Medicines and Products for Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes medicines have one job - keep sugar in the safe zone day after day - and modern ones do it well. The rules around them matter as much as the molecules.

The backbone: metformin

• The first medicine for type 2 diabetes for decades - lowers liver glucose output, does not cause weight gain, rarely causes low sugar by itself, and is safe for most (kidney function guides dosing)
• The commonest mistake: stopping it because "sugar is normal now" - normal sugar is the medicine working, not the disease leaving

The tablet family (type 2)

• Sulfonylureas (glimepiride and cousins): cheap, effective, but can drop sugar too low - know the low-sugar signs (sweating, shaking, confusion) and carry sugar or glucose
• Newer agents (DPP-4 inhibitors, SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 agonists): modern options with heart and kidney benefits in the right patients - the doctor matches them to the person
• Many people need combinations - rising tablet counts reflect the disease's course, not personal failure

Insulin: not a punishment

• Type 1: insulin is life itself, from day one, every day - there is no tablet alternative