When we go out to the clinic every day, we often have diabetic patients who are torn between whether to use medication or not. If they don’t take medication, they are afraid that their condition will get worse and their blood sugar will deteriorate further. If they do, they are afraid of forming drug dependency or damaging their liver and kidney functions. Some patients have been suffering from the disease for several years and their blood glucose is often high, but they are still afraid to use medication, so that high blood glucose is rampant in their bodies and premature complications of diabetes occur that should not have occurred. Other people, because of the fear of “Western medicine damage to the liver and kidneys”, have tried all the “traditional Chinese medicine” and “biological medicine” that have appeared in the media, and finally had to choose to go to a regular hospital to receive regular treatment. Whenever this happened, I often sighed and lamented that if time could be turned back, if he or she had been decisive in using medication from the beginning, if he or she had been exposed to formal diabetes education when he or she first got sick, what would have been the different outcome? Do Western drugs actually damage the liver and kidneys, and is damage inevitable? Each western drug has been tested for toxicity pharmacology at different doses and for different times of use before it is marketed for use, and only drugs that pass are marketed (that is, available in hospitals and pharmacies). Also, information on side effects of the drugs is continuously collected after they are marketed. Once the information on side effects meets the requirements for withdrawal, the drug will be withdrawn from sale and “disappear” from hospitals and pharmacies. Our existing oral hypoglycemic drugs, such as metformin and sulfonylureas, have been in clinical use for more than 20 years, with metformin approaching 60 years, and are being used more commonly, which speaks for itself about the safety of these drugs. So why is it common to hear people convince that Western drugs damage the liver and kidneys? This argument may come from people who agree more with Chinese medicine, or it may be some later drugs, some of which are “proprietary Chinese medicines” (in fact, they are likely to be mixed with western drugs) in order to open their own sales, carefully created “classic argument”. Imagine that the medicine he wants to sell you is the one he just made, or not many people have used it before, some even have no drug lot number, so they have to put “food” name, and even “food” name is not true, and what to attract consumers and patients? Therefore, we must not be confused by the “Western medicine damage to the liver and kidneys” claim, and “give up money to give up their bodies”. When the issue is not clear, you should seek more evidence, not to believe one side of the story, even if it is the media or a certain “authority” said, especially be careful to profit from the claims of those who can. So are Western drugs damaging to the liver and kidneys or not? How should we judge? We can neither easily affirm nor deny. It should be based on facts. In other words, when a doctor suggests using a drug, you should try it with the idea of trying it out. When you try to use a certain western medicine, you can observe the effect of lowering sugar, whether there is hypoglycemia, whether the blood sugar can be controlled stably, whether you are comfortable after taking it, whether there is any allergic reaction, and so on. The liver and kidney function can be measured 2-3 times within six months (the first, third and sixth months), and if the test results are all fine, you can use it without worry. Because although Western medicine is relatively time-tested and better understood by clinicians, after all, people are different, and some people with their own liver and kidney problems still need to be careful. In any case, more frequent testing, based on facts, will be much more reliable than blind faith or blanket denial. Is there dependence on Western medicine to lower blood sugar? Does the use of Western medicine to lower sugar have to be continuous and does the dosage need to be adjusted? Whether or not there is dependence on the drug depends on the patient’s own condition, not on whether or not the drug is used. In the case of high blood sugar, diet control and exercise alone without medication are often not enough to control blood sugar, and glucose-lowering medication is needed. When the enemy is overwhelmed or when a big enemy is at hand, it is often necessary to mobilize superior forces (using a variety of oral drugs or even combining insulin) and fight an offensive battle (intensive sugar reduction); once the enemy is defeated (when blood sugar drops to normal or close to normal), it is possible to adjust the forces (adjusting glucose-lowering drugs, reducing the type or dose appropriately), and there are some people who can temporarily stop taking drugs altogether ( The length of time is variable and needs to be decided by observation, for a long period of more than a year or a few days), but diet and exercise are needed to continue to cooperate, otherwise the victory results will disappear quickly and must be multiplied (to maintain steady control of blood sugar, reduce blood sugar fluctuations and achieve the best physical and mental state). In order to maintain the fruits of victory and avoid the enemy’s recurrence, a certain amount of troops are often needed to do a good job of “peacekeeping” (some drugs are not withdrawn and play a