Details

Tolbutamide is an oral diabetes medicine that helps control blood sugar levels. This medication helps your pancreas produce insulin. Tolbutamide is used together with diet and exercise to treat type 2 diabetes. Other diabetes medicines are sometimes used in combination with tolbutamide if needed. Tolbutamide should not be used by itself to treat type 1 diabetes. You should not use this medicine if you are allergic to tolbutamide, or if you are in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis. To make sure tolbutamide is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have liver disease kidney disease a disorder of your pituitary or adrenal glands an enzyme deficiency called glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenise deficiency (G6PD) a history of heart disease or if you are malnourished.

Typical Uses

Tolbutamide is used with a proper diet and exercise program to control high blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. It may also be used with other diabetes medications. Controlling high blood sugar helps prevent kidney damage, blindness, nerve problems, loss of limbs, and sexual function problems. Proper control of diabetes may also lessen your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Tolbutamide belongs to the class of drugs known as sulfonylurea. It works by causing the release of your body's natural insulin and may help to restore your body's proper response to insulin.

Side Effects

Common tolbutamide side effects may include severe skin rash, redness, or itching easy bruising or bleeding, fever, chills, sore throat, mouth sores pale or yellowed skin, dark colour urine low blood sugar-headache, hunger, weakness, sweating, confusion, irritability, dizziness, fast heart rate, or feeling jittery or low levels of sodium in the body-headache, confusion, slurred speech, severe weakness, vomiting, loss of coordination, feeling unsteady.

Drug Interactions

• Tolbutamide+gatifloxacin- Gatifloxacin can affect blood glucose levels and should not be used in patients with diabetes. Both hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose) and, less frequently, hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose) have been reported. Severe cases of hypoglycaemia during treatment with gatifloxacin have resulted in coma and even death.

Mechanism of action

Tolbutamide belongs to a group of medicines called sulfonylurea. It helps pancreas to produce insulin, helping the body use insulin efficiently, which in turn helps to lower blood sugar.

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