Here Are the Most Common Diabetes Medicines

Introduction to Common Medicines for Diabetes 

Diabetes is a long-term illness that alters your body's ability to metabolize glucose, or blood sugar. It can cause major health issues like heart disease, renal damage, neurological damage, and more if left untreated. Thankfully, there are a number of drugs that can be used to properly manage diabetes. These drugs are administered depending on the patient's health, the kind of diabetes they have, and how their body reacts to diabetes medicine treatment. They all function in different ways to manage blood sugar levels.

This blog offers a summary of the most popular diabetes drugs, emphasizing their uses, varieties, and possible drawbacks.

Types of Diabetes

Understanding the many forms of diabetes is crucial before beginning diabetes tablets, as each kind has a particular course of diabetes medicine treatment:

• Type 1 Diabetes: An autoimmune disease in which the body's defenses target the pancreatic cells that produce insulin. Insulin diabetes medicine treatment is necessary for people with type 1 diabetes to survive.
• Type 2 Diabetes: Diabetes type 2 is a disorder in which the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin or in which the body grows resistant to insulin. It is the most prevalent kind of diabetes and is treatable with dietary adjustments, oral drugs, and occasionally insulin.
• Gestational Diabetes: Pregnancy causes the development of gestational diabetes, which typically disappears after delivery. It does, however, raise the chance of type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Pre-diabetes: Blood sugar levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be categorized as type 2 diabetes is known as pre-diabetes. Diabetes tablets and lifestyle modifications can stop the development of diabetes mellitus.

What Are Different Types of Insulin Therapy for Diabetes?

What is the best treatment for diabetes? The pancreas secretes the hormone insulin, which enables cells to take up glucose from the blood. Insulin therapy is necessary for people with type 1 diabetes and some people with type 2 diabetes to control their blood sugar levels. Insulin pumps or injections are the two ways that insulin diabetes medicine treatment is delivered. Different insulin kinds can be distinguished based on how soon they begin to act and how long their effects remain. These include:

• Rapid-Acting Insulin: Starts working in 15 minutes and lasts for 2–4 hours. Insulin aspart (NovoLog) and insulin lispro (Humalog) are two examples.
• Short-Acting Insulin: It takes 30 minutes to begin acting and lasts for three to six hours. A popular form of insulin is regular insulin (Humulin R, Novolin R).
• Intermediate-Acting Insulin: It begins to function in 2-4 hours and lasts for up to 18 hours. One such is NPH insulin (Humulin N, Novolin N).
• Long-Acting Insulin: Starts to function after a few hours and keeps going strong for at least twenty-four. Insulin detemir (Levemir) and insulin glargine (Lantus) are two examples.
• Ultra-Long-Acting Insulin: This type of insulin can be taken once daily and lasts for more than 24 hours. Tresiba, or insulin degludec, is a commonly used diabetes treatment.

Side Effects of Insulin Therapy:

• Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia
• Gaining weight
• Reactions at the injection spot
• Lipodystrophy, or modifications to the distribution of fat at injection sites

What Is The Most Common Diabetes Medication? Oral Diabetes Medications

What are the common uses of antidiabetic drugs? For people with type 2 diabetes, oral medications are often the first line of diabetes medicine treatment. These diabetes tablets help control blood sugar levels through various mechanisms:

1. Metformin: 

What is the first line of medication for diabetes? The most commonly prescribed oral diabetes medication, metformin works by reducing the liver’s glucose production and improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin. It is often the first diabetes medication prescribed for type 2 diabetes. Metformin is available under brand names such as Glucophage, Glumetza, and Fortamet.

Side Effects:

• Gastrointestinal issues (nausea, diarrhea)
• Vitamin B12 deficiency with long-term use
• Lactic acidosis (rare but serious)

2. Sulfonylureas: 

These diabetes tablets encourage the pancreas to make more insulin. Glipizide (Glucotrol), glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase), and glimepiride (Amaryl) are examples of sulfonylureas that are often used.

