January 21, 2025 • 39 mins
Morgan White Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea
There are many common chronic diseases out there, with diabetes being one of them. About 11.6% of the U.S. population has it, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Morgan talked with internationally renowned diabetes expert Dr. David Nathan, who he credits with saving his life.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
There are many common chronic diseases out there, with diabetes being one of them. About 11.6% of the U.S. population has it, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Morgan talked with internationally renowned diabetes expert Dr. David Nathan, who he credits with saving his life.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news video.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Nicole, thank you for that quick intro of me my
name again, Morgan White Jr. And by the way, Nicole
and Rob are back where they belong. They had yesterday off,
but Nightside is at Nightside without Nicole and Rob Brooks
doing their jobs so perfectly well. So I want to
(00:27):
say that to both of you and for all the
people listening. I'm here until midnight. Dan Ray will be
back tomorrow. I have non White House subjects tonight. Why
because I know Dan Ray will be delving into White
House subjects beginning at eight o'clock tomorrow, and I didn't
(00:53):
want to take away programming or concepts that Dan definitely
will be touching upon. That aside my first guest, I
think this is the fourth time over the years I've
had him on. He is a specialist when it comes
(01:14):
to diabetes, looked upon as being one of the more
knowledgeable physicians in America dealing with that subject. And I
know a lot of you out there have issues with diabetes,
myself included. So guess what I've brought somebody who can
(01:35):
help you, hopefully. But I always say this when I
have a doctor on the doctor is making suggestions based
on your information. Go to your own physician for specifics,
because your physician is the person who will take you
(01:58):
through the windy road of physicians and patience combined. So
doctor David Nathan is my guest. He may tell you something.
You can use that information as a guide to your
own physician and doctor Nathan. Did I say that correctly enough?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Morgan? You got it as usual, You got it exactly right.
You know, I may be a physician, I play one
on television and radio, but I am by no means,
no means should anyone take what I say tonight as
no advice for them. They do need to see their
own healthcare professional and listen to that person's advice.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So far, And let me say to you, I've already
said it during our conversation to set this up. But
happy New.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Year to you, bro, same to you, Morgan, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Thank you. I'm listening to WBZ last weekend, just most
recent Saturday day and Sunday that we just waved goodbye to,
and there was a news story about glucose and circumstances
around glucose that are giving all the people that use
(03:17):
diabetes studies as their focus points, and I understood some
of it, but I'm sure you know about that because
they acted like this is a new discovery. So if
you're familiar with that, tell people what that discovery is.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, you know, I'm not sure what you're referring to, Morgan. Okay,
you know, diabetes is in the news all the time,
given the you know that it's epidemic, affecting more than
ten percent of the population, so it's the most common
chronic disease there is. And at the center of diabetes
are you know, elevated glucos levels. That's how we define it,
(04:02):
and the elevated glucose levels are what are intimately related
to the risk for complications. So therefore we you know,
we try to maintain those glucose levels and the average glucose,
which is a test called the hemoglobin A one C
in a specific range. So I'm not sure what the
exact story was last weekend.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, I should have taken notes, but I was just
casually listened to listening to the news.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But most yeah, no, I was about to say that,
you know, it seems like ninety nine percent of the
news around diabetes, these days is all around Wagovi and
the samaglatie and all of the g LP one receptor
agonists which have become, you know, really the major pharmaceutical story,
(04:51):
I would say, of this century and are likely to
be given that they've grown. You know, a large portion
of a portion of the population is taking them, either
for diabetes or for weight loss. They also have additional benefits,
and almost all of the news these days is about them.
They represent the reason why Denmark's entire economy has taken
(05:14):
a turn for the better since Novo Nordisk, which is
the company that makes one of them, is located in Denmark.
So you know, you know, ninety percent of the stories
out there are about these GLP ones.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now, people listening, Like, when I was first discovered to
have diabetes, and that would be around nineteen ninety six
or so, I had a few warning signals and I
needed to be alerted to pay attention to these warning signals.
Why don't you tell my audience at least three or
(05:51):
four different things that could now underline could indicate that
diabetes has a hold on you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Sure, so diabetes can have its on set. Now what
we're talking about for the most part here is the
epidemic form of diabetes, which is called type two diabetes.
Used to be called adult onset because it arises in
people as when they're adults. Type one diabetes, by contrast,
occurs or has its onset most frequently in younger people
(06:24):
and usually around the time of puberty, between the ages
of eight and fifteen. Now, people can develop type one
diabetes later in life. And although type two diabetes is
the most common, it has its most common onset, you know,
in middle aged older age. It can also occur in
kids these days. Its major risk factor is overweight and obesity.
(06:48):
And given that there is an epidemic of over seventy
percent of the US population is either overweight or obese,
that is double the number of the you know, fifty
years ago. So that is the major risk seven zero
seven zero percent, and that includes about forty percent or
(07:10):
considered obese and thirty percent that are who are considered overweight.
And you know, I agree entirely with the current stance
that we shouldn't be fact shaming anyone. Okay, people should
not be judged based on their weight. But diabetes doesn't
understand that because diabetes the major risk factor is as
(07:31):
people gain weight, and that is clearly linked to the
epidemic of diabetes and a lot of other bad things.
So you know that that's that's really the story kind
of of this century, all right.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And the fact that we just came through a holiday
a pair of months with Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, Christmas, et cetera.
Holidays a lot of food based family get togethers could
have even nudged people closer to those diabetes' issues. I've
(08:08):
got a break to take, and when we get back,
let me open up the phones. If you want to
call and speak to doctor Nathan and ask questions that
relate specifically to you. Here are your phone numbers. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty, eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty.
Take advantage of the doctor who is here. He has
(08:31):
a great depth of knowledge in this subject. And we'll
be right back after these messages. Time and temperature here
on night side eight sixteen seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nice Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'm Morgan feeling in for Dan Ray, who will be
back this time tomorrow. I promise you and my guest
for the first hour of night Side is doctor David
Nathan and he is well renowned across America's Seed the
Shining Sea with the subject of diabetes. So if you
(09:16):
have questions, you have concerns, call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine to nine,
ten thirty and doctor there have been I'm gonna say,
leaps and bounds changes in the meter, because when I
(09:37):
first became aware that I had diabetes and I had
a glucose meter, that meter is now obsolete and should
be in Fred Flintstone's home in comparison to what we
have now in twenty twenty five. Would you like to
speak to changes in the glucose meter?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Sure, absolutely so. So you know, the glugos meters go
back more than fifty years. I have a bunch of
them in my office that are paper weights, because there
are these enormous black black boxes that you stuck a
strip in after you'd incubated it for more than a minute,
and then you stuck in it. They were pretty accurate actually,
(10:19):
but they were totally unwieldy. The ones that came along
more recently, meaning the last twenty five for thirty years,
allowed people to do these fingerstick, blood shrigger checks and
with that for people who don't know what it is,
it was a little device like a pen that you
held up against your fingertip with a spring. There was
(10:40):
a little lancet, a little point that went into your
finger and drew a drop of blood. You applied the
drop of blood to a strip, put it in the meter,
and within you know, thirty to sixty seconds, it gave
you what turned out to be a very accurate reading.
