Diabetes can be a difficult condition to monitor. You need to consistently eat right and be aware of even slight changes concerning how you’re feeling physically… especially when there are really scary things that can happen, like diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
From a patient’s point-of-view, we rely on medications to alleviate pain, discomfort and sickness but we rarely consider that the pharmaceutical companies that are providing these pills and devices are in business to make money… a lot of money. For example, opioid prescriptions have dramatically increased, from 112 million in 1992 to nearly 249 million in 2015, making the opioid industry worth approximately $10 billion. Are opioid drug manufacturers deliberately profiting by making patients sicker due to addiction severity? Yes, and here’s why:
It is no secret that opioids are dangerous and highly addictive. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Equally disturbing is that a study published by the American Public Health Association shows that drug manufacturers paid 68,000 doctors more than $46 million over a 29-month period. This means that 1 in 12 doctors were paid by a pharmaceutical company to promote their medication. For example, Dr. Steven Simon who has treated hundreds of patients with opioid painkillers was paid $194,000 by AstraZeneca to give dinner presentations about Movantik, a drug that helps patients manage their opioid related constipation.Many states have been taking drug companies that make opioids to court claiming that they overstate their benefits and trivialize the potential for opioid addiction. Lawsuits have been filed in California, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and West Virginia against opioid drug manufacturers Purdue, Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen.
Viberzi (Eluxadoline) is an opioid medication made by Allergen that is used to treat IBS/IBS-D (Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea). The problem with Viberzi is that as an opioid, it’s function is to reduce the contractions of the colon to stop diarrhea. Unfortunately, it may also slow down other muscles that control digestion including the sphincter of Oddi which opens and closes the bile duct. If the medication relaxes the muscle so that it doesn’t open, the digestive juices will then get trapped in the gallbladder and pancreas. For patients who have had their gallbladder removed, the acidic fluids will be stored in the pancreas. The enzymes then start to digest the pancreas causing inflammation (which is called pancreatitis), excruciating pain, or even death. Serious cases of pancreatitis or death occurred after one or two doses of Viberzi, while pancreatitis was also reported with prolonged use.According to the FDA, 76 patients have been hospitalized and two of those patients died after taking Viberzi. One fatality was associated with pancreatitis, while the other death was associated with sphincter of Oddi spasm.
