Larry’s Response: There are many diseases and conditions that aren’t on my website. Clearly, listing and commenting on everything would be good, but not very practical. I’m only one person. The information on our website is original, not transcribed from other sites.

Diabetes (especially Type 2) is like many other chronic conditions. I conclude that most chronic conditions are “triggered” in an individual.

I observe that individuals respond to triggers in relatively unique ways – when they respond. Systemic inflammation, for example, is fairly common, and it is one of the underlying similarities found in people with chronic disease. I think there is a relationship between the immune system, the hormone activity, and inflammation. Some people might develop symptoms of multiple sclerosis, or irritable bowel disease, or arthritis, or even diabetes. “Something” is probably acting as a trigger for inflammation. The individual responds to the trigger in a way that is unique to him/her. There is probably a hereditary factor as well. Certain conditions seem to run in families.

I’d conclude that diabetes follows similar paths in people. There are more cases being reported, probably because the triggers are increasing. The environment is becoming more polluted, people respond with systemic inflammation, and certain people develop certain symptoms. The constellation of symptoms defines a group, which often receives a specific name. Diabetes, for example.

I will not comment here on specific drugs. Type one diabetes is serious and lifelong – possibly associated with a genetic issue. Type two “happens” later in life and I do not think it is a “drug deficiency”. Instead, it is the RESULT of something that is going wrong (a trigger), to which the individual is responding in his/her unique way. It is likely that type 2 can be managed by changing lifestyle, eating better, exercise, using clean water, avoiding chlorine and fluoride in the water, using anti inflammatory supplements, and so on. It is far easier, however, to use one of the drugs. Even insulin injections are easier than lifestyle changes. That’s why the drugs are so popular. Easy to prescribe. Easy to take. Easy to measure how they’re working. Sadly, the way that our world is changing might be a reason for deciding that lifestyle changes are impractical or impossible. If we can’t avoid pollution, we might actually need more and more drugs that could help us avoid illness.

Personally, I spend a lot of time and money avoiding pollutants, exercising, and taking supplements. Not everyone is so inclined. In that case, drugs make sense. If there are side effects from a drug, there are always other drugs that can help alleviate the bad effects from the first one. There may be a place after which additional drugs won’t help. Most of us ignore that possibility.