Aunt Wang is 56 years old and suffers from diabetes. She usually takes metformin regularly. She recently tested her high blood sugar after meals. The doctor prescribed a hypoglycemic drug called acarbose. After eating for a few days, the blood sugar did not drop significantly after the meal, so Aunt Wang went to the hospital medication center for consultation. Upon questioning, it was found that Aunt Wang took acarbose half an hour before a meal. This usage led to a decrease in its efficacy.
Acarbose is currently a more commonly used oral hypoglycemic agent that can lower postprandial blood sugar. There is an enzyme in the human intestine called α-glucosidase, which can convert disaccharides or polysaccharides in food into glucose under normal circumstances. The glucose is absorbed into the blood in the intestine, and blood sugar will rise. Acarbose mainly inhibits α-glucosidase, slows down the conversion and absorption of glucose, and achieves the purpose of reducing postprandial blood sugar. When using this drug, pay attention to the following 5 points:
1. Acarbose needs to be eaten with a meal. Acarbose needs to act before eating and the disaccharides and polysaccharides in the food are converted into glucose for absorption. Eating early or late will affect the efficacy. Acarbose will not be absorbed by the intestines, and its action time is relatively short, so it needs to be swallowed as a whole immediately before meals, or chewed together with the first few mouthfuls of food, and mixed with food to have a better effect. . Food can also cover up the unique taste of acarbose, and taking it with food can reduce discomfort.
2. Diet structure will affect the efficacy of acarbose. Acarbose affects disaccharides and polysaccharides, but has no effect on monosaccharides such as glucose and fructose. Disaccharides and polysaccharides are mainly found in foods containing starch, sucrose, maltose, etc. Therefore, for patients who do not eat staple foods but only vegetables and meat, acarbose cannot play a hypoglycemic effect. In other words, if you don’t eat staple food, you don’t need to take acarbose.
3. Some drugs will affect the efficacy of acarbose. During the medication period, avoid taking cholestamide, intestinal adsorbent montmorillonite powder, digestive enzyme preparation compound digestive enzyme capsules and other drugs at the same time.
4. Some people are not suitable for taking acarbose. Because taking this medicine will increase the glycolysis of carbohydrates in the colon, sucrose or foods containing sucrose often cause flatulence and even diarrhea. Patients with chronic gastrointestinal disorders with obvious digestion and absorption disorders or flatulence should not take this product. If persistent abdominal pain or vomiting occurs, stop the medication in time and go to the hospital for treatment.
5. Acarbose generally does not cause hypoglycemia, but the combined use of other hypoglycemic drugs may cause hypoglycemia. If symptoms such as palpitation and sweating occur after medication, glucose should be taken in time to relieve symptoms of hypoglycemia. It should be noted that some sugary foods, such as sugar, starch, etc., have no obvious alleviating effect on hypoglycemia caused by acarbose.
