The list of diabetic drug is painstakingly long and confusing. The aim of the video is to create awareness of one of the most common drug used in diabetes, Metformin. Knowing the drug and how it works, will help to understand Type 2 diabetes more and will help you discussing with your doctor about the treatment options.
Another video on type 2 diabetes before you jump into any conclusions thinking oh this is another video about diet and exercise and i have heard enough i’d like you to think over a couple of points have you ever wondered the medications that you are having for type 2 diabetes how does it work what are the side effects how long will it work and when to speak to
Your doctor about changing your medications in this video i am going to cover these points for metformin one of the most common medicine that is prescribed for type 2 diabetes the purpose of this video is being informative about metformin so that you can have a discussion with your doctor about your treatment options for type 2 diabetes in my earlier videos i
Spoke about whether type 2 diabetes is curable or not and the most common myths and facts of type 2 diabetes if you are interested please have a look the links are in the description box again a brief introduction of myself i am dr pranita misha i have a bachelor degree in medicine and a master’s degree in health informatics i work as a subject matter expert for
A healthcare software company in my free time i like to read investigate and gather information i have a special interest in lifestyle related so let’s talk about metformin how does it work metformin was first found to decrease blood glucose level in 1920 but the actual effects were established in 1957 in various studies and is now widely used as an anti-diabetic
Drug metformin mainly works by increasing effects of insulin insulin is a hormone that is produced in our body which helps moving glucose from blood to body cells no matter what we eat or drink our liver converts the food to glucose and our body cells use the glucose to generate energy under normal circumstances because of our tightly regulated insulin secretion
The glucose level in the blood stays normal however in type 2 diabetes because of constant high blood glucose level insulin doesn’t work properly glucose by nature draws water and increases urination high concentration of glucose in our blood vessels draws more and more water from our body cells and that’s why we feel more thirsty and the frequency of urination
Is increased in diabetes when we lose water from our body cells because of high blood sugar our body cells either die prematurely or cannot work properly hence constant high blood sugar level has a detrimental effect on all of our body organs metformin increases our body cells sensitivity to insulin so glucose can go inside the cells and blood glucose level stays
Low apart from increasing sensitivity to insulin metformin also suppresses glucose generation in liver so that less glucose can be released to our blood vessels by the liver so what do we understand when we didn’t have type 2 diabetes our body used to keep our blood glucose level normal now in type 2 diabetes when we are prescribed metformin metformin helps us to
Do this but at the cost of what let’s understand the side effects of metformin since metformin suppresses the normal metabolism process of liver the side effect of that is increased lactic acid production to keep our body to work properly our body needs to keep a right acid-base balance lactic acidosis can be life-threatening hence metformin is usually not advised
To those who have existing liver heart or kidney conditions it can make them more ill so if you have any existing liver kidney or heart conditions and you are prescribed metformin please have a discussion with your doctor your doctor may run some regular blood tests in order to test your liver kidney functions and cardiac conditions also to keep the blood glucose
Level within normal range right dose of metformin is absolutely absolutely crucial another side effect of this drug is nausea and diarrhea usually it takes some time for glucose to stabilize after starting of metformin if these side effects like nausea and diarrhea do not settle after a while please have a war with the dog so let’s now come to the point when to
Speak to your doctor about changing medication since type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease and when it is poorly controlled through diet and exercise even though you are on metformin metformin alone cannot help to lower the blood sugar level so how to know when is the time to talk to your doctor so check your blood sugar if your blood sugar is consistently
High for few days with medication then it is time to either increase the dose of metformin or add another type to diabetes medication for this you need to talk to your doctor so what we understand from this video metformin does not cure diabetes it alters our normal body function and it gives a temporary fix to lower the blood sugar level in addition we need
To consider the side effects when we are taking this drug also we will need more medications if we are putting more glucose into our body through our diet so it will be really blessing to our body organs if we are cautious about what we include in our diet and if we can do regular exercises the advantage of regular exercise is that it will burn the sugar that is
Produced in our body so that it will not go and damage our body in this video i spoke about metformin how it works its side effects and when to change medications in my next video i will be exploring another common medication prescribed in type 2 diabetes if you like my video please give it a like and subscribe and please do take care of your health and thank you so much for watching
Transcribed from video
Metformin in Type 2 diabetes: What I should have known. By Pranita’s walk of life