For people with type one diabetes, the juvenile form, who
were taking always taking in slow by definition, and we're
(11:01):
trying to avoid high glucose levels as well as low
gugos levels, they were generally recommended to do these tests
at least four times a day, so four fingersticks a
day for a lifetime. Type two diabetes also recommended for
people with type two diabetes who have we're taking insulin
or who were taking a medication that could cause low
(11:23):
blutugar and there are a couple of oral medications that
could do that. So if we fast forward, the meters
got quicker, more accurate, smaller, and all that. But the
real change has been in the last almost ten years
now where people can wear these devices that everyone sees
on the back of somebody's arm, and they're called continuous
(11:43):
glucose meters. And what these do is that it's like
a little patch that goes on your arm, or you
can put it on your abdomen. There's a little straw
called the catheter that goes a little bit below the
surface of the skin, and what that straw does is
it SIPs a fluid from between the cells, and that
fluid actually isn't exactly the same as blood glucose, but
(12:05):
it reflects what the blood glucose is. And these devices
give people readings automatically every five minutes. So you put
one of these things in, you leave it in for
three to more days, and it gives you a reading
on your cell phone, for example, again every three to
five minutes. And for people who have type one diabetes,
these devices are invaluable. People who have type two diabetes
(12:29):
a little bit more debatable whether they're useful or not.
The real advance that has occurred is that these meters
talk to an insulin pump, so by bluetooth, they can
send the signal to an insulin pump and they help
drive the insulin pump. For type one diabetes usually and
help the pump determine how much insulin needs to be given.
(12:51):
So it's kind of an automated system. And that's where
those are the real advances that have occurred.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Okay, And we started to but I wanted you to
give me, let's say, one to three specifics of something
not right with your body. I'll begin by eyesight. You, okay,
have no problems with your eyes, and all of a sudden, right,
(13:19):
it's hard to read the magazine you've always read, and
are other things beyond that, So go.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Ahead, absolutely. So I would say that in the old days,
meaning fifteen twenty years ago more, many people were discovering
that they had diabetes because of symptoms. And the one
that you're suggesting eyesight, is that people would develop blurry
vision without any explanation for it. They would get new
glasses because they had blurry vision, and then a week
(13:49):
later their vision was blurry again. And that was because
if blood sugars rise very quickly, they actually affect the
lens of your eye, so it changes the refractive the
refraction that the lens provides, cause you have blurry vision.
The other symptoms that we'll get to, okay, which you're
gonna ask me about anyway in a minute. I know
(14:11):
is you know, people tell me, well, you know we've
done this, but you know we really we should go on
stage or something, so yeah we should. So the other
the other symptoms that occur and don't occur as commonly
now as they used to, and I'll explain why in
a minute. Or people get increasing thirst and increasing urination,
(14:33):
and that is because if the blood shiger arises to
a certain level, you start spilling it in your urine,
it goes into the urine, and when the shrew goes
in the urine, it pulls water with it, and before
you know it, you're going to the bathroom far more often.
You're having to get up at night several times, and
because that's happening, you get a little dehydrated, and then
(14:53):
you get increased thirst. So those are really the kind
of classical symptoms of having an elevat blood sugar. These days,
it turns out that many people are actually discovered to
have diabetes just because they're doctors or healthcare providers appropriately
are testing their blood sugar or that hemoglobin a one
(15:14):
C test which measures average blood sugar, and they're doing
that at least once a year, and that is the
way these days that most people are picked up are
diagnosed as having diabetes, not waiting until the sugar rises
so high that their vision gets blurry that they're urinating.
It can still happen, but many more people are picked
up just by routine laboratory tests.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And in those tests, your blood sugar numbers tell people
a range where okay, we're not concerned, your doctor is
not concerned that diabetes is in your immediate future, versus okay, now,
(15:57):
thirty more points, fifty more points get a doctor's concern, right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
So you know, as it turns out, we as a
species eat episodically. We don't graze all day long. We
have three meals a day usually and sometimes four or
five meals a day with snacks and whatever. But you know,
with the episodic eating, the meal time eating, our bloochergers
tend to be low before you eat, and in everyone
(16:25):
they rise after you eat. And the more sugar or
more sugary drinks, or the more carbohydrate you have in
the meal, the higher the blood suger is likely to be.
So the timing of these tests turns out to be
pretty critical. Most of the time, doctors will want you
to come in for a fasting blood sugar test, blood
glucose tests, same thing, and if the number is greater
(16:48):
than one twenty six, greater than one twenty six, they'll
ask you to repeat it. Okay. Now, by the way,
if the blood sugger is two hundred and you're complaining
of the urination and first, then the diagnosis is made. Okay,
you don't have to have it repeated. If the blood
is very high, and that's simple, and then you have
diabetes and they'll put you on treatment and hopefully it'll
(17:08):
improve it. The other measurement that's done is I said,
is this hemoglobin a one c, which is also a
blood test, and if that value is higher than six
point five percent, it's a different unit than the blood sugar.
But if it's higher than six point five it means
you have diabetes. They usually would repeat that also to
make sure that the first test was not an error.
(17:30):
But once either of those, you know, either of those
criteria is met, So either a fasting blood sugar or
a hemoglobin a one c, then you're diagnosed. Sometimes people
are so symptomatic, thirsty and urinating and blurry vision that
you just do a random blood sugar and if it's
(17:51):
over two hundred, there's no question you've got diabetes. And
so there are a number of different ways of diagnosing.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It now that we know a red flags to watch
out for. If any of these circumstances one or a
combination of two or all three are happening to you,
do the smart thing, because I'll tell you something real quick,
(18:18):
and then I have to take a break. My grandmother
was a nurse and in nineteen ninety six when it
was discovered I'm a diabetic. In her time it could
have been fatal. But nowadays there are just so many
(18:39):
measures that can cut this off at the pass, so
many ways that you're necessarily not going to get rid
of it, but you can at least help fight it,
curb it, and find a way to stay ahead of it.
And I want you to have a long, happy life.
