Description
ACTOS is a once-a-day prescription pill for type 2 diabetes that along with healthy eating and physical activity helps your body more effectively use its own natural insulin or the insulin you take. When your necessary efforts at healthy eating and physical activity alone do not control your blood glucose levels, ACTOS can be used by itself or in combination with certain other diabetes pills (sulfonylureas, metformin) or insulin to lower blood glucose.
ACTOS is a member of the type of oral diabetes agents called thiazolidinediones (THIGH-ah-ZO-li-deen-DYE-owns; TZDs). These medications help reduce insulin resistance, which has been identified as one of the major problems in type 2 diabetes. Some of the benefits of therapy with ACTOS are:
- It lowers blood glucose by helping your body use insulin more effectively.
- It is a convenient, once-a-day pill that can be taken anytime.
- It can be taken with or without food.
- It may have a good effect on HDL (good) cholesterol and blood fats (triglycerides) with no consistent changes in LDL (bad) cholesterol or total cholesterol.
- It has not been associated with stomach upset when used alone.
- It can be used alone or in combination with certain other diabetes medicines such as sulfonylureas, metformin, or insulin.
It can often begin working within 2 weeks, although it may take several weeks to see the full effect.
