In part one of this series, we talked about the basics of type 2 diabetes.

I included a bit of ancient history, you're welcome, and then we went on to discuss some

of the pathophysiology.

If you haven't already seen that episode, I strongly suggest you go back and watch it now,

because that material will be essential

for you to understand what's going on in this episode. And what exactly is going on in this episode?

We're going to talk about modern medical approaches to type 2 diabetes, specifically pharmacotherapies.

And this isn't just intended for those of you who actually have diabetes,

but for everyone. Because even if you don't have diabetes, you almost certainly have a friend,

or a loved one, or a coaching client who does, and who has to take one or more of these medications.

And even if you don't, well, knowledge is power.

Or at least it's knowledge.

Hi, I'm Jonathan Sullivan, and welcome back to Graysteel.

Treatment of type 2 diabetes is properly based on an understanding of the pathophysiology

of the disease in general and the patient's individual pathophysiology in particular.

At the most basic level, this means knowing that diabetes results from a deficiency in either

insulin, insulin signaling, or both. That understanding paved

the way for the first really effective pharmacotherapies. In the early 1920s, work by Nobel laureate

Frederick Banting and Dr. Charles Best, building on discoveries and work by many others, resulted in the

first clinically practical isolations

of insulin from animals and the first successful treatment of insulin-dependent

diabetics. In the 1940s, experiments designed to isolate new sulfonamide antibiotics resulted in

...