Reply #22: The drugs make lifestyle changes much more difficult though.

[wickerwoman]

Once patients go on the drug to lower blood sugar it becomes almost impossible for them to lose weight even when they do start eating better and exercising.

Pretty much everyone else in my family has diabetes which meant when my mom was diagnosed she was super vigilant, lost thirty pounds and so far hasn't had to start the drugs. Because she has lost weight and feels better, she is even more motivated to continue the lifestyle changes. If she had started the drugs straight away, she wouldn't have been able to lose the weight.

If I were a doctor, I would give patients the option to lose weight (depending on how serious the blood sugar problem was) and if, after a month or so, they weren't able to do it, push the drugs. It seems more dangerous to me to get people dependent on the drugs and unable to lose weight... the drugs should only be a stopgap until people are ready to make serious lifestyle changes.