Tablets for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetes: a review of drugs

Tablets for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetes are characterized by different effects on the human body. Some contribute to increased production of insulin, others provide an increase in the sensitivity of soft tissues to it, and third drugs completely reduce the absorption of carbohydrates in the intestine.

Patients can choose blood sugar lowering medications on the advice of their healthcare provider. The doctor will select the optimal treatment option in a particular clinical picture, taking into account the individual characteristics of the body.

The choice of a drug requires an adequate approach to this process, since the concentration of sugar in the blood and the patient’s well-being depend on the drug. As a rule, tablets are prescribed even when other measures have not given the desired therapeutic effect.

So, you need to consider what are the best pills for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetes? Which drug is the best, and is characterized by maximum effectiveness, a minimum of contraindications and side effects?

Biguanide drugs: features, a brief overview

All drugs in this group include the main active ingredient – metformin. This component provides a decrease in insulin resistance in patients who have a history of type 2 diabetes.

Against the background of the fact that the drug helps to increase the sensitivity of soft tissues to the hormone that is produced by the pancreas, the production of this hormone does not increase.

Drugs that lower blood sugar in diabetics, getting inside the body, provide improved passage of sugar through the cell membrane, smooth muscle of the muscles, coronary artery.

In diabetes mellitus, the following drugs may be recommended, which belong to the described group:

  • Glucophage.
  • Gliformin.
  • Siofor.
  • Metfogamma.
  • Glucophage Long.

The peculiarity of the substance metformin is that it acts effectively, quickly lowers blood sugar, while its stabilization is observed at the required level.

The drug Glucophage Long is characterized by a prolonged action, it is enough to take tablets once during an evening meal. The medicine is taken continuously for a long period of time.

Dosage is recommended individually. As a rule, the standard dose does not exceed 500 mg (one tablet). Over time, the doctor may increase the dose of Glucofage, and prescribe two to three tablets if a pronounced therapeutic effect is not observed.

Drugs for lowering blood sugar that belong to this group have common side effects: disruption of the digestive tract, decreased appetite, decreased cravings for sweets (for many diabetics, this is far from a minus).

Sulfonylureas

As already mentioned above, doctors try to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus first with non-drug methods, trying to maximally delay the time when there is a vital need to take medicines.

If a low-carb diet, optimal physical activity and other methods designed to lower the concentration of glucose in the blood do not help, then the doctor prescribes medications to reduce it.

Sulfonylurea is a medicinal substance with a sugar-lowering effect, and it is made from sulfamide. This category of drugs provides active stimulation of the beta cells of the gland, which are responsible for the full production of the hormone.

The most effective sugar-lowering tablets related to sulfonylurea derivatives:

  1. Tolinase.
  2. Amaril.
  3. Betanase

Blood sugar in diabetes tends to vary significantly, and sometimes can reach the limit values ​​of glucose concentration in the body. Medications are needed in order to constantly maintain the required glucose level over an extended period of time.

Sulfonylurea tablets are prescribed if the patient has a normal weight or there are extra pounds, obesity. In addition, their method is justified when a low-carb diet for diabetics does not provide the desired therapeutic effect.  

It should be noted that if the dosage of the drug is incorrectly selected, this can lead to an extremely sharp decrease in blood sugar below the lower limit.

Derivatives of sulfonylureas are not prescribed during gestation, breastfeeding, with individual intolerance, acute pathologies of the kidneys or liver.

Incretinomimetics and the mechanism of action of drugs

In a number of situations, the treatment of a chronic type II sugar disease is recommended through incretins. The incretins are gastrointestinal hormones produced in a healthy human body in response to food intake. And they are necessary to activate the production of the hormone insulin.

It should be noted that this category of drugs begins to act effectively only if the patient has a blood sugar of more than 5.5 units. When normalization of sugar is detected, the tablets do not have any therapeutic effect.

This particular effect of the drugs prevents the symptoms of a hypoglycemic condition. In drugs, incretins in their pure form are not found, but combined medicines based on metformin and sitagliptin are produced:

  • Bagomet.
  • Metformin Richter.
  • Janumet.

The price of the drugs presented is significantly different, and in the vast majority of cases it depends on the manufacturers. The acquisition of a foreign medicine will cost more than 1000 rubles.

However, if you purchase domestic drugs, then financial investments will be minimal. For example, Bagomet is about 300 rubles, and Metformin-Richter will cost 270 rubles.

Features of the use of tablets to reduce sugar

Initially, before recommending certain pills to reduce blood sugar in a patient, the doctor examines the patient’s history, medical history and this clinical picture.

During the appointment of the drug, the existing blood sugar indicator is also of no small importance. The dosage of the drug and the frequency of their use are always recommended individually.

You can’t replace one remedy on your own with another drug, even if the annotation or “friends” say that they are almost the same. It is forbidden to increase / decrease the dose, change the frequency of use.

As a rule, if the patient has not previously taken tablets for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, the doctor selects a drug related to sulfonylurea derivatives or biguanides. When the pills “provide a certain result,” but a decrease in their effectiveness is already observed, the doctor prescribes an additional remedy.

For example, it is permissible to combine:

  1. Preparations of the biguanide category and sulfonylurea derivatives.
  2. Two agents belonging to the sulfonylurea group.
  3. Sulfonylureas and incretins.

Such combinations allow you to maintain sugar at the required level for another specific period of time. When the above combinations stop working, the only treatment option is insulin therapy. 

Unfortunately, even after the normalization of sugar in the blood through the introduction of insulin, it will not be possible to refuse it. Practice shows that if a hormone of type 2 diabetes was prescribed, then in 99% of cases it is a lifelong therapy.

Diabetes is the control, control and, once again, control of your disease. Only following all the doctor’s recommendations will prevent possible complications of the pathology.

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