(19:01):
I have thirty eight states listening to me, parts of
Canada listening to me, listening to me. Do the right thing,
And now I've got to take a break, doctor Nathan
and I will be back after a few messages and
a quick hit of news. This is Nightside, heard only
on WBZ News Radio ten thirty time, eight thirty seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You're on the Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
We are back here on Nightside. I'm Morgan filling in
for Dan. Dan, We'll be back tomorrow. I know I've
been saying it a lot, but Dan, I think his
last time on air was last Tuesday. So Gary was
here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I was here last night. I'm
(19:54):
here now, so all of you Dano files, Dan Ray.
We'll be back to night Side eight o'clock tomorrow. I've
got doctor David Nathan. He and I are talking about
diabetes and doctor. Going back to the meters, Nancy mentioned
to me, she's sitting right next to me, there is
(20:17):
a newer meter that doesn't take blood. It well, I'll
let you explain it that the newer meter, it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Was a glucose monitor or CGM that I referred to earlier.
So it really doesn't take blood. It sits on your
skin and again with a little straw, a little catheter
really SIPs it's like a straw, SIPs fluid from between
the cells and measures the sugar levels in that fluid.
(20:51):
It turns out that although it's not exactly the same
as the blood sugar level blood glucose level, it's really close.
And again, these divice is measure the blood trigger every
three to five minutes to provide an ongoing kind of
a record, a diary if you will, of your glucose
levels in real time and help you help people decide
(21:13):
how much insulin they need to take or whether the
adjustments need to be made in their other diabetes medications.
So they're they're quite useful.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And are there any other newer innovations of people might
not be aware it's out and available to them.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Well, there are a lot of you know, new ideas
that are under investigation, but the ones that are you know,
that have been brought to the four that have been
proved to be effective, that have been approved by the FDA,
and that are available to people are the ones we've
talked about. The new medications, especially to treat type two diabetes.
(21:51):
They're newer insulins available to treat type one and type
two diabetes, and then the means to deliver them, so
that you know, the new pumps, these new tiny pumps
that are driven by the continuous glucose monitors, so really
kind of artificial pancreases, and that has been, you know,
a major development over the last decade or so.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
What reading material magazine's websites would you recommend people go
to to keep up with what's happening in the world
of diabetes.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah, you know, we live in one of the only
two countries in the world that do direct to consumer
advertising for medicines for examples, I think it's US in
New Zealand, so, you know, ONTELL, I want to caution
people that advertising is advertising. I mean, you know, although
(22:47):
it provides a lot of information and a lot of
dancing people with diabetes talking about what drug they're taking,
it is advertising and they should remember to talk to
their healthcare professional and not necessarily buy everything or else. Understood,
you accept everything that they see on television because it
is advertising and it's meant to sell the product. I
(23:07):
think that, you know, especially diabetes specialists have a much
more nuanced understanding of which device and which medication is
good for the person who's asking them for help for
their particular patient. So I think people have to be cautious.
There's information everywhere. The American Diabetes Association has very reliable
(23:29):
magazines both for professionals as well as for consumers meeting patients,
and I think that is a reliable source of information.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You mentioned dancing people. I'm going to mention this one
product because they come up with a new commercial every
six to eight weeks with a new set of dancing people.
And the first one, the woman was on a best
(23:59):
see was happy that. I'll say the product that begins
with jay. I don't want to mention a name because
people will think I am giving an approval to a product.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I'm trying to be right down the middle. But they
have done more commercials. First of those women on the
bus than those women dancing in the neighborhood park. Then
it was a guy pruning his yard. And it's always
I take, I take more blah with blah blah blah
(24:35):
at each day. Start the jingle is in my head and.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I know I've got diabetes. Right, that's the one, And
you're right, we should go on the road.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We already know the material and these companies and earlier
you mentioned uh well Kobe, and all of a sudden,
this one product it was just another product out there,
and then it was used to kind of help fight
(25:10):
obesity and everybody jumped on the wacovie bandwagon, and I
don't know, I just think that's a dangerous precedent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, I said no, no, no, I said it previously
that we are the one of only two countries in
the world that allows that kind of advertising. So there's
direct to consumer and the ideas to either you motivate
or stimulate or inflame the population to go out of
acid doctors for you know, because they saw in a
thirty second to add a bunch of people dancing around
(25:43):
and singing a song that you can't I got type
of it that you can't get out of your head.
It's true. I can't get out of my head either.
It's you know, whoever at that jingle understands how to
capture people's attention, I guess, so again I think that.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, I was about to say, whoever does the casting
for these commercials, commercials floral the plumper actors and actresses finally.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Have enough place.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
No, because everybody is a tad overweight, I'll say it
politely that way.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Well, as I said earlier, remember that that is what
most of the country looks like. Also, I mean, you know,
the what used to be considered when we were in school.
You know, I remember in elementary school sixty something years ago,
sixty oh god, I'm getting old, you know, sixty five
sixty eight years ago, that there was always one or
(26:44):
two kids who were kind of overweight, plump, you know,
you call them unfortunately, you call chubby or something, you know,
And that was and that was unfair to them, of course,
but it was only one or two. Now it's the majority,
near majority of children who are getting to be overweight
or big, just like their parents. So this is really
(27:05):
a public health a public health emergency, which is why
these drugs, which really are quite effective. I mean, forget
about the advertising and the audience should know that the
drug companies and have done wonderful work in terms of
developing the medications and figuring out you know, originally the
group of drugs, these glps were given twice a day
(27:26):
by ejection, and then once a day, and now it's
once a week, and before long they'll probably be even
longer acting medications. So they've done a great job with that.
But at the same time, they spend more money on
advertising than they do on development.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's just true.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
A big pharma.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, let me take a big Farmer. Don't get me started.
Let me take a quick call. I'll try to squeeze
Alex and Millicon before I have to take a break. Alex,
thank you for taking the time to call Night's side.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Hello, Hi, how are you? How are you? Hi? Morgan?
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I was going to ask, how do these Farmer companies
get the names that they put on the on the medications?
They sound so exotic, like you know, people would name
their firstborn after them. I'm going to say, like for example,
sky Lizzy. They sound like, you know, they're very unusual
and they sound cool. So how do they develop the name?
