According to the Canadian Diabetes Association more than two million Canadians have diabetes and 500,000 of them live in Quebec. In fact Quebec has said that it has a diabetes epidemic. A third of those who are diabetic are unaware that this can be a life-threatening situation.
Diabetes is one of the leading cause of death by disease in Canada. It claims 5,000 lives each year. This figure becomes alarming when you consider that only about 25,000 people die each year in Canada. Dr. Dominique Garrel, an endocrinologist at the Centre Hospitalier, Université de Montreal, says it is good that people are becoming more aware but “taking action in terms of prevention and earlier treatment is even more important.” She added that people have to act on the assumption that the reality is that diabetes may affect them personally.
A health survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid revealed people underestimate the severity of the disease. A lot of people didn’t know that diabetes could lead to heart disease, blindness, high blood pressure and erectile dysfunction. Some were under the impression that insulin is a cure and that diabetes was curable.
Diabetes care and indirect costs to Canada are estimated at $9 billion annually. With another million Canadians expected to have diabetes by 2010, many people are worried that the health care system will not be able to handle the higher numbers of affected people.
There is some good news for Type Two Diabetics (most Natives fall under this category) as a new once-a-day medication will finally be available in Canada. Many diabetics have to take multiple medications at different times of the day. One individual had to take eight pills four times a day but found the regime hard as it interfered with his work. He was glad to hear of Amaryl. The pill, while it may replace multiple medications, doesn’t replace exercise or losing weight. Amaryl is used with exercise to reduce blood glucose and can be used in co-junction with either metformin or insulin.
According to studies it is highly effective in controlling blood glucose and has an added benefit of being safe to use with renally impaired patients because it is eliminated through both the liver and the kidneys.
Information about Amaryl on the web can be got at: www.aventispharma.ca and general information on diabetes on the web is available at: www.diabetes.ca or www.hc-sc.gc.ca
