Oral Diabetes Medications (cont.)
Louise Chang, MD
Dr. Chang completed her undergraduate degree at Stanford University and attended medical school at New York Medical College. She completed her internal medicine residency at Saint Vincent's Hospital in New York City, where she also served as a chief resident from 2001-2002. Dr. Chang is board-certified in internal medicine.
In this Article
- What are oral diabetes medications and how do they work?
- For what conditions are diabetes pills used?
- Are there differences among types of oral diabetes medications?
- What non-insulin injectable drugs are approved for diabetes?
- What are the side effects of the non-insulin diabetes medications?
- What are the drug interactions with non-insulin diabetes medications?
- What are the warnings and precautions for non-insulin diabetes medications?
- What are some examples of oral medications used for diabetes?
- Insulin Diabetes Medications
What are the drug interactions with non-insulin diabetes medications?
Many drugs can affect your blood sugar levels, affecting in turn how well your diabetes medication works. Make sure your doctor is aware of all other medications and supplements you are taking to ensure the proper dosing of your diabetes medication.
There is much overlap of medications that may interact with oral diabetes drugs. These include but are not limited to some:
- Heart medications
- Thyroid drugs
- Oral contraceptives
- Seizure medications
- Psychiatric medications
- Cholesterol medications
Digestive enzyme medications (such as amylase, pancreatin) may reduce the effectiveness of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors and should not be taken at the same time.
These drugs can cause potentially severe hypoglycemia when used with insulin and can delay absorption of some oral drugs given at the same time. They should not be used with other drugs affecting gastrointestinal motility or agents that work by affecting gut absorption of nutrients (such as alpha-glucosidase inhibitors).
Because Byetta may affect absorption of some drugs given orally, including antibiotics, those drugs should not be used within an hour of a Byetta injection. The drug may also interact with warfarin.
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