(28:22):
It's not a real it doesn't mean anything. I think
they take it partially from the uh, from the technical
name of the of the drug.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
No, they don't. Actually, it really has very little to
do with the name of the drug. I don't Somebody
sits in a room who's an advertiser and they think
about name they think will be attractive and then has
some connotation to it. I think they maybe, you know,
I understand that Elon Musk names his kids some weird names,
and I suspect maybe they go to him and ask
him what kind of names to give the drugs? So
(28:54):
I must say it is befuddled me for decades where
they come up with these names because they don't have
anything to do with it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, I think they let their pet cat walk across
the keyboard, and if it's a sensible word that comes
out from the pause of the cat on the keys,
there's your.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Name right right.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
The other thing is how effective are generic versus because
the brand name is more expensive. Is there any compromise
if you were to take any medication?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, yeah, so, as you know, the newer drugs are
patent protected and they remain brand name drugs for a
while until they lose that and that's dictated by when
they were developed, when their patent was put forward, and
then they become generic. And in order for generic drugs
to be approved, they have to be essentially equivalent to
(29:52):
the brand name. And therefore, you know, when the brand
names come along, you should be able to save a
lot of money and be able to get the same effect.
Now that's theoretical. What actually happens is that many of
the companies have numerous patents on their drugs, which lasts
you know, it's not the drug itself, it's the way
that the drug was synthesized or it's some component of
(30:14):
the drug, so they end up having patent protection for
a longer period of time before the generics come about.
But the generics should in general be equivalent to the
brand name drug.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
All right, Alex, thank you, I got to take a break,
Thank you for your call. Good night, and doctor, let
me sell some soap, as they used to say, going
into a break, and you and I will come back
in about two or three minutes time. Here on night
Side eight five seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ the news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Doctor David Nathan is here. We are talking about diabetes.
We're only going to keep this conversation going up to
the top of the hour, roughly another ten minutes now
closer to eight minutes. And next hour we go from
talking about diabetes to talking about beer, which necessarily isn't
(31:16):
a product that you should over indulge for a variety reasons.
But dealing with the diabetes subject, beer has a ton
of sugar in it and you need to be aware
of that. And for the rest of the night, I've
got dB Cooper coming in here at ten o'clock and
she is a woman making hay and broadcasting doing voiceover work.
(31:42):
And an old teacher of mine who looks like he's
twenty years younger than me, but he taught me in
high school. I was in high school sixty seven to
seventy one. Those are my four years. And he has
a company called the Speed Improvement Company. And he'll get
(32:03):
some of those bad verbal habits out of your everyday
speech and tell you other things you should know, especially
when you want to make a good first impression. Now
my first impression with the gentleman I have online with
me right now. I was in a life of death
(32:26):
situation roughly around nineteen ninety seven or so, maybe closer
to the two thousands. But doctor David Nathan was one
of the physicians who helped nurse me back to health.
(32:48):
And I know you're uncomfortable curing me say that to you,
but by being a doctor, you save lives. That's hand
in hand with what you do when you have a patient.
You save lives. David.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Yeah, Well, you always embarrassed me here, Morgan, but I
always point out that you know the care that we
provide at the Mass General and elsewhere. It's a team effort,
lots of people involved, and it was I'm glad that
you did so well. And that was a long twenty
something years ago, right long ago, and so it's great
to see how well you've done all.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And I'll remind you of what you and your team
told me. There were three options for me. One that
I would get well and go on to live my life.
Two I would face an amputation very high up on
(33:49):
my leg, or three cashing your chips it's over. Fortunately
the first option became the fact of my life. And again,
thank you to you and your staff. And it wasn't
your staff, it was like the hospital's staff, right, and
(34:14):
all of you did a bang up job as far
as I was concerned.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Well, it as a pleasure and it's always I think
it just so fulfilling for healthcare providers to see someone
you know, improve from what is a potentially a dangerous
situation and see them get better. And with regard to diabetes,
by the way, so it's worth you know you pointed
out earlier. I think in the program that people should
pay attention to this. And the reason that it's worth
(34:42):
paying attention to is because what has changed over the
last forty or fifty years is that we know how
to make diabetes less dangerous. So diabetes, as your listeners know,
I'm sure, is the single major cause of blindness, kidney failure,
amputation in the United States. It's the single greatest cause
(35:03):
of those three bad outcomes, and in addition, increases the
risk for heart disease and stroke by between two and fivefold.
But the big butt there is that if people take
care and manage their blood sugars in a prescribed level,
and also by the way, take care of their blood
pressure and their cholesterol, we can reduce those risks enormously.
(35:27):
So that's why it's important to take care of your diabetes.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And that was the key in my case because I
did have the urination issue. Waking up at one and
two in the morning, then waking up again, then waking
up again, my vision did get blurry, and I wasn't
expecting that because I had always had excellent vision. You know,
(35:56):
I weigh glasses now, But we're talking twenty twenty five
years ago, and I'm thinking, why can't I read this magazine.
It's a TV Guide, for goodness sake. I've been reading
TV Guide all my life, so that was that. But
enough about me. I want you to remember back for
(36:18):
you the first time you're either an intern or the
beginning of your career as a physician and you helped
a patient pull through, as it were. Tell people what
(36:38):
that was like your mindset?
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Sure, well, you know the first as a medical student.
People should know that. You know you're although you may
be taking some responsibility for taking care of patients, you
have a normal supervision. You're working with a whole team,
which remains the case throughout, but it's not you know,
you're not the one who's responsible appropriately. You're in training
(37:02):
when you become an intern or resident. And I did
my training in Boston. I came from I was in
medical school in New York, came up to Boston, and
all of a sudden, I mean, I was twenty three
or something like that, twenty three, twenty four, a newly
minted physician, and you're asked to go into a hospital
and take care of people who are quite ill. And
(37:24):
in those days, we're talking in the early seventies, mid seventies,
a lot of the things that we can now treat
today were fatal, I mean, And so as a young physician,
I remember taking care of people my age who had
luke kemia, for example, and who died while we were
(37:44):
taking care of them, so that I must say was
quite traumatic. I think watching people your own age who
you're trying to provide care for, but the answers weren't there,
we didn't have adequate treatments. And over time, thank goodness,
both in chance or and diabetes and heart disease, and
you know the things that those are the major killers,
heart disease and cancer. You know, I think over time
(38:09):
science has come up with really remarkable improvements so that
many diseases that used to be fatal are no longer fatal,
where in fact we can restore people to good health,
which is why the current you know, if we weren't
going to that political, but if Robert Kennedy, who is
not a scientist and who seems to be actually anti science,
(38:32):
has his way, I'm really fearful that the progress that
we have made will go back to the dark ages.
I mean, it's just, you know, the things he says
and that he seems to act on are not based
on science or facts or knowledge. They're based on what
he believes, which has really little based So that I
find to be really objective. My whole career has been
(38:53):
trying to prove things scientifically and develop new methods of
treatment that have to be proved to be effective. And
he comes around and you know, seems to turn his
back on what has been the scientific progress. Today.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Well, let's help people like you win out over people
like him. I'll leave it at that. I've got a wave.
