Avandia and Sulfonylurea Medicines
Many patients with diabetes type 2 are prescribed sulfonylurea medicines as their first-line therapy. Sulfonylureas represent the oldest class of anti-diabetic agents. Effective as they remain, the problem with these medicines is that they do not directly treat insulin resistance. Therefore, over time they may lose their effectiveness.
The combination of Avandia with sulfonylureas is aimed at delivering a more powerful effect on the symptoms of diabetes mellitus over time in patients who appear to be inadequately controlled while on sulfonylureas alone. What is really important is that this combination therapy has proved to bring a sustained effect over a long period of time.
Like in combo therapy with Metformin, the combination of Avandia with sulfonylureas has different effects of their use. While sulfonylureas aim at normalizing glucose levels, they do not directly target insulin resistance, which is the underlying cause of diabetes type 2. This is where Avandia comes into play and compensates for this lack of effect.
When Avandia is used in combination with sulfonylurea medicines, its initial dose is 4 mg. Avandia significantly enhances blood sugar control when administered together with sulfonylurea medicines. However, when Avandia is combined with sulfonylureas, patients still may be at risk of a low blood sugar level. In case there are signs of hypoglycemia, the dose of sulfonylurea should be modified. It is advisable to speak to the diabetes specialist who is monitoring you to ask if you need to lower your sulfonylurea dosage.
No specific adverse effects of this combo therapy have been reported. Commonly reported adverse effects are those brought about by Avandia in monotherapy: headaches, upper respiratory tract infections, weight gain, slight anemia and, rare as it is, dose-related edema.
Sometimes the mechanism of triple action is applied, that is the combination of Avandia with sulfonylurea medicines plus Metformin. The triple combination therapy is a special disease management mechanism which is not suitable for everyone. Your treatment can and should be tailored to your individual blood sugar problems and patterns of its changing during the day. The most important thing about such combinations is that they extend the time during which any single medication can be used to achieve control and to manage the disease keeping it in the stage of compensation.