Diabetes mellitus 2 characterized by "insulin resistance" as body cells do not respond appropriately when insulin is present thus it leads to a more complex problem than diabetes type 1. This disorder is characterized by hyperglycemia and associated with microvascular, macrovascular and neuropathic complications but unlike type 1, it is easier to treat, especially in the first years when insulin is still produces and also because patients are not absolutely dependent upon insulin for life. Among with the diet, medications for diabetes are also an important part of the treatment plan and choosing them depends on the blood glucose level, the complications and the symptoms of the patient.

Sometimes, because they retain the ability to secrete some endogenous insulin, patients with diabetes mellitus 2 are considered to require insulin but not to depend on insulin. Besides insulin, there are other medications for diabetes such as two injectable drugs- pramlintide and exenatide- which are usually used for people who do not achieve their target A1C levels using insulin, metformin, sulfonylurea, or a combination of metformin and sulfonylurea. Pramlintide injections taken with meals improve the A1C levels without causing increased hypoglycemia or weight gain while Exenatide works to lower blood glucose levels mainly by increasing the insulin secretion. It is also injected with meals and as well as pramlintide, it also causes nausea which tends to improve over time and modest weight loss.

Although in the case of diabetes mellitus 2 the control blood glucose level can be achieved through an appropriate diet, weight loss and exercises, sometimes this is not enough and the patient needs certain medications for diabetes in order to bring blood glucose levels down near the normal range. In fact, only people with diabetes mellitus 2 can use pills to manage their disease but unfortunately, they work only if they developed diabetes recently and they have a very poor need of insulin to keep the blood glucose levels near normal. These pills can bring blood glucose levels near normal but sometimes they stop working after several months or years and unfortunately, the reasons remain unknown and moreover, they are not recommended for pregnant women. These types of medications for diabetes can interact with other medications thus a patient should inform his doctor about all the drugs that he is taking. For instance, in the case of diabetes mellitus 2, any sulfonylurea or meglitinide can cause hypoglycemia while metformin or the glitazones can cause this only when they are combined with insulin shots or insulin stimulators. Acarbose or meglitol are quite safe as long as they are not combined with other medications for diabetes.

As you can see when it comes to diabetes mellitus 2, there are many options in terms of drugs but your doctor is the only authorized to prescribe you medications for diabetes. It may prescribe you two or three types of pills or even pills and insulin, but everything depends on your blood sugar levels and the way you can keep them nearly normal. Most of the time it takes a long period until you find the exact combination that can keep your blood glucose levels nearly normal because everyone has different targets and reactions to specific medications.