Antidiabetic Drugs OTC

Medications for Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic condition where the individual suffering from it has high amounts of blood glucose accumulation in his/her body. Diabetes occurs when the body loses the capability to use or make insulin as it is normally supposed to do. Insulin is the substance that helps the body use the dietary sugar intake.

Diabetes is of two different types, namely type-1 and type-2 diabetes. People suffering any of the two will require medications to support a normal blood sugar level. The type of medications used greatly depends on the type of diabetes the person has. To gain a detailed insight about the different drugs used for treating diabetes, read below.

Type-1 Diabetes: The medications used for type-1 diabetes are discussed below.

Insulin

This is the most common of all medications for treating type-1 diabetes. It is also used for treating type-2 diabetes. It comes in different forms and normally injected to the patient. The severity of insulin depletion will decide the type of insulin needed to be used.

Short-acting insulin: It includes regular insulin (Novolin and Humulin).

Intermediate-acting insulin: It includes insulin isophane (Novolin N, Humulin N).

Rapid-acting insulin: It includes insulin lispro (Humalog), insulin aspart (FlexPen, NovoLog), and insulin glulisine (Apidra).

Long-acting insulin: It includes insulin glargine (Toujeo, Lantus), insulin detemir (Levemir), and insulin degludec (Tresiba).

Combination insulin: It includes Ryzodeg, Humulin 70/30, NovoLog Mix 70/30, and Novolin 70/30.

Amylinomimetic drug

Drugs like Pramlintide fall into this category. They are injected to the patient before consuming meals. The time taken for emptying the stomach is delayed by this drug along with reduced secretion of glucagon. This in turn helps in lowering the level of blood sugar.

Type-2 Diabetes: The drugs used for treating type-2 diabetes are mostly oral in nature. Few are also available in the form of injections. Some may also require insulin.

Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors

These drugs help in breaking the table sugar and starchy foods consumed in the diet. Thus, it lowers the blood sugar level in the process. If taken before meals, it shows better results. Common examples would be miglitol (Glyset) and acarbose (Precose).

Biguanides

They help in decreasing the amount of sugar made by the liver. Along with that it reduces the function of the intestines to absorb more sugar, and helps muscles in absorbing more amount of sugar. The most commonly used drug is metformin. At times, other drugs are combined with metformin to treat type-2 diabetes. Some of the drugs included in this category include metformin-glipizide, metformin-alogliptin (Kazano), metformin-repaglinide (PrandiMet), and metformin-linagliptin (Jentadueto).

DPP-4 inhibitors

This category lets the patient’s body make more insulin. It reduces blood sugar, but does not cause low blood sugar or hypoglycaemia. Some of the drugs are sitagliptin (Januvia), linagliptin (Tradjenta), alogliptin (Nesina), and saxagliptin (Onglyza).

Meglitinides

These drugs will help the body release more insulin. But, certain evidences show that it can reduce the blood sugar a little too much. Hence, these drugs aren’t meant for everyone. Some examples would include repaglinide-metformin (Prandimet), nateglinide (Starlix), and repaglinide (Prandin).

There are many medications available, but only a doctor can advise a patient regarding which medication will suit best.

Most common warning signs of diabetes

Diabetes is such a common disease in our society that almost every one of us has a relative who is facing this menacing problem. The good news about this type of disease is that if you succeed your lifestyle accordingly, this disease will not affect your health at all. There are a number of people who have changed their lives in such a way that they do not even feel that they have got diabetes at all. All that is needed is to change your life style. In this article, I shall tell you some of the symptoms of diabetes that are commonly faced by people before they come to know that they have got this disease. These symptoms can help you in identifying this disease in earlier stage and you can start cure sooner.

Sudden increase in thirst

Diabetes patients are often seen reporting problems like feeling thirst all the time no matter how much they drink water. In diabetes, blood start diffusing more amount of water from your body and this is what cause you to feel thirst all the time. If you are one of those people who have to drink water every half hour for quenching their thirst then it is the best time you see a doctor. This is one of the biggest symptoms of diabetes and consulting a doctor is necessary.

Frequent urination

This is another common symptom of diabetes and can easily be identified as well. Actually, as already told, in diabetes, the person suffering feels unquenchable thirst and after that going to rest room again and again for urinating is a clear indication of the fact that body is not being hydrated properly. This shows that most of the water is going wasted and it is not a good thing at all. Therefore, if you feel that the two above symptoms are present to some extent in you then you should consider visiting a doctor just to be on safe side.

Getting tired sooner

As already told, diabetes is a disease in which the glucose level of a body is always varying and for controlling it we have to induce some amount of insulin in our body. If we do not do that then varying level of glucose will cause us to feel tiredness after small amount of work. This is sometimes the reason that some companies do not prefer employees having diabetes problem to work on hectic tasks.

Numbness in different body parts

Every one of us feels numbness in our hands or feet when we remain stagnant in one position for more than usual. This is normal. However, if you are feeling it more than usual or according to you the numbness is taking abnormally longer to go away then this can be another symptom of diabetes as well. In diabetes, suddenly weight loss can also sometimes occur. These are some of the symptoms of diabetes which can help us in identifying this problem in ourselves sooner than we could have.