Many years ago, a customer where I worked told me that he never takes any medications for anything. He believed that in too many cases, the side effects could be worse than what the medication was treating. He referred to it as killing the patient to cure the disease. Many cancer patients may agree with that general idea as they often feel like the chemotherapy they are given will nearly kill them in order to cure the cancer.

These days, there are many television commercials for a variety of medications for all kinds of illnesses and conditions. If you listen to some of these commercials, a significant part of the ad lists all of the possible complications that could occur from taking that drug. I often wonder why anyone would want to take something that could do all of those horrible things to you, including killing you.

Sometimes, serious side effects are not discovered until a certain drug has been on the market for few years and that’s the case with a popular drug used to treat type 2 diabetes.

For instance, take the drug Jardiance which is advertised on television. The side effects they list includes:

• dehydration,
• dizziness,
• lightheadedness,
• weakness,
• yeast infection,
• low blood sugar,
• nausea,
• upper respiratory tract infection,
• high cholesterol,
• joint pain,
• increased urination,
• urinary tract infection,
• thirst, and
• low blood pressure (hypotension).

According to a new report, there is another serious side effect associated with Jardiance and similar diabetic drugs. These drugs are referred to SGLT2 (sodium-glucose co-transporter 2) inhibitors.

According to a recent report:

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday a serious genital infection has been reported in patients taking a certain class of diabetes drugs, with one death and 11 others hospitalized.”

‘The warning pertains to a class of medicines called SGLT2 inhibitors, first approved in 2013 to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes…”

“The SGLT2 inhibitors approved by the FDA include Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, Eli Lilly & Co’s Jardiance, as well those from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Astra Zeneca Plc, Merck & Co and Pfizer Inc.”

The infection that has been linked to SGLT2 diabetes drugs is a bacterial infection known as Fournier’s gangrene. Although once rare, it seems to be occurring in some people taking SGLT2 drugs.

Fournier’s gangrene is an infection of the tissue under the skin that surrounds the genital area. The bacteria generally enters the body through a cut or small abrasion, which could happen when shaving the genital area as so many do these days.

Of the 12 cases reported, 7 were men and 5 were women. The one fatality happened after the patient had multiple emergency surgeries that resulted in complications. Those that survive often have to undergo multiple surgeries that are often disfiguring in the genital area.

In most of the cases, the Fournier’s gangrene infection began within several months of first taking the drug.

If your doctor is prescribing one of these name brand SGLT2 drugs for your type 2 diabetes, be aware of this possible complication. If you are a type 2 diabetic and take one of these drugs and regularly shave your genital area, you may want to think twice about shaving. Either use some other method of removing hair or let it grow.