Effectiveness of Glipizide, Its Dosage, Side Effects

You should not make use of glipizide when your diabetes had advanced to diabetic ketoacidosis; consult your doctor for treatment with insulin.

Glipizide is used alongside diet, exercise, weight control programs and blood sugar test in complete treatment of diabetes. Altering any of these factors in your treatment can be adverse and can affect blood sugar level.

Glipizide stimulates insulin secretion from beta cells of the pancreas and thus lower blood sugar level. Glipizide does not work with people with type 1 diabetes because it depends on the presence of beta cells. Glipizide may also affect blood sugar level in other part of the body outside the pancreas. Glipizide is a drugs that is in the class known as sulfonylureas.

Glipizide is a medicine for effectively treating diabetes; it is taken orally and helps control blood sugar by helping pancreas to produce insulin.

Glipizide is used along with diet and exercise routine in treating type 2 diabetes.

• When used as a part of treating type 2 diabetes, glipizide has proven to be very effective.
• There is no serious effect on cholesterol levels.
• You should take Glipizide 30 minutes before meals to be effective.
• Glipizide is usually taken once a day, but some people experience better control taking it twice a day.
• You should talk to your doctor when you fall ill experiencing trauma, fever, cold, infection or surgery as this may affect blood sugar level.
• You should inform your doctor when you experience different feeling when taking Glipizide as the effectiveness may decrease in time, as the severity of diabetes increases or decreases effectiveness of the drug.
• You should stick to exercise routine, diet and conditions recommended by the doctor.
• Educate those around you, friends and family on the conditions and signs of hypoglycemic and what to do in such cases.
• Always talk to your doctor before taking any other medication as hypoglycemic effect o Glipizide may be triggered by other drugs.

The response and effectiveness of glipizide is excellent. Glipizide is more effective when taken 30minutes before meal as it will help release the insulin that occurs after meal. This occurs within 30 minutes of oral dosage of Glipizide even though it may take hours for much effective concentration to occur.

• The effectiveness of glipizide are dependent on food even though the reaction goes beyond the time of the meal. A single dosage will persist for 24 hours and the level of Glipizide in the blood are not detectable, it still function and work on the body.
• In some cases, patient react differently to Glipizide, while some fail to respond to initial treatment, as it is also effective for those who have failed to respond or cease to respond to other sulfonylureas.

Initial dose of glipizide is 5 milligrams (for immediate or sustain release) which is to be taken orally 30 minutes prior to breakfast.

Maintenance Dose of Glipizide: 2.5 to 30 milligrams for immediate release, to be taken orally in 1 or 2 doses divided and for sustain release 5 to 20mg taken orally, divided in 1 or 2 doses.

Initial dosage of glipizide is to be taken 2.5 to 5 milligrams orally once a day. The dosage may be increased on doctor order to 2.5 to 5 mg daily in 1 or 2 weeks.

Common side effects of glipizide include:

• Nausea
• Diarrhea and constipation
• Feeling of dizziness and drowsiness
• Skin infections, skin rash, and redness in skin are side effects of glipizide.

You should visit the doctor immediately you notice any sign of allergic reaction to Glipizide and they include swelling of face, nose and throat or difficulties in breathing. You should visit the doctor when you experience the following:

• Bruising or bleeding in the nose and gum. Lose of breath of feeling tired and rapid heartbeat.
• Nausea, experiencing pains in your stomach, excessive itching, dark urine and clay colored stool, Jaundice.
• Pale skin, feverish feeling and feeling confused.
• Severe headache, vomiting, sweating and feeling thirsty, feel like fainting.

Those that are between 18 and 60 years and are on no other medication, experience the following side effects of Glipizide:

• Nausea, diarrhea and gastrointestinal conditions gave been noted, mostly when dosage is high. You may experience some skin reaction, like transient skin and should not be continues when this persist. On some rare occasions, patient may experience blood disorder, liver disease and low level of sodium.
• May experience forms of drowsiness and dizziness, which will affect ability to drive or operate machineries.
• Cardiovascular diseases which can lead to death when compared with diet alone or with insulin, which is based on studies comparing the effect of tolbutamide which is another type of sulfonylureas.
• Hypoglycemia may occur severely and the elderly, those that are malnourished, debilitated and those with adrenal or pituitary disorder are the ones who are more at risk. This condition will likely occur during prolonged exercising, when sick or when alcohol is ingested and food intake is low or when this drug is used along with other medications that lower blood sugar.
• Glipizide is not effective for people with type 1 diabetes and treating severe hyperglycemic condition.
• The dosage of Glipizide should be monitored and adjust properly for people with kidney and liver disease as they may experience greater effects of hypoglycemic.
• Glipizide is not to be used by people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.
• Glipizide should not be used by pregnant women; insulin is preferable, as it may be excreted into breast milk.

Glipizide is very effective in treatment of type 2 diabetes in maintaining blood sugar level; however its effect wears off in time.