Body makes insulin, but the insulin does not control blood-glucose is called insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes). Diabetes pills are needed to maintain the blood-glucose level.
Sometimes, people who take diabetes pills may need insulin treatment for a while. If you get sick or have surgery, at that time diabetes pills may not work to lower your blood-glucose.
You may be able to stop taking diabetes pills if you lose weight. (Always check with your doctor before you stop taking your diabetes pills.) Losing 10 or 15 pounds can sometimes help you reach your target blood-glucose level.
Choosing a suitable diabetes pill
Several kinds of diabetes pills are available, which works differently. Some people need to take pills and insulin, follow doctor’s advice. Doctor may ask to try one kind of pill, if it does not help reach blood-glucose targets, then doctor may ask to.
- take more of the same pill,
- add another kind of pill,
- change to another type of pill,
- start taking insulin,
- start taking another injected medicine
Doctor may suggest insulin or other injected medicine, and it does not mean diabetes is getting worse. Instead, it means the injectable medicine is needed to reach blood-glucose targets. What works best for you depends on your health condition, eating habits, physical activities, etc.
You need to know about side effects of medicines.
A side effect is an unwanted problem caused by a medicine. For example, some diabetes medicines can cause nausea or an upset stomach when you first start taking them. Before starting a new medicine, asks your doctor, what are the possible side effects, and how you can avoid them? If the side effects of your medicine bother you, tell your doctor.
Commonly available diabetes medication drugs are:
Click the hyperlink (bold & blue colored) for detail information on that particular diabetes drug.
- Alpha-Glucosidase (Precose, Acarbose) slows down carbohydrate digestion and limits blood-glucose rise immediately after food, a common problem in diabetics.
- Biguanide (Metformin, Glucophage) lowers the amount of glucose made by the liver; thus, the blood-glucose levels cannot go too high helps to treat insulin resistance.
- D-phenylalanine (Starlix, Nateglinide) helps the body to make more insulin for a short time after meals, thus limits the blood-glucose level from going too high after food.
- DPP-4 inhibitor (Januvia) lowers blood-glucose by helping body to make more insulin when needed. In addition, it stops the liver from putting glucose into the blood.
- Meglitinide (Repaglinide) helps the body to make more insulin right after meals, thus blood-glucose rise is limited after eating.
- Sulfonylurea (Glipizide, Glyburide, Glimepiride) help the body to make more insulin, this excess insulin helps to lower the blood-glucose level when needed, especially after food time.
- Thiazolidinedione (Actos, Avandia) helps the body to utilize the insulin properly; thus blood-glucose level stay on target and body cells get the energy they needed.
- Combinational diabetes pills (Avandamet, Glucovance, Actoplus met, Avandaryl) Many diabetic patients need more than one type of diabetes pill to control their blood-glucose level, thus combination diabetes pills are available for treatment.