Side Effects:

• Low blood sugar
• Gaining weight
• Skin reactions

3. Meglitinides: 

Meglitinides function more swiftly than sulfonylureas, although they still promote the synthesis of insulin. Examples are nateglinide (Starlix) and repaglinide (Prandin).

Side Effects:

• Hypoglycemia
• Gaining weight (LESS than sulfonylureas) 

4. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs): 

These drugs work on muscle and fat cells to increase insulin sensitivity. Two TZDs that are often utilized are rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (Actos).

Side Effects:

• Gaining weight
• Retention of fluid and edema
• Elevated chance of cardiac failure
• Fractures of the bones

5. DPP-4 Inhibitors: 

In the liver, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors aid in both increasing and decreasing the synthesis of insulin and glucose. Saxagliptin (Onglyza), linagliptin (Tradjenta), and sitagliptin (Januvia) are a few examples.

Side Effects:

• Infections of the respiratory system
• Joint discomfort
• Pancreatitis (rare)

6. SGLT2 Inhibitors: 

These drugs function by stopping the kidneys from reabsorbing glucose, which causes it to be excreted in the urine. Canagliflozin (Invokana), dapagliflozin (Farxiga), and empagliflozin (Jardiance) are a few examples.

Side Effects:

• Infections of the urinary tract
• Yeast infections in the genitalia
• Dehydration
• Elevated risk of amputation (due to some medications, such as canagliflozin)

7. Alpha-Glucosidase Inhibitors: 

These diabetes tablets reduce the pace at which carbohydrates are absorbed in the intestines, hence averting blood sugar surges. Examples are miglitol (Glyset) and acarbose (Precose).

Side Effects:

• Digestive problems (diarrhea, gas)
• Discomfort in the abdomen

Injectable Non-Insulin Medications For Diabetes

Besides insulin, injectable medications for diabetes are available to assist control diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes:

1. GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: 

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists decrease hunger, delay stomach emptying, and increase insulin secretion. Examples are semaglutide (Ozempic), liraglutide (Victoza), and exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon).

Side Effects:

• Nausea 
• Throwing up
• Pancreatitis (infrequent)
• Thyroid cancers (in research on animals)

2. Amylin Analogues: 

An injection of pranlintide, also known as Symlin, is given before to meals. It increases satiety, inhibits glucagon secretion, and slows down stomach emptying.

Side Effects:

• Nausea
• Hypoglycemia (particularly with insulin use)
• Reactions at the injection spot

Combination Medications For Diabetes

Combination formulations of several diabetes drugs are available, which helps patients take fewer pills overall. Metformin is frequently combined with drugs from another family, such as SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP-4 inhibitors, or sulfonylureas, in these combinations medications for diabetes. Among the instances are:

• Janumet (sitagliptin/metformin) 
• Invokamet (canagliflozin/metformin) 
• Glucovance (glyburide/metformin)

How to Choose the Right Medication for Diabetes?

The selection of an appropriate diabetic medicine is contingent upon several criteria, such as:

• Type of Diabetes: Type 1 diabetes requires insulin to be administered; type 2 diabetes is typically controlled with oral diabetes medication and lifestyle modifications.
• Blood Sugar Levels: Diabetes tablets are selected according to how well their blood sugar-controlling properties work.
• Side Effects: It is important to take into account any possible side effects of any drug, particularly for individuals who also have other medical issues.
• Patient Preferences: Some patients could favor injectable drugs over oral ones, or the other way around.
• Cost: Selecting the appropriate course of diabetes medicine treatment may also depend on how affordable prescription drugs are.

Related: Managing Diabetes in the Workplace

A comprehensive strategy that includes lifestyle modifications, consistent monitoring, and taking prescription drugs as directed is needed to effectively manage diabetes. Patients and healthcare professionals can make educated diabetes medicine treatment decisions if they have a thorough understanding of the various diabetes drugs and how they function. To determine the safest and most efficient drug schedule that is customized to each patient's needs, close collaboration with a healthcare team is necessary.

The options for managing diabetes will probably increase as research and drug development progress, providing even more individualized and efficient therapies.