Subject: Re: Diabetes and Paxil
Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 12:48:58 -0700
From: Malcolm Graham
Newsgroups: misc.health.diabetes

I thought the connection was an obvious one, my apologies...let me be more explicit in elaborating on the connections I'm making...

The Paxil withdrawal protocol presented in http://www.prozactruth.com/taper.htm recommends the use of a specialized Whey protein product (used to raise glutathione levels) while weaning oneself off Paxil. The current evidence is that this minimizes or even eliminates Paxil withdrawal symptoms. The name of the product, available by prescription and covered by Medicare, is Immunocal in the USA or HMS-90 in Canada.

In the CFS reference, the doctors being interviewed are the developers of Immunocal. My current thinking is that a high-grade Whey protein (Immonocal seems to be the best source but a Whey Protein Isolate - rather than a Whey protein concentrate or isolate/concentrate combination - would probably work as well) might be useful for all diabetics to improve their overall control of diabetes. Since it is a known side effect that Paxil does reduce the bodies glutathione levels, it seems reasonable to ask if reduced glutathione levels could lead to the onset of type 2 diabetes in people at risk (overweight, family, etc).

Note also that current research implicates that reduced glutathione levels are associated with other major diseases that display similiar damage to the body which is also associated with diabetes. Which is why I included the http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/social.services/cfseir/naneir/news/038-Oct99.html link (this is the cross-fertilization I'm referring to).

To be more specific, there seems to be evidence that reduced glutathione levels lead to body damage with different kinds of disease; and hence the association of the Paxil side effect of reducing glutathione levels with the onset of Type 2 Diabetes. I'm also seeing that continued use of Paxil, or any other SSRI, would continue to deplete glutathione levels and contribute to the eventual need for more pills and insulin. This is precisely what happens for most diabetics. In addition, once diagnosed with diabetes, the body's need for glutathione is likely to be higher than what the body can supply, hence the need for helping the body produce more by ingesting a high-grade Whey protein. While certainly not conclusive evidence, I hope you can now see why I included links to the glutathione and CFS papers.

While writing this I just discovered that the prescribing information sheet for Paxil actually states that a side effect could be diabetes mellitus (in less than 1/1,000 patients). See http://www.paxil.com/. I'm now wondering who I should sue!

William C Biggs MD wrote:
Malcolm,
OK now I'm cross pollinated. I guess I missed the point on the glutathione paper and the CFS paper. Was there one ?
Best wishes, William C Biggs MD