How do I know if my diabetes medicines are working?
Learn to test your blood glucose. Ask your doctor or diabetes teacher about the best testing tools for you and how often to test. After you test your blood glucose, write down your blood glucose test results. Then ask your doctor or diabetes teacher if your diabetes medicines are working. A good blood glucose reading before meals is between 70 and 140 mg/dL.
Ask your doctor or diabetes teacher about how low or how high your blood glucose should get before you take action. For many people, blood glucose is too low below 70 mg/dL and too high above 240 mg/dL.
One other number to know is the result of a blood test your doctor does called the A1C. It shows your blood glucose control during the past 2 to 3 months. For most people, the target for A1C is less than 7 percent.
Might I take more than one diabetes medicine at a time-
Yes. Your doctor may ask you to take more than one diabetes medicine at a time. Some diabetes medicines that lower blood glucose work well together. Here are examples:
TwoDiabetes Pills
If one type of pill alone does not control your blood glucose, then your doctor might ask you to take two kinds of pills. You may take two separate pills or one pill that combines two medicines. Each type of pill has its own way of acting to lower blood glucose. Here are pills used together:
- a sulfonylurea and metformin
- a sulfonylurea and acarbose
- metformin and acarbose
- repaglinide and metformin
- nateglinide and metformin
- pioglitazone and a sulfonylurea
- pioglitazone and metformin
- rosiglitazone and metformin
- rosiglitazone and a sulfonylurea
Diabetes Pills and Insulin
Your doctor might ask you to take insulin and one of these diabetes pills:
- a sulfonylurea
- metformin
- pioglitazone
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