We encountered two cases of diabetes mellitus treated with insulin that improved with the administration of Mashinin-gan and Hachimi-jio-gan for constipation.
The first case is an 84-year-old woman who had been treated with 16 units of insulin per day. After receiving Mashinin-gan for constipation, as well as the regular dose of insulin, her blood sugar values declined. Her insulin dose was then reduced, her constipation improved and finally she stopped taking insulin. The second case is a 77-year old man who was also being treated with 16 units of insulin per day. He took Mashinin-gan and Hachimi-jio-gan for constipation, which improved his constipation and allowed him to reduce his insulin from 16 units to 4 units per day.
Neither Hachimi-jio-gan nor Mashinin-gan caused any serious adverse effects and seemed to be beneficial for aged diabetic patients in preventing side effects such as hypoglycemia. We conclude that these drugs are useful for the treatment of diabetes mellitus for the aged.