Goodbye to you as always, Thank you for being a
part of the show.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
And Morgan, thank you for having me as always.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
And we'll do this again. Thank you, David. All Right, everybody,
let's take a little bit of a news break time
and temperature here one night side eight fifty eight seventeen
degrees
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news video.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Nicole, thank you for that quick intro of me my
name again, Morgan White Jr. And by the way, Nicole
and Rob are back where they belong. They had yesterday off,
but Nightside is at Nightside without Nicole and Rob Brooks
doing their jobs so perfectly well. So I want to
(00:27):
say that to both of you and for all the
people listening. I'm here until midnight. Dan Ray will be
back tomorrow. I have non White House subjects tonight. Why
because I know Dan Ray will be delving into White
House subjects beginning at eight o'clock tomorrow, and I didn't
(00:53):
want to take away programming or concepts that Dan definitely
will be touching upon. That aside my first guest, I
think this is the fourth time over the years I've
had him on. He is a specialist when it comes
(01:14):
to diabetes, looked upon as being one of the more
knowledgeable physicians in America dealing with that subject. And I
know a lot of you out there have issues with diabetes,
myself included. So guess what I've brought somebody who can
(01:35):
help you, hopefully. But I always say this when I
have a doctor on the doctor is making suggestions based
on your information. Go to your own physician for specifics,
because your physician is the person who will take you
(01:58):
through the windy road of physicians and patience combined. So
doctor David Nathan is my guest. He may tell you something.
You can use that information as a guide to your
own physician and doctor Nathan. Did I say that correctly enough?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Morgan? You got it as usual, You got it exactly right.
You know, I may be a physician, I play one
on television and radio, but I am by no means,
no means should anyone take what I say tonight as
no advice for them. They do need to see their
own healthcare professional and listen to that person's advice.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So far, And let me say to you, I've already
said it during our conversation to set this up. But
happy New.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Year to you, bro, same to you, Morgan, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Thank you. I'm listening to WBZ last weekend, just most
recent Saturday day and Sunday that we just waved goodbye to,
and there was a news story about glucose and circumstances
around glucose that are giving all the people that use
(03:17):
diabetes studies as their focus points, and I understood some
of it, but I'm sure you know about that because
they acted like this is a new discovery. So if
you're familiar with that, tell people what that discovery is.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, you know, I'm not sure what you're referring to, Morgan. Okay,
you know, diabetes is in the news all the time,
given the you know that it's epidemic, affecting more than
ten percent of the population, so it's the most common
chronic disease there is. And at the center of diabetes
are you know, elevated glucos levels. That's how we define it,
(04:02):
and the elevated glucose levels are what are intimately related
to the risk for complications. So therefore we you know,
we try to maintain those glucose levels and the average glucose,
which is a test called the hemoglobin A one C
in a specific range. So I'm not sure what the
exact story was last weekend.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, I should have taken notes, but I was just
casually listened to listening to the news.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But most yeah, no, I was about to say that,
you know, it seems like ninety nine percent of the
news around diabetes, these days is all around Wagovi and
the samaglatie and all of the g LP one receptor
agonists which have become, you know, really the major pharmaceutical story,
(04:51):
I would say, of this century and are likely to
be given that they've grown. You know, a large portion
of a portion of the population is taking them, either
for diabetes or for weight loss. They also have additional benefits,
and almost all of the news these days is about them.
They represent the reason why Denmark's entire economy has taken
(05:14):
a turn for the better since Novo Nordisk, which is
the company that makes one of them, is located in Denmark.
So you know, you know, ninety percent of the stories
out there are about these GLP ones.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now, people listening, Like, when I was first discovered to
have diabetes, and that would be around nineteen ninety six
or so, I had a few warning signals and I
needed to be alerted to pay attention to these warning signals.
Why don't you tell my audience at least three or
(05:51):
four different things that could now underline could indicate that
diabetes has a hold on you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Sure, so diabetes can have its on set. Now what
we're talking about for the most part here is the
epidemic form of diabetes, which is called type two diabetes.
Used to be called adult onset because it arises in
people as when they're adults. Type one diabetes, by contrast,
occurs or has its onset most frequently in younger people
(06:24):
and usually around the time of puberty, between the ages
of eight and fifteen. Now, people can develop type one
diabetes later in life. And although type two diabetes is
the most common, it has its most common onset, you know,
in middle aged older age. It can also occur in
kids these days. Its major risk factor is overweight and obesity.
(06:48):
And given that there is an epidemic of over seventy
percent of the US population is either overweight or obese,
that is double the number of the you know, fifty
years ago. So that is the major risk seven zero
seven zero percent, and that includes about forty percent or
(07:10):
considered obese and thirty percent that are who are considered overweight.
And you know, I agree entirely with the current stance
that we shouldn't be fact shaming anyone. Okay, people should
not be judged based on their weight. But diabetes doesn't
understand that because diabetes the major risk factor is as
(07:31):
people gain weight, and that is clearly linked to the
epidemic of diabetes and a lot of other bad things.
So you know that that's that's really the story kind
of of this century, all right.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And the fact that we just came through a holiday
a pair of months with Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, Christmas, et cetera.
Holidays a lot of food based family get togethers could
have even nudged people closer to those diabetes' issues. I've
(08:08):
got a break to take, and when we get back,
let me open up the phones. If you want to
call and speak to doctor Nathan and ask questions that
relate specifically to you. Here are your phone numbers. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty, eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty.
Take advantage of the doctor who is here. He has
(08:31):
a great depth of knowledge in this subject. And we'll
be right back after these messages. Time and temperature here
on night side eight sixteen seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nice Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'm Morgan feeling in for Dan Ray, who will be
back this time tomorrow. I promise you and my guest
for the first hour of night Side is doctor David
Nathan and he is well renowned across America's Seed the
Shining Sea with the subject of diabetes. So if you
(09:16):
have questions, you have concerns, call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine to nine,
ten thirty and doctor there have been I'm gonna say,
leaps and bounds changes in the meter, because when I
(09:37):
first became aware that I had diabetes and I had
a glucose meter, that meter is now obsolete and should
be in Fred Flintstone's home in comparison to what we
have now in twenty twenty five. Would you like to
speak to changes in the glucose meter?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Sure, absolutely so. So you know, the glugos meters go
back more than fifty years. I have a bunch of
them in my office that are paper weights, because there
are these enormous black black boxes that you stuck a
strip in after you'd incubated it for more than a minute,
and then you stuck in it. They were pretty accurate actually,
(10:19):
but they were totally unwieldy. The ones that came along
more recently, meaning the last twenty five for thirty years,
allowed people to do these fingerstick, blood shrigger checks and
with that for people who don't know what it is,
it was a little device like a pen that you
held up against your fingertip with a spring. There was
(10:40):
a little lancet, a little point that went into your
finger and drew a drop of blood. You applied the
drop of blood to a strip, put it in the meter,
and within you know, thirty to sixty seconds, it gave
you what turned out to be a very accurate reading.
