Monday, April 3, 2006
Ahh...okay.
I found the section of the Byetta website for "professionals". [Since this post was published, the url for the original pdf file to which I had linked has changed. If you are interested more complete technical information on this drug, click on this pdf file. (Updated 2/8/2014; Thank you, Jenn Hume.)] That was easy to print, and much more informative. However, there was the following warning: "BYETTA is not recommended for use in patients with end-stage renal disease, severe renal impairment, or severe gastrointestinal disease." My mother does not have end-stage renal disease, nor severe gastrointestinal disease, but it is questionable whether she would be considered to have "severe renal impairment", since she is diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure and is far enough along in it to be experiencing blips in her erythropoeitin and HA1c readings, as well as having developed Anemia Due to Chronic Renal Failure. However, because of her medical profile, quite a few diabetic medications are in the "use with caution" category, including the glipizide she's on.
Hmmm. So, I guess a thorough talk with her doctor is definitely in order.
See, that's the thing about treating the elderly. It's a frontier, in every sense of the word, for both patients and doctors. At this point, most treatments for disease in the elderly can be said to be experimental, from my perspective, anyway, primarily because, well, the thing is, the elderly are actively dying. I mean, their bodies are doing what they're supposed to do: Breaking down. We haven't found a way around this yet, even though we're hopeful and optimistic. By the time I become Ancient, if I should choose to go that far, things should be a bit less experimental and maintenance-in-the-face-of-breakdown medicine should be more solid. But, that's not the case now. A lot of it depends upon the doctor and the patient and how many undefined risks they're willing to take.
Weird, weird, weird, this present world of Ancient Medicine.
I've got to go to bed, Gail. Now.
Later.
Hmmm. So, I guess a thorough talk with her doctor is definitely in order.
See, that's the thing about treating the elderly. It's a frontier, in every sense of the word, for both patients and doctors. At this point, most treatments for disease in the elderly can be said to be experimental, from my perspective, anyway, primarily because, well, the thing is, the elderly are actively dying. I mean, their bodies are doing what they're supposed to do: Breaking down. We haven't found a way around this yet, even though we're hopeful and optimistic. By the time I become Ancient, if I should choose to go that far, things should be a bit less experimental and maintenance-in-the-face-of-breakdown medicine should be more solid. But, that's not the case now. A lot of it depends upon the doctor and the patient and how many undefined risks they're willing to take.
Weird, weird, weird, this present world of Ancient Medicine.
I've got to go to bed, Gail. Now.
Later.
