Most drugs used to treat diabetes, that are available on the market today seek to do it by reducing the level of glucose in the bloodstream. With the exceptions of insulin and exenatide as well as pramlinitde they are all taken orally and thus are commonly referred to as oral hypoglycemic agents.
Prescription for Drug Alternatives
You would be wrong to assume, however, that there is just a single type of drugs used to treat diabetes. In fact, there are quite a few classes to choose from and which one you need to use depends on the type of diabetes you have and also on your age as well as personal situation, and a few other factors as well.
For example, Insulin Is Ideal For Type 1 Diabetes. You could, for instance be suffering from Type 1 diabetes which is caused by the body not having enough amounts of insulin. In this case, you would need to have insulin injected into your body – or, if you prefer, you could take this diabetes drug through inhalation.
On the other hand, Type 2 diabetes means that the diabetics’ cells have become resistant to insulin. In this scenario, you would need to take diabetes drugs that can increase the ability of your cells to take insulin or which help create additional amounts of insulin to override the resistance.
There is more than one group of diabetes drugs and they are usually taken orally and which effectively combat Type 2 diabetes and can even are taken in combination. By taking insulin for your Type 2 diabetes, you will find that this diabetes drug can be taken in the different dosages provided the patient knows how to adjust the dose according to the readings of his or her blood glucose levels, which are generally, measured using a meter.
Of course, insulin is the most widely used and it can be taken subcutaneously through injecting it or by using an insulin pump, though there is also further research being conducted as to how else to administer it.
Sulfonylurea was among the first drugs of diabetes given as far as oral hypoglycemic medications were concerned. There have been eight different types of this diabetes drug marketed as pills throughout North America and it is a second generation drug that is widely used today being more effective than the earlier first-generation drugs. These drugs, aside from causing the patient to gain weight, wrack a lot less stress on the body.
Another popular kind of diabetes drug is alpha-glycosidase inhibitors which are really pills for diabetes and not real hypoglycemic agents due to the fact that they do not directly affect the secretion of insulin or sensitivity to it. They do however help reduce the speed at which starch is digested in small intestines and thus vastly slows down the entry of glucose into the bloodstream.