Most people are familiar with diabetes medications, such as metformin, glucobay or glyburide. These are drugs that work by helping your body make insulin or use the insulin better to reduce the level of blood sugar in your body. There are newer medicines for type 2 diabetes that are different because they do not work on insulin. This new class of medicine is called sodium-glucose transporters 2 inhibitors (SGLT2 inhibitors). The available drugs in this class of medicines include: - Canagliflozin (Invokana)
- Dapagliflozin (Forxiga)
- Empagliflozin (Jardiance)
These drugs work by helping your body excrete glucose (the sugar in your blood) through your urine. Your blood sugar level will go down once the glucose leaves your body through your urine. An extra benefit of these medications is that they have shown to help with weight loss as well.
In terms of common side effects, elderly people with kidney disease and people who are taking diuretics can become at risk of dehydration. Therefore, it is important to let your doctor know if you are taking diuretics or if you have kidney disease. Furthermore, because these medications cause glucose to pass through the urinary tract to be excreted in urine, there is a higher risk for yeast infection in the genital area for both male and female patients. Some patients may also feel the urge to urinate more often.
There are some less common but serious side effects, such as the risk of developing ketoacidosis, risk of kidney problems and bone fractures. Make sure you talk to your doctor and pharmacist to better understand the risks and benefits of taking these medications for type 2 diabetes.
No comments:
Post a Comment