bendroflimethiazide

dmk12 · Apr 20, 2010

I have been diagnosed with diabetes after taking the blood pressure pills bendroflumethiazade. I Know 4 other people now who are all on this drug and are now getting tested for diabetes. one of them was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. It makes me so angry that a drug with this as a known side effect is still being prescribed. Doctors are playing Russian rulette with peoples health and you are suppose to just take this, when I talked to a doctor about the side effects causing me to be diabetic I was told "well them are the breaks" I find it extreamlly worrying that they can have this attitude to patients. The lady I know who was diagnosed yesterday asked to be taken off the bendroflumethiazide pills, but was told by the doctor to take what she was told.

I'm sorry about the rant but I find it really scary that medication is just given out without a thought of the very serious side effects these drugs have. To be treated for one condition and end up with a worse condition because of the medication is compleatly unacceptable THIS DRUG SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET.

cugila · Apr 20, 2010

Thiazide diuretics: bendroflumethiazide (bendrofluazide) is the drug of choice in the UK and is effective, safe, well tolerated, and economical. The drug on it's own should be perfectly safe and not cause Diabetes.

Thiazide diuretics have a flat dosage-response curve, so there is little to be gained from increasing dosages. Low dosages cause very little biochemical disturbance, whereas higher dosages cause more marked changes to glucose and lipids, and should not be used.

However, if you are taking it with a Beta Blocker then that combination can possibly cause Diabetes.

See here:

• Trial evidence suggests that the onset of Type 2 diabetes is greater in people taking a beta-blocker and thiazide combination compared with other drug combinations, and might lead to an increased incidence of diabetes of 0.4% per year of treatment (i.e. one additional case of diabetes for 250 people treated every year).

• A meta-analysis of seven trials (almost 77,000 people) found a higher incidence of diabetes in people taking beta-blockers and/or thiazide-type diuretics (about half received a beta-blocker and a thiazide) compared with people taking other antihypertensive drugs.

The increased risk was thought to be due to the combination of beta-blocker and thiazide-type diuretic rather than to the use of the drugs separately

The NICE guidelines on hypertension states:

Beta-blockers:
In head-to-head trials, beta-blockers were usually less effective than a comparator
drug at reducing major cardiovascular events, particularly stroke. Beta-blockers were also less
effective than an ACE inhibitor or a calcium channel blocker at reducing the risk of diabetes,
particularly in patients taking a beta-blocker and a thiazide-type diuretic.

If a beta-blocker is initiated in any of these circumstances, and a second drug is required, add a calcium-channel blocker rather than a thiazide-type diuretic, in order to reduce the person's risk of developing diabetes. There is evidence that the use of a beta-blocker and/or a thiazide-type diuretic may induce the onset of Type 2 diabetes in people at risk.”

Your GP would seem to have a few questions to answer about the prescribing........ :roll:

This again from the NICE guidelines might give a clue as to why .........

1.4.18
Prescribe non-proprietary drugs where these are appropriate and minimise cost.

• Drug treatment beginning with either a non-proprietary thiazide-type diuretic or beta-blocker minimises cost.

• From a model of lifetime costs and effects, based on the findings of trials, treatment using stepped care including thiazide-type diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and calcium-channel blockers is estimated to be cost effective.

It would appear that money talks ........as usual....... :roll:

Ken.
with the help of Sue.......

dmk12 · Apr 20, 2010

thank you for your reply. I was taking a calcium channel blocker with the bendroflumethiazide. I feel that any risk of such a serious condition is too high, and I feel that you are right that as usual it is all down to cost, and the ostrich effect. (bury your head in the sand and it doen't happen) the cost to the NHS of treatment for diabetes must out weigh the cost of the bendro. drug.

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