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Table of Contents (click to jump to sections)
What is Actos used for?
Who should not take Actos?
What should I tell my health care provider?
What are some possible side effects?
What is Actos used for?
Actos is a clinically proven, once-a-day prescription medicine available to lower blood glucose levels in persons with type 2 diabetes. Actos, in addition to diet and exercise, improves blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes). Actos can be used alone or in combination with a sulfonylurea, metformin, or insulin when diet, exercise, and one of these agents or diet, exercise, plus Actos alone are not are not enough to control blood sugar.
Who should not take Actos?
- Do not take Actos for Type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes) or diabetic ketoacidosis.
- ACTOS can cause fluid retention or swelling, which may lead to or worsen heart failure, so tell your doctor if you have a history of these conditions.
- Talk to your doctor immediately if you experience rapid weight gain, swelling, or shortness of breath
- If you are of childbearing age, talk to your doctor before taking ACTOS because it could increase your chance of becoming pregnant.
General Precautions with Actos:
- In drug testing, Actos did not cause liver toxicity or an increase in liver enzymes. However, Actos is in the same class of drugs as Rezulin, which has been associated with rare but serious liver injury, including liver failure leading to transplant or death.
- Because the liver safety profile of Actos is not fully determined yet, your doctor will do blood tests that evaluate your liver before starting you on Actos. These blood tests should be repeated every two months for the first year, then regularly after that.
- Call your health care provider right away if you develop nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, a feeling of tiredness, or having no energy, loss of appetite, dark urine, or jaundice (yellow coloring of eyes and skin). These may be the symptoms of liver problems.
- When taking Actos with insulin or certain other oral diabetes medicines, there is a risk of your blood sugar becoming dangerously low. Ask your health care provider about symptoms of low blood sugar, conditions that make low blood sugar more likely, and what to do if you get it. Make sure to explain to family members.
- If you are a woman who has not reached menopause but have not had menstrual periods; you may become pregnant unless you use an effective method of birth control. Actos, like other drugs in this class, may cause insulin resistant women to start ovulating again.
- Women should tell their doctor if they notice any changes in their monthly menstrual cycle.
- During periods of stress on the body, such as fever, trauma, infection, or surgery, your medication requirements may change; contact your health care provider promptly.
What should I tell my doctor or health care provider?
Women taking oral birth control pills should talk to their health care provider when taking Actos, because the effectiveness of oral birth control pills can be reduced.
Because certain other medications may interact with Actos, review all medications that you are taking with your health care provider, including those that you take without a prescription.
What are some possible side effects of Actos?
- Cough or cold
- Headache
- Inflammation of the