For people with type one diabetes, the juvenile form, who
were taking always taking in slow by definition, and we're
(11:01):
trying to avoid high glucose levels as well as low
gugos levels, they were generally recommended to do these tests
at least four times a day, so four fingersticks a
day for a lifetime. Type two diabetes also recommended for
people with type two diabetes who have we're taking insulin
or who were taking a medication that could cause low
(11:23):
blutugar and there are a couple of oral medications that
could do that. So if we fast forward, the meters
got quicker, more accurate, smaller, and all that. But the
real change has been in the last almost ten years
now where people can wear these devices that everyone sees
on the back of somebody's arm, and they're called continuous
(11:43):
glucose meters. And what these do is that it's like
a little patch that goes on your arm, or you
can put it on your abdomen. There's a little straw
called the catheter that goes a little bit below the
surface of the skin, and what that straw does is
it SIPs a fluid from between the cells, and that
fluid actually isn't exactly the same as blood glucose, but
(12:05):
it reflects what the blood glucose is. And these devices
give people readings automatically every five minutes. So you put
one of these things in, you leave it in for
three to more days, and it gives you a reading
on your cell phone, for example, again every three to
five minutes. And for people who have type one diabetes,
these devices are invaluable. People who have type two diabetes
(12:29):
a little bit more debatable whether they're useful or not.
The real advance that has occurred is that these meters
talk to an insulin pump, so by bluetooth, they can
send the signal to an insulin pump and they help
drive the insulin pump. For type one diabetes usually and
help the pump determine how much insulin needs to be given.
(12:51):
So it's kind of an automated system. And that's where
those are the real advances that have occurred.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Okay, And we started to but I wanted you to
give me, let's say, one to three specifics of something
not right with your body. I'll begin by eyesight. You, okay,
have no problems with your eyes, and all of a sudden, right,
(13:19):
it's hard to read the magazine you've always read, and
are other things beyond that, So go.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Ahead, absolutely. So I would say that in the old days,
meaning fifteen twenty years ago more, many people were discovering
that they had diabetes because of symptoms. And the one
that you're suggesting eyesight, is that people would develop blurry
vision without any explanation for it. They would get new
glasses because they had blurry vision, and then a week
(13:49):
later their vision was blurry again. And that was because
if blood sugars rise very quickly, they actually affect the
lens of your eye, so it changes the refractive the
refraction that the lens provides, cause you have blurry vision.
The other symptoms that we'll get to, okay, which you're
gonna ask me about anyway in a minute. I know
(14:11):
is you know, people tell me, well, you know we've
done this, but you know we really we should go on
stage or something, so yeah we should. So the other
the other symptoms that occur and don't occur as commonly
now as they used to, and I'll explain why in
a minute. Or people get increasing thirst and increasing urination,
(14:33):
and that is because if the blood shiger arises to
a certain level, you start spilling it in your urine,
it goes into the urine, and when the shrew goes
in the urine, it pulls water with it, and before
you know it, you're going to the bathroom far more often.
You're having to get up at night several times, and
because that's happening, you get a little dehydrated, and then
(14:53):
you get increased thirst. So those are really the kind
of classical symptoms of having an elevat blood sugar. These days,
it turns out that many people are actually discovered to
have diabetes just because they're doctors or healthcare providers appropriately
are testing their blood sugar or that hemoglobin a one
(15:14):
C test which measures average blood sugar, and they're doing
that at least once a year, and that is the
way these days that most people are picked up are
diagnosed as having diabetes, not waiting until the sugar rises
so high that their vision gets blurry that they're urinating.
It can still happen, but many more people are picked
up just by routine laboratory tests.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And in those tests, your blood sugar numbers tell people
a range where okay, we're not concerned, your doctor is
not concerned that diabetes is in your immediate future, versus okay, now,
(15:57):
thirty more points, fifty more points get a doctor's concern, right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
So you know, as it turns out, we as a
species eat episodically. We don't graze all day long. We
have three meals a day usually and sometimes four or
five meals a day with snacks and whatever. But you know,
with the episodic eating, the meal time eating, our bloochergers
tend to be low before you eat, and in everyone
(16:25):
they rise after you eat. And the more sugar or
more sugary drinks, or the more carbohydrate you have in
the meal, the higher the blood suger is likely to be.
So the timing of these tests turns out to be
pretty critical. Most of the time, doctors will want you
to come in for a fasting blood sugar test, blood
glucose tests, same thing, and if the number is greater
(16:48):
than one twenty six, greater than one twenty six, they'll
ask you to repeat it. Okay. Now, by the way,
if the blood sugger is two hundred and you're complaining
of the urination and first, then the diagnosis is made. Okay,
you don't have to have it repeated. If the blood
is very high, and that's simple, and then you have
diabetes and they'll put you on treatment and hopefully it'll
(17:08):
improve it. The other measurement that's done is I said,
is this hemoglobin a one c, which is also a
blood test, and if that value is higher than six
point five percent, it's a different unit than the blood sugar.
But if it's higher than six point five it means
you have diabetes. They usually would repeat that also to
make sure that the first test was not an error.
(17:30):
But once either of those, you know, either of those
criteria is met, So either a fasting blood sugar or
a hemoglobin a one c, then you're diagnosed. Sometimes people
are so symptomatic, thirsty and urinating and blurry vision that
you just do a random blood sugar and if it's
(17:51):
over two hundred, there's no question you've got diabetes. And
so there are a number of different ways of diagnosing.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It now that we know a red flags to watch
out for. If any of these circumstances one or a
combination of two or all three are happening to you,
do the smart thing, because I'll tell you something real quick,
(18:18):
and then I have to take a break. My grandmother
was a nurse and in nineteen ninety six when it
was discovered I'm a diabetic. In her time it could
have been fatal. But nowadays there are just so many
(18:39):
measures that can cut this off at the pass, so
many ways that you're necessarily not going to get rid
of it, but you can at least help fight it,
curb it, and find a way to stay ahead of it.
And I want you to have a long, happy life.
(19:01):
I have thirty eight states listening to me, parts of
Canada listening to me, listening to me. Do the right thing,
And now I've got to take a break, doctor Nathan
and I will be back after a few messages and
a quick hit of news. This is Nightside, heard only
on WBZ News Radio ten thirty time, eight thirty seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You're on the Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
We are back here on Nightside. I'm Morgan filling in
for Dan. Dan, We'll be back tomorrow. I know I've
been saying it a lot, but Dan, I think his
last time on air was last Tuesday. So Gary was
here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I was here last night. I'm
(19:54):
here now, so all of you Dano files, Dan Ray.