daily maintenance role), which is also necessary for the war effort (diabetes control). Will there be a lasting peace (diabetes cured, no more need for any hypoglycemic drugs, not even the need to continue to pay attention to diet and exercise), disbanding the army and destroying weapons? I’m afraid common sense would dictate that this would be very unsafe, so often only disarmament (reduction of medication) is possible, not “destruction of the army”. Therefore, in the maintenance phase after intensive hypoglycemia, the need for medication, which drugs and what dose to use, need to be determined by the situation. This is related to the patient’s pancreatic islet function, insulin resistance status, diet and exercise, weight, etc. It is also closely related to the patient’s previous glycemic control. If the patient’s blood glucose has been well controlled in the past, the pancreatic islet function is relatively well preserved, and often the maintenance medication can be reduced to the minimum; if the patient’s blood glucose has been poorly controlled in the past or has not been treated regularly for more years, the pancreatic islet function is lost more, and sometimes when multiple medications cannot achieve satisfactory control, a certain amount of insulin is often needed in combination. This unsatisfactory state, this need for multiple drug therapy, is not the result of drug therapy, but the result of lack of or improper drug therapy. It is important not to avoid medication. The maintenance of medication is often not static either. For each treatment regimen, there are often seasonal adjustments (often the warmer the temperature, the lower the blood glucose, and similarly with room temperature), temporary adjustments (such as when you have a cold, eating disorder, diarrhea, and other conditions), and homeopathic adjustments (getting better in a virtuous cycle or worse in a vicious cycle). Therefore, it is essential to know the past use and effects of drugs, analyze them carefully, and learn from others, and this is often achieved by discussing them with the doctor. Can diabetes be cured or not? Diabetes is a manifestation of the gathering, development, and damage of various undesirable factors, such as excessive caloric diet, low exercise consumption, high emotional stress, overweight, genetic predisposition, and so on. When we ponder whether diabetes can be cured, most of them refer to the long-term maintenance of normal blood sugar without relying on medication. This requires eliminating the aforementioned negative factors and undoing the damage to islet function caused by high blood sugar, both of which are often difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate in the long term. For example, a person who has a family history of diabetes, with others in his family developing the disease between the ages of 40 and 50, and who, when he discovered that his blood glucose was just high (at an early age), controlled his diet strictly and exercised more, controlled his weight, and never used glucose-lowering drugs, still maintained normal blood glucose by the above means alone when he was over 60 years old. Is this situation considered cured of diabetes? Not really, it was just his long-term adherence to lifestyle adjustments that delayed the onset and development of diabetes, the genetic quality that makes him susceptible to diabetes and the nature that once he relaxed, his blood sugar would rise, did not change at all. What people should be wary of is not treating themselves blindly in order to achieve a cure. The true “cure” that people hope for is often the ability to maintain normal blood sugar without lifestyle modifications (diet, exercise, mood, etc.) and without medication, which is a normal and completely understandable state of mind, inherent in the human instinct to fight disease and try to survive. Patients who do not use drugs often need to adopt a more demanding lifestyle control (moderate is good, but some are almost harsh, and some even produce severe malnutrition). This makes it difficult to maintain normal blood glucose even if it is still not high, and once vigilance is relaxed. Some people gradually develop the habit of over-controlling their diet. They seem to think that if they don’t take medication, it means they don’t have diabetes yet or their diabetes is very mild. As a result, they go from avoiding the disease to avoiding the medicine. What was intended to be an avoidance of the disease turned into an avoidance of medication. However, as the disease progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to adjust blood sugar control by lifestyle alone. In order to avoid taking medication, some people will further reduce their diets, making them lose weight and suffering from the ravages of an overly controlled body. As a result, they go from avoiding medication to avoiding food. This can make the blood sugar basically normal even without medication, but for the food to survive but the desire to eat dare not, can not stop the despair, is not this a pathology? This is not the so-called “cure for diabetes”, but the “subdued” by diabetes, no quality of life, all day long, calculating, anxiety and tension, no peace (including family members). Therefore, instead of going through all the trouble of not taking medication, which results in a false cure and real suffering, it is better to face diabetes bravely, adjust your lifestyle appropriately, take the right medication at the right time, constantly monitor and evaluate, and make scientific and rational adjustments to maximize the quality of life.