Oral Diabetes Medications — Diabetes pills
Diabetic pills for the management of diabetes are for type 2 diabetics only. When exercise and meal planning are incorporated into the pill taking, the pills are effective as you will be using the combination of three treatments to reduce your levels of blood sugar.
Unfortunately, diabetes pills are not effective for everybody. Even though their levels of blood sugar do get lower initially, but the levels cannot get low enough to be close to the safe range.
So, you may wonder if diabetes pills can help you. They may not work for you if you have been using at least 20 units of insulin a day or diabetes has been with you for more than ten years. However, if you hardly need any insulin to get your blood sugar near the normal range or you have only been diagnosed recently with diabetes, there is a good chance that the pills will work for you.
For no reason at all, diabetes pills can sometimes no longer be effective after several months, perhaps years. The reason may not be your diabetes is getting worse. In such a case, oral combination therapy can be of help.
Insulin still has to be taken if you need a surgery or you have a serious infection although diabetes pills are effective for you as these pills cannot control the levels of blood sugar at such times of stress when levels of blood sugar are bound to increase.
Should you wish to be pregnant, you will have to use exercise and diet, maybe together with insulin, to have your diabetes under control. Pregnant women should not use oral medications for their condition.
No treatment or pill for type 2 diabetes can be said to be the best for everybody. To know what is suitable for you, you have to try all types of pills, perhaps combine them, or use them with insulin.
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List of Diabetes Pills
Every diabetes pills available in America come from the following drugs which work differently to reduce levels of blood sugar:
All diabetes pills sold today in the United States are members of six classes of drugs that work in different ways to lower blood glucose levels:
- DPP-4 inhibitors
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
- Thiazolidinediones
- Biguanides
- Meglitinides
- Sulfonylureas
What About Interaction Dangers?
Generally, diabetes pills can be considered safe and effective. However, similar to the use of other other drugs, care must be taken.
Every diabetes pill and other medicines can interact. Since there can be medication interactions, your doctor ought to be told about every medicine you are using. Once you have started on diabetes pills, you should consult your doctor on starting any new medicine, prescribed or over the counter.
Levels of blood sugar can go too low if any meglitinide or sulfonylurea is taken. Glitazones or metformin seldom cause this unless they are taken together with insulin injections, or either repaglinide or sulfonylureas which are insulin stimulators. Hypoglycemia does not occur if meglito or acarbose is used as prescribed. When acarbose or meglitol is used in combination with oral medications for diabetes, hypoglycemia can happen.
What is the Cost?
You have to shop around for the lowest price for any of the medications as prices vary from one store to another for the same medication. Different medications, of course, have different prices.
With some sulfonylureas, generic versions can be bought. They are less expensive than products with brand-names and are generally reliable. A generic Metformin is available now.
To save costs, you can get your doctor to give a prescription for the biggest tablet strength that you can split into the dose you require. For instance, two tablets of 250-mg can cost more than a 500-mg tablet. A pill splitter, which can be bought at a pharmacy, can be used to divide a bigger tablet into quarters or halves to obtain the right dose. However, you must be aware that certain extended-release drugs lose their effectiveness if they are split into smaller pieces. So, consult your doctor or pharmacist when you wish to split a pill. (see Save Money On Your Medication)
Diabetes pills can assist to reduce sugar levels of most type 2 diabetics although they have their imperfections. Having your levels of blood sugar as near to the normal range as possible can lessen the risks or complications after years of diabetes and assist to have you feel better now.