
Risk of hypoglycemia.Īccording to the American Diabetes Association "It's also worth noting that insulin is the only medicine we treat people with that's naturally occurring in the body," said Nathan.Ĭons: Requires an injection. Daily insulin injections help the body make up for the deficiency. The bodies of people with type 2 diabetes do not make enough insulin, the hormone needed to move blood sugar into the cells to be stored for future energy use. The medical center at the University of Maryland Medical provides this list of common sulfonylurea medications. Well tolerated by most patients.Ĭons: Risk of extremely low blood sugar ( hypoglycemia) and weight gain. "If your blood control isn't working with metformin alone, this combination is often the next line of defense." David Nathan, director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Sulfonylureas work by helping your pancreas to produce extra insulin, said Dr.
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The National Institutes of Health has a comprehensive list of what you need to know about metformin including, how it should be taken, the full list of potential side effects on its website. Well tolerated by most patients.Ĭons: Some patients experience gastrointestinal side effects when starting the drug. Pros: Safe and effective in lowering blood sugar without risk of hypoglycemia. The medication can be taken alone, but is often combined with other medications such as insulin more effective results. Metformin is an oral medication taken twice a day to slow the amount of glucose the liver produces. "It lowers the blood sugar without the risk of it going too low." David Kendall, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association.

"This is generally accepted as the initial medical therapy choice for patients with type 2 diabetes," explains Dr. Here's an explanation of the pros and cons of other treatments to lower blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes. Avandia use fell sharply after publication of the NEJM study, with sales down to about $1.2 billion in 2009. Avandia came to market in 1999 to treat type 2 diabetes, and sales of the drug exceeded $3 billion by 2006. Type 2 diabetes accounts for more than 90 percent of those cases, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. Nearly 24 million Americans, or about 8 percent of the U.S population, live with diabetes. However the panel was divided over removing the drug from market. The panel found Avandia does increase the risk of heart problems compared to other diabetes medications. In July, the FDA held hearings evaluating the drug's safety.

And the European Medicines Agency recommended that Avandia be taken off the market in Europe, a decision that must be ratified by the European Commission to go into effect.

Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration said access to the drug would be restricted to patients who cannot control their type 2 diabetes with other medications. It's a predicament many people taking Avandia have faced over the past few years. But Darden and his doctor decided to err on the side of caution and switch medications anyway. His doctor performed several cardiac tests and found Darden's heart was in good shape. "I had been tolerating the drug very well," said Darden, "but I had a family history of heart disease and I was also taking blood pressure medications." But he became concerned when he saw warnings linking the drug to a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack, following the 2007 release of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. (CNN) - Edward Darden started taking the diabetes drug Avandia in 2006 to help control his blood sugar and was doing just fine, he said.
