| Abstract: |
Approximately 90 percent of people with diabetes require oral glucose-lowering medications, insulin injections, or both, to reach blood glucose goals. This lengthy brochure is designed to provide in quick reference format an overview of the oral medications used to manage diabetes mellitus. In addition to oral medications and insulin, the drug therapies for a person with diabetes often include other medications to treat the associated conditions or complications of diabetes. The drugs are considered in separate categories: oral glucose-lowering agents, insulins available in the United States, major classes of agents used to treat high blood pressure, and lipid-lowering therapies. Other charts cover a comparison of human insulins and analogs, guidelines for mixing insulin or prefilling syringes, the use of glucagons injection for severe hypoglycemia, drug-food interactions of diabetes medications, adverse effects of drugs on body systems, drug-disease and drug-drug interactions, and drug therapies for the treatment of dyslipidemia in people with diabetes. The brochure emphasizes that health care professionals must be knowledgeable of the total range of therapies that are available for comprehensive diabetes care, not just the therapies that are used for glycemic control. 2 figures. 6 tables. 1 reference. |