Oral Diabetes Medications – Part 2

Part 2 of 3 parts

D-Phenylalanine Derivative There is only one drug in this class, Starlix or nateglinede.

This medication helps your body make more insulin for a short period of time right after meals. The insulin helps keep your blood glucose from going too high after you eat.

The standard for this medication is the same. Do no take this medication if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. Do not take this medication if you have liver disease.


The potential side effects include low blood glucose or hypoglycemia, weight gain, and dizziness.


DPP-4 Inhibitor: Acronym for Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitor I will cover this class in a separate blog.

Meglitinide This has one drug in its class, Prandin or repaglinide.

This is the medication needed to replace Sulfonylureas if you are allergic to sulfa. This medication is used to make your pancreas produce more insulin for a short period following meals.

You should not take this medication (Prandin) and need to talk to your doctor if you are pregnant, planning to get pregnant, or breastfeeding, or you have liver disease. The side effects of Prandin include low blood glucose (hypoglycemia), weight gain, upset stomach, and back pain or a headache.

Sulfonylurea This is a multi-drug class and can be somewhat confusing as there are two generic only medications plus the generic names apply to several brand names. The medications are Amaryl or glimepiride, DiaBeta or glyburide, Diabinese or chlorpamide, Glucotrol or glipizide, Glucogtrol XL or glipizide long acting, Glynase or glyburide, and Micronase or glyburide. The two generic only are tolazamide and tolbutamide.

These medications work on your pancreas to produce more insulin. When they overwork the pancreas, you will not be able to produce your own insulin.

Who should not take Sulfonylureas - talk with your doctor about whether to take this type of pill if you are allergic to sulfa drugs and you are pregnant, planning to get pregnant, or breastfeeding.

This class has the most numerous medications and causes hypoglycemia by itself or in combination with other medications. These pills are known to cause upset stomach, skin rash, and weight gain.

Thiazolidinedione There are two drugs is this class, Actos or pioglitazine and Avandia or rosiglitazone.


I do not want to discuss this class as one medication has been pulled from the market and the other should be. Actos has been shown to cause bladder cancer and now another study shows it raises diabetic macular edema. Read this link for all the warnings and the Food and Drug Administration advice. This is all I will say on this class.


I will cover the newest class SGLT2 Inhibitor in a separate blog.