Summary: Diphenylbutylpiperidines (DPBPs), a older class of antipsychotic medications can effectively be repurposed to help treat type 2 diabetes, a new study reports. The mechanism Ussher and his team turned their attention to is succinyl CoA:3-ketoacid CoA transferase (SCOT), an enzyme involved in the body’s process of making energy from ketones. https://neurosciencenews.com/antipsychotics-diabetes-22260/
Antipsychotic medications often have side effects of akathisia and tardive dyskinesia (TD), both of which are dreadful conditions which destroy lives, and in the case of TD may be permanent even if the cause is removed. I looked up Pimozide, which is a member of this class of drugs, and the side effects sound awful. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimozide So, people can end up with movement disorders, constipation, dizziness, dry mouth, profuse sweating, bed wetting, sleepiness, and some form of speech disorder. Why would anyone subject a patient to these risks when type 2 diabetes can be reversed with a low carb diet? Is the intention to punish patients for a bad diet?
Despite the enthusiasm of a media friendly medic, reversal is complicated: Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: A Narrative Review of the Evidence . Although dietary restriction can be bring rapid changes it doesn't necessarily remove the need for medication in the short term. In someone with very high risk of cardiovascular crisis, who is massively overweight, and who has uncontrolled diabetes because of intolerance to standard meds, alternatives with unpleasant side effects might be acceptable as life savers. I think this is the paper (in mice !) that the article is referring to: The Antipsychotic Dopamine 2 Receptor Antagonist Diphenylbutylpiperidines Improve Glycemia in Experimental Obesity by Inhibiting Succinyl-CoA:3-Ketoacid CoA Transferase
In the short term I would be happy to try the current drugs if I was a diabetic patient - but not with anything that might cause akathisia. I got that as a side effect from metoclopramide prescribed to improve gut transit, and it was a terrifying condition. Never again! It took weeks to feel back to "normal for me", and I had only taken five pills over three days.
The proposal only applies to 15% of patients who can't tolerate the usual meds AND who are facing serious consequences - amputations, heart failure etc. With the obesity epidemic that cohort, which may be a sub 1% of all Dt2 patients, is increasing at a frightening rate and medics are looking for solutions, even those with unpleasant consequences.
