This also stops destruction of the few remaining insulin-producing cells in the body. This requires hospitalization and potent drugs to fend off infection. The harvested stem cells, when injected back into the body, build a new healthier immune system that does not attack the insulin-producing cells. Patients were hospitalized for about three weeks. Many had side effects including nausea, vomiting and hair loss.

For the record (and the Freedom of Information Act) the study was partly funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Genzyme Corp. and a maker of blood sugar monitoring products.

An article published in The New York Times a couple of days ago has gotten a lot of attention. It's all about how obesity surgery is associated with a very high risk of complications. This is a story that may be of interest to Type 2 diabetics who are overweight or obese and seeking ways to reduce their weight.

On the one hand, it is true that weight reduction by any means, including surgery, will also reduce the risk of health complications for Type 2 diabetics. However, on the other hand, as this story emphasizes, surgery is no easy way to reach that goal. The Times reports that four of every ten weight reduction surgery patients experience complications within six months. Common complications include vomiting, diarrhea, hernia, infection, pneumonia and respiratory failure, reports The Times. If that's not off-putting enough for you, another problem is the leaking of gastric juices "caused by imperfect surgical connections" - also known as Not Being Sewn Up Tight Enough, I guess.

The article profiles Joanne Kayser of New Hampshire. Kayser weighed 320 pounds before undergoing weight reduction surgery in 2003. As a result of the weight loss that followed the surgery, she no longer needed to take diabetes medication. However, her incision was slow to heal and then became infected, so she could not exercise...leading her to stop losing weight. She also developed a hernia at the operation site. The question is: was it worth it?

This news comes from statistics gathered by the federal government - courtesy of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is part of the Public Health Service.