Iatrogenic Diabetes
Approach
Virtually all non-controlled diabetic patients end up on antihypertensive drugs due to diabetic induced high blood pressure, and many will need thiazide diuretics due to congestive heart failure initiated by the hypertension. Antihypertensive and thiazide diuretics drugs intensify insulin resistance, thereby further intensifying diabetic illness. However, antihypertensive pharmacological alternatives are available.
Botanical Medicine
Rauwolfia serpentina: Rauwolfia serpentina can lower blood pressure very well without affecting glucose intolerance. In Ayurvedic medicine, this herb has been used in the treatment of insomnia and schizophrenia since 1,000 BC. In China, it has also been used for thousands of years in the treatment of a Chinese pathology called ‘liver fire rising’. Pharmacology studies indicates that it blocks the adrenergic transmitter vesicles, which take up and store the amines, resulting in depletion of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin, and a consequent decrease in blood pressure.
