peanutjake wrote:
> If you have both Diabetes and Heart Failure you should not take any of these drugs.
>
> metformin, glucophage, biguanide, avandia, actos, rezulin, rosiglitazone, prioglitazone,
> troglitazone, thiazolidinedione, glitazone,


I read the article, and that's not exactly what it said.

It said: "Metformin is contraindicated for diabetics treated with heart
failure medications".

So, you CAN take Metformin if you're not taking other heart failure
medications (which they did not list).

Jennifer


>
> Read the Reuters article.
> PJ
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Diabetes Drugs Inappropriately Prescribed for Patients With Concomitant Heart Failure
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 01 - Despite explicit warnings on package inserts, metformin and
> thiazolidinediones are often given to diabetics hospitalized with heart failure, according to a
> report published in the July 2nd issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
>
> Moreover, the findings indicate that inappropriate use of these drugs is rapidly increasing.
>
> Metformin is contraindicated for diabetics treated with heart failure medications because of the
> increased risk of potentially fatal lactic acidosis. Thiazolidinediones are not recommended for
> diabetics with advanced heart failure, out of concern that such agents could increase the
> intravascular volume and worsen the cardiac condition, the authors note.
>
> To investigate the inappropriate use of these drugs, Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz, from Yale University in
> New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues analyzed data from Medicaid beneficiaries with diabetes who
> were hospitalized with heart failure between April 1998 and March 1999 or between July 2000 and June
> 2001.
>
> In the 1998-1999 cohort, 7.1% of patients received a metformin prescription, 7.2% received a
> thiazolidinedione prescription, and 13.5% received a prescription for either drug, the investigators
> note. In the 2000-2001 group, the corresponding rates were all significantly higher -- 11.2%, 16.1%,
> and 24.4% (p < 0.001 for all).
>
> "National guidelines do not focus extensively on the treatment of diabetes in heart failure
> patients," the authors emphasize. "Future guidelines should provide more explicit guidance in
> defining the safe treatment" of these patients.
>
> JAMA 2003;290:81-85.
>
>
>
>

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