We'll be back to night Side eight o'clock tomorrow. I've
got doctor David Nathan. He and I are talking about
diabetes and doctor. Going back to the meters, Nancy mentioned
to me, she's sitting right next to me, there is
(20:17):
a newer meter that doesn't take blood. It well, I'll
let you explain it that the newer meter, it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Was a glucose monitor or CGM that I referred to earlier.
So it really doesn't take blood. It sits on your
skin and again with a little straw, a little catheter
really SIPs it's like a straw, SIPs fluid from between
the cells and measures the sugar levels in that fluid.
(20:51):
It turns out that although it's not exactly the same
as the blood sugar level blood glucose level, it's really close.
And again, these divice is measure the blood trigger every
three to five minutes to provide an ongoing kind of
a record, a diary if you will, of your glucose
levels in real time and help you help people decide
(21:13):
how much insulin they need to take or whether the
adjustments need to be made in their other diabetes medications.
So they're they're quite useful.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And are there any other newer innovations of people might
not be aware it's out and available to them.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Well, there are a lot of you know, new ideas
that are under investigation, but the ones that are you know,
that have been brought to the four that have been
proved to be effective, that have been approved by the FDA,
and that are available to people are the ones we've
talked about. The new medications, especially to treat type two diabetes.
(21:51):
They're newer insulins available to treat type one and type
two diabetes, and then the means to deliver them, so
that you know, the new pumps, these new tiny pumps
that are driven by the continuous glucose monitors, so really
kind of artificial pancreases, and that has been, you know,
a major development over the last decade or so.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
What reading material magazine's websites would you recommend people go
to to keep up with what's happening in the world
of diabetes.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah, you know, we live in one of the only
two countries in the world that do direct to consumer
advertising for medicines for examples, I think it's US in
New Zealand, so, you know, ONTELL, I want to caution
people that advertising is advertising. I mean, you know, although
(22:47):
it provides a lot of information and a lot of
dancing people with diabetes talking about what drug they're taking,
it is advertising and they should remember to talk to
their healthcare professional and not necessarily buy everything or else. Understood,
you accept everything that they see on television because it
is advertising and it's meant to sell the product. I
(23:07):
think that, you know, especially diabetes specialists have a much
more nuanced understanding of which device and which medication is
good for the person who's asking them for help for
their particular patient. So I think people have to be cautious.
There's information everywhere. The American Diabetes Association has very reliable
(23:29):
magazines both for professionals as well as for consumers meeting patients,
and I think that is a reliable source of information.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You mentioned dancing people. I'm going to mention this one
product because they come up with a new commercial every
six to eight weeks with a new set of dancing people.
And the first one, the woman was on a best
(23:59):
see was happy that. I'll say the product that begins
with jay. I don't want to mention a name because
people will think I am giving an approval to a product.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I'm trying to be right down the middle. But they
have done more commercials. First of those women on the
bus than those women dancing in the neighborhood park. Then
it was a guy pruning his yard. And it's always
I take, I take more blah with blah blah blah
(24:35):
at each day. Start the jingle is in my head and.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I know I've got diabetes. Right, that's the one, And
you're right, we should go on the road.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We already know the material and these companies and earlier
you mentioned uh well Kobe, and all of a sudden,
this one product it was just another product out there,
and then it was used to kind of help fight
(25:10):
obesity and everybody jumped on the wacovie bandwagon, and I
don't know, I just think that's a dangerous precedent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, I said no, no, no, I said it previously
that we are the one of only two countries in
the world that allows that kind of advertising. So there's
direct to consumer and the ideas to either you motivate
or stimulate or inflame the population to go out of
acid doctors for you know, because they saw in a
thirty second to add a bunch of people dancing around
(25:43):
and singing a song that you can't I got type
of it that you can't get out of your head.
It's true. I can't get out of my head either.
It's you know, whoever at that jingle understands how to
capture people's attention, I guess, so again I think that.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, I was about to say, whoever does the casting
for these commercials, commercials floral the plumper actors and actresses finally.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Have enough place.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
No, because everybody is a tad overweight, I'll say it
politely that way.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Well, as I said earlier, remember that that is what
most of the country looks like. Also, I mean, you know,
the what used to be considered when we were in school.
You know, I remember in elementary school sixty something years ago,
sixty oh god, I'm getting old, you know, sixty five
sixty eight years ago, that there was always one or
(26:44):
two kids who were kind of overweight, plump, you know,
you call them unfortunately, you call chubby or something, you know,
And that was and that was unfair to them, of course,
but it was only one or two. Now it's the majority,
near majority of children who are getting to be overweight
or big, just like their parents. So this is really
(27:05):
a public health a public health emergency, which is why
these drugs, which really are quite effective. I mean, forget
about the advertising and the audience should know that the
drug companies and have done wonderful work in terms of
developing the medications and figuring out you know, originally the
group of drugs, these glps were given twice a day
(27:26):
by ejection, and then once a day, and now it's
once a week, and before long they'll probably be even
longer acting medications. So they've done a great job with that.
But at the same time, they spend more money on
advertising than they do on development.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's just true.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
A big pharma.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, let me take a big Farmer. Don't get me started.
Let me take a quick call. I'll try to squeeze
Alex and Millicon before I have to take a break. Alex,
thank you for taking the time to call Night's side.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Hello, Hi, how are you? How are you? Hi? Morgan?
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I was going to ask, how do these Farmer companies
get the names that they put on the on the medications?
They sound so exotic, like you know, people would name
their firstborn after them. I'm going to say, like for example,
sky Lizzy. They sound like, you know, they're very unusual
and they sound cool. So how do they develop the name?
(28:22):
It's not a real it doesn't mean anything. I think
they take it partially from the uh, from the technical
name of the of the drug.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
No, they don't. Actually, it really has very little to
do with the name of the drug. I don't Somebody
sits in a room who's an advertiser and they think
about name they think will be attractive and then has
some connotation to it. I think they maybe, you know,
I understand that Elon Musk names his kids some weird names,
and I suspect maybe they go to him and ask
him what kind of names to give the drugs? So
(28:54):
I must say it is befuddled me for decades where
they come up with these names because they don't have
anything to do with it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, I think they let their pet cat walk across
the keyboard, and if it's a sensible word that comes
out from the pause of the cat on the keys,
there's your.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Name right right.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
The other thing is how effective are generic versus because
the brand name is more expensive. Is there any compromise
if you were to take any medication?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, yeah, so, as you know, the newer drugs are
patent protected and they remain brand name drugs for a
while until they lose that and that's dictated by when
they were developed, when their patent was put forward, and
then they become generic. And in order for generic drugs
to be approved, they have to be essentially equivalent to
(29:52):
the brand name. And therefore, you know, when the brand
names come along, you should be able to save a
lot of money and be able to get the same effect.
