Insulin for Heart Attacks?

September 7, 2006

This article appeared in today's news, about using insulin to dilate coronary blood vessels after a heart attack. This is another absurd experiment on the people and very disturbing!!!!! Why use such a dangerous drug when magnesium will dilate coronary arteries? Some reports say insulin errors are the number one medication error in hospitals in the United States. http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read,1041,2827.html The Institute for Safe Medicine Practices lists insulin 5th on their list of specific "high alert" medications. http://www.ismp.org/Tools/highalertmedications.pdf Insulin errors continue to abound and can be disastrous and deadly, poor glucose testing protocols and poor glucose testing equipment only add to the tremendous problem that this so frequently causes. Beware!!! see citations supporting use of magnesium below this news article.

Insulin for Heart Attacks

September 6, 2006 - According to the American Heart Association, about 1.2 million Americans suffer a new or recurrent heart attack every year. Over the years, coronary arteries that bring blood to the heart can become thicker and harder as plaque -- from substances like cholesterol and fat -- builds up. A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to the heart is severely reduced or cut off. According to the American Heart Association, "When the heart muscle is starved for oxygen and nutrients, it is called ischemia. When damage or death of part of the heart muscle occurs as a result of ischemia, it is called a heart attack or myocardial infarction."

When someone has a heart attack, the part of the heart muscle that has lost blood supply begins to die. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and also the time between when it happens and treatment. When the damage is done to the heart muscle, it is irreversible. Scar tissue will form around the damaged area in people who survive heart attacks. The rest of the heart keeps working, but because part of it has been damaged, it is weaker than before and can't pump as much blood as it used to. REDUCING THE DAMAGE: Doctors are now studying a way to reduce the damage when a heart attack occurs. Researchers from the University at Buffalo in New York say the diabetic drug insulin may add significant protection to the heart when patients suffering a heart attack come to the emergency room. In the 1990's, researchers discovered insulin is a vessel dilator. It makes blood vessels relax and increases blood flow. Paresh Dandona, M.D., at UB, and colleagues set out to study insulin's effect on heart attacks. In a study of 36 patients who were having a heart attack, Dr. Dandona and his team randomly assigned the patients to receive either standard clot-busting treatment alone or standard therapy along with a low dose of infused insulin over 48 hours. Because insulin lowers blood sugar levels, patients were also given glucose to keep blood sugar levels normal. Results of the study show, for the first time, that insulin infused into heart attack patients reduces damage to the heart by 50 percent. Insulin reduced concentrations of C-reactive protein by 40 percent and serum amyloid A, by 50 percent. Both CRP and SAA are critical markers of inflammation. The insulin was given within three hours of having a heart attack. Dr. Dandona says, "There may be a substantial chunk of that heart muscle, which is subject to potential injury that might be saved if you get in there on time."

INSULIN AS STANDARD TREATMENT? Dr. Dandona and researchers across the country are now investigating the effects of insulin on heart attacks on a larger number of people. Dr. Dandona says, "If an established old drug gives us a perfectly good answer and improves the outcomes of our patients, then that is how the practices will change. Insulin will become a standard part of treatment for [heart attack]." Insulin is a widely used drug among people with diabetes. It was discovered in 1921 and is vital for survival among those with type 1 diabetes. Dr. Dandona says he can easily see this old drug becoming a new norm for heart attack patients. He says, "It's so simple. It's so inexpensive, and it can be universalized." http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=health & id=4534962

In contrast see: the benefits of magnesium administration have been shown in a variety of cardiovascular diseases.4-7 In the setting of coronary artery disease, several studies have shown the efficacy of magnesium infusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction,4 vasospastic angina,5 and unstable angina.8 While several mechanisms are probably responsible for the favourable effects of magnesium, the coronary vasodilatory effect seems to be the primary mechanism responsible for the beneficial effects of magnesium.9-11 However, only a few studies have investigated human coronary responses to magnesium infusion in vivo CONCLUSIONS: Magnesium dilates both the epicardial and resistance coronary arteries in humans. Furthermore, the coronary arterial response to magnesium is dose dependent and independent of EDNO. http://heart.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/86/2/212

We have recently demonstrated that oral magnesium treatment can improve endothelium-dependent vasodilation in CAD patients with optimal lipid values. Because nitric oxide is a potent endogenous vasodilator and inhibitor of platelet aggregation and adhesion, hypomagnesemia could promote vasoconstriction and coronary thrombosis in hypomagnesemic states. These findings suggest a potential mechanism whereby magnesium may beneficially alter outcomes in CAD patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgiitool=abstractplus & db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=11105330

Although some previous relatively small randomized clinical trials demonstrated a remarkable reduction in mortality when intravenous magnesium was administered to relatively high risk AMI patients, two recently published large-scale randomized clinical trials (the Fourth International Study of Infarct Survival [iSIS 4] and Magnesium in Coronaries [MAGIC]) were unable to demonstrate any advantage of intravenous magnesium over placebo. Nevertheless, the theoretical benefits of magnesium supplementation as a cardio-protective agent in CAD patients, promising results from animal and human studies, its relatively low-cost and ease of handling requiring no special expertise, together with its excellent tolerability, gives magnesium a place in treating CAD patients, especially in those at high risk, such as CAD patients with heart failure, the elderly and hospitalized patients with hypomagnesemia. Furthermore, magnesium therapy is indicated in life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes and intractable ventricular tachycardia. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs. 2003;3(4):231-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus & db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=14728075

Also in Clin Calcium. 2005 Nov;15(11):111-5 Can't help but wonder if the dose dependency was the issue with the findings of the ISIS study?

Numerous studies have suggested that magnesium ion (Mg(2+)) plays an important role in pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, ischemic heart disease. Hypomagnesemia is often associated with the imbalance of sodium, potassium, and calcium ions. Magnesium deficiency can occur frequently in alcoholics, and in patients with hypertension, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction. Magnesium deficiency induces an increase in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration in cardiac myocytes, formation of reactive oxygen species, production of inflammatory cytokines, leading to the development of ischemic heart disease, congestive heart disease, sudden cardiac death, atherosclerosis, and arrhythmia. In addition, catecholamines can evoke marked Mg(2+)efflux which is associated with a concomitant increase in the force of contraction of the heart. While many of the mechanisms remains elusive, the beneficial effects of magnesium on the myocardium appear to be convincing. Further studies will be necessary to elucidate the molecular basis of the cardio-protective effects of magnesium Clin Calcium. 2005 Nov;15(11):77-83.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=16272616 & itool=iconabstr & query_hl=6 & itool=pubmed_docsum

Claudia French RN, LPHAcfrench180

International Medical Veritas Associationhttp://imva.info/

MagnesiumForLife

http://www.magnesiumforlife.com/

Diabetics International Foundationhttp://members.tripod.com/diabetics_world/