15 Essential Diabetes Drug Tips

Quick summary

Your parent with diabetes will probably be prescribed a number of different drugs. These suggestions will help him manage his medications.

1. Consider lifestyle changes. Diabetes pills work best when used in conjunction with a healthy diet, exercise, and (if necessary) weight loss. In fact, lifestyle changes may lower -- or eliminate -- the need for diabetes medications.

2. Know your parent's recommended blood glucose range. You'll know your parent's medications are working if his blood glucose readings fall within his recommended range. Find out from his main diabetes care provider how often your parent should check his blood sugar, and be sure he keeps a record of the results. Generally speaking, a blood sugar reading before meals of between 70 and 140 milligrams per deciliter is desirable.

3. Know when it's time to take action. Find out from your parent's diabetes doctor or educator how low or high his blood sugar can go before he needs to take action. For many people, blood sugar is too low below 70 mg/dL and too high above 240 mg/dL. Make sure you know the signs of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia and how to treat either condition.

4. Ask specific dosage questions. Ask your parent's doctor the following questions about his medications. Write the response down somewhere handy, like in your parent's medication notebook.

• When should my parent take his diabetes pills: before a meal, with a meal, or after a meal?
• How often should he take the medicine?
• Should he take the drugs at the same time every day?
• What should he do if he misses a dosage?
• What side effects may occur?
• What should we do if he experiences side effects?

5. Consider switching medications. Diabetes pills don't work for everyone. And sometimes they lose effectiveness after a few months -- or after many years. There's no clear-cut reason why this happens; often switching to another drug or trying oral combination therapy can help.

6. Tell your parent's doctor about all his medical conditions. Most older adults have other medical conditions in addition to diabetes, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Make sure your parent's main diabetes doctor is aware of all illnesses, chronic conditions, allergies, or surgeries, and work with his diabetes healthcare team to set treatment goals for his care that complement his overall healthcare.

7. Keep a current medication list. Older adults with diabetes are at an increased risk for drug side effects and drug interactions, especially as the number of medications increases. Make sure your parent keeps an up-to-date medication list and that he brings it with him every time he sees any healthcare provider. Include every prescription medication and over-the-counter drug, vitamin, and herbal or homeopathic treatment and their dosages.

For example, many common medications used to treat high blood pressure also raise blood glucose. Other drugs, either on their own or by interacting with oral diabetes drugs that lower blood glucose, can make diabetes remedies more potent and lower blood glucose to dangerously low levels.

If your parent starts on a new medication and suddenly finds his blood glucose is significantly higher or lower than usual, ask his doctor to check out the possibility that the new medication is causing the unwanted effect. Your parent should also check his blood sugar more often after starting on a new drug for this reason.

8. Stick with one pharmacy. If possible, use the same pharmacy for all your parent's prescriptions. By having a complete record of all his medications, his pharmacist can alert him, you, and his healthcare providers to possible interactions.

9. Report any side effects. Your parent should report any side effects from medications to his healthcare provider and include the following details: how long they lasted, how severe they were, and what medications and what dosages he was taking at the time.

10. Compare prices. Costs can vary widely for different drugs at different places. Call around to a few pharmacies to find the best price for the pills your parent takes, and ask his regular pharmacist to match a cheaper price if necessary. Some diabetes drugs are available in generic form; check with your parent's pharmacist.

11. Check tablet strength. Another money-saving tip: Ask your parent's doctor to prescribe the largest tablet strength suitable for the dose your parent needs. For example, a 500-milligram pill often costs much less than two 250-mg tablets. Use a pill splitter, available at drugstores, to cut the larger tablet into the appropriate dose (halves or quarters). One word of caution: Some extended-release drugs don't work properly if they're split, so always check with your parent's pharmacist or doctor before cutting tablets.

12. Keep track of daily medications. Use a pillbox or some other system to keep track of your parent's daily drugs. Ask his pharmacist for suggestions and see our article " How to Help Your Parent With Diabetes Follow Medication Recommendations".

13. Throw out old drugs. Get rid of (by recycling if possible) outdated medications and those left over from prescriptions your parent no longer uses. Old drugs may lose their potency or interact with pills he's currently taking.

14. Know that drug types and dosages may need to change over time. Diabetes is a progressive condition, meaning it continues to change over time because your parent's insulin production steadily declines. So the dose and type of pills he uses to control the disease may need to be adjusted to reflect these changes in his body.

15. If at first you don't succeed. No one diabetes drug is best for every person, and what works for one person may not work for another. Your parent's main diabetes doctor and others on his team can help your parent find diabetes medicines that best meet his overall treatment goals.