1. Some Diabetics Need Insulin
There are many different types of medication to treat diabetes. Insulin is a hormone that islet cells in our pancreas produce naturally. In a person with type 1 diabetes, these cells stop making insulin. A person with type 2 diabetes may also stop making enough insulin to meet their needs, or the pancreas might be secreting insulin at the wrong time. These people need to take injections of insulin. They can take insulin that comes from cows or pigs, or human insulin made in a laboratory. Human insulin is preferable because it is less likely to cause an allergic reaction. You must inject insulin under the skin. One pharmaceutical company developed an inhaled form of insulin, but experts removed it from the market because it could lead to a higher rate of lung cancer.
2. Sulfonylureas are Used by Many
A sulfonylurea is an oral diabetes medication that helps your body make more insulin. There are several types of sulfonylureas commonly prescribed. Some of the brand names of sulfonylureas include DiaBeta, Glynase, Micronase and Diabinese.
3. Oral Medications Work in Different Ways
Glucophage, or metformin, is a medication that works in two ways. First, it helps your body to absorb less sugar from the food you eat, so that you need less insulin. It also helps your body to use the insulin it produces more effectively. One of the advantages of metformin is that it rarely causes a person's blood sugar to become too low. Another category of oral diabetes medication is the meglitinides. You should take this class of drugs--whose names include Starlix (nateglinide) and Prandin (repaglinide)--with meals and help your body to produce more insulin.
4. Dual Action in Diabetes
Thiazolidinediones are another class of drugs for diabetes that work in two ways: by making your body more sensitive to the insulin it already produces and by helping your body to make less sugar. Actos (pioglitazone) and Avandia (rosiglitazone) are both thiazolidinediones.
5. Some Products are Two-in-One
Precose (acarbose) and Glyset (miglitol) are alpha-glucosidase inhibitors taken with every meal to help the body to absorb sugar more slowly. Because they work in different ways to treat diabetes, doctors prescribe many of these medications together, especially for people whose diabetes is not well controlled on one medication. For example, Metaglip is a product that combines glipizide and metformin.