Now that's theoretical. What actually happens is that many of
the companies have numerous patents on their drugs, which lasts
you know, it's not the drug itself, it's the way
that the drug was synthesized or it's some component of
(30:14):
the drug, so they end up having patent protection for
a longer period of time before the generics come about.
But the generics should in general be equivalent to the
brand name drug.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
All right, Alex, thank you, I got to take a break,
Thank you for your call. Good night, and doctor, let
me sell some soap, as they used to say, going
into a break, and you and I will come back
in about two or three minutes time. Here on night
Side eight five seventeen degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ the news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Doctor David Nathan is here. We are talking about diabetes.
We're only going to keep this conversation going up to
the top of the hour, roughly another ten minutes now
closer to eight minutes. And next hour we go from
talking about diabetes to talking about beer, which necessarily isn't
(31:16):
a product that you should over indulge for a variety reasons.
But dealing with the diabetes subject, beer has a ton
of sugar in it and you need to be aware
of that. And for the rest of the night, I've
got dB Cooper coming in here at ten o'clock and
she is a woman making hay and broadcasting doing voiceover work.
(31:42):
And an old teacher of mine who looks like he's
twenty years younger than me, but he taught me in
high school. I was in high school sixty seven to
seventy one. Those are my four years. And he has
a company called the Speed Improvement Company. And he'll get
(32:03):
some of those bad verbal habits out of your everyday
speech and tell you other things you should know, especially
when you want to make a good first impression. Now
my first impression with the gentleman I have online with
me right now. I was in a life of death
(32:26):
situation roughly around nineteen ninety seven or so, maybe closer
to the two thousands. But doctor David Nathan was one
of the physicians who helped nurse me back to health.
(32:48):
And I know you're uncomfortable curing me say that to you,
but by being a doctor, you save lives. That's hand
in hand with what you do when you have a patient.
You save lives. David.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Yeah, Well, you always embarrassed me here, Morgan, but I
always point out that you know the care that we
provide at the Mass General and elsewhere. It's a team effort,
lots of people involved, and it was I'm glad that
you did so well. And that was a long twenty
something years ago, right long ago, and so it's great
to see how well you've done all.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And I'll remind you of what you and your team
told me. There were three options for me. One that
I would get well and go on to live my life.
Two I would face an amputation very high up on
(33:49):
my leg, or three cashing your chips it's over. Fortunately
the first option became the fact of my life. And again,
thank you to you and your staff. And it wasn't
your staff, it was like the hospital's staff, right, and
(34:14):
all of you did a bang up job as far
as I was concerned.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Well, it as a pleasure and it's always I think
it just so fulfilling for healthcare providers to see someone
you know, improve from what is a potentially a dangerous
situation and see them get better. And with regard to diabetes,
by the way, so it's worth you know you pointed
out earlier. I think in the program that people should
pay attention to this. And the reason that it's worth
(34:42):
paying attention to is because what has changed over the
last forty or fifty years is that we know how
to make diabetes less dangerous. So diabetes, as your listeners know,
I'm sure, is the single major cause of blindness, kidney failure,
amputation in the United States. It's the single greatest cause
(35:03):
of those three bad outcomes, and in addition, increases the
risk for heart disease and stroke by between two and fivefold.
But the big butt there is that if people take
care and manage their blood sugars in a prescribed level,
and also by the way, take care of their blood
pressure and their cholesterol, we can reduce those risks enormously.
(35:27):
So that's why it's important to take care of your diabetes.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And that was the key in my case because I
did have the urination issue. Waking up at one and
two in the morning, then waking up again, then waking
up again, my vision did get blurry, and I wasn't
expecting that because I had always had excellent vision. You know,
(35:56):
I weigh glasses now, But we're talking twenty twenty five
years ago, and I'm thinking, why can't I read this magazine.
It's a TV Guide, for goodness sake. I've been reading
TV Guide all my life, so that was that. But
enough about me. I want you to remember back for
(36:18):
you the first time you're either an intern or the
beginning of your career as a physician and you helped
a patient pull through, as it were. Tell people what
(36:38):
that was like your mindset?
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Sure, well, you know the first as a medical student.
People should know that. You know you're although you may
be taking some responsibility for taking care of patients, you
have a normal supervision. You're working with a whole team,
which remains the case throughout, but it's not you know,
you're not the one who's responsible appropriately. You're in training
(37:02):
when you become an intern or resident. And I did
my training in Boston. I came from I was in
medical school in New York, came up to Boston, and
all of a sudden, I mean, I was twenty three
or something like that, twenty three, twenty four, a newly
minted physician, and you're asked to go into a hospital
and take care of people who are quite ill. And
(37:24):
in those days, we're talking in the early seventies, mid seventies,
a lot of the things that we can now treat
today were fatal, I mean, And so as a young physician,
I remember taking care of people my age who had
luke kemia, for example, and who died while we were
(37:44):
taking care of them, so that I must say was
quite traumatic. I think watching people your own age who
you're trying to provide care for, but the answers weren't there,
we didn't have adequate treatments. And over time, thank goodness,
both in chance or and diabetes and heart disease, and
you know the things that those are the major killers,
heart disease and cancer. You know, I think over time
(38:09):
science has come up with really remarkable improvements so that
many diseases that used to be fatal are no longer fatal,
where in fact we can restore people to good health,
which is why the current you know, if we weren't
going to that political, but if Robert Kennedy, who is
not a scientist and who seems to be actually anti science,
(38:32):
has his way, I'm really fearful that the progress that
we have made will go back to the dark ages.
I mean, it's just, you know, the things he says
and that he seems to act on are not based
on science or facts or knowledge. They're based on what
he believes, which has really little based So that I
find to be really objective. My whole career has been
(38:53):
trying to prove things scientifically and develop new methods of
treatment that have to be proved to be effective. And
he comes around and you know, seems to turn his
back on what has been the scientific progress. Today.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Well, let's help people like you win out over people
like him. I'll leave it at that. I've got a wave.
Goodbye to you as always, Thank you for being a
part of the show.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
And Morgan, thank you for having me as always.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
And we'll do this again. Thank you, David. All Right, everybody,
let's take a little bit of a news break time
and temperature here one night side eight fifty eight seventeen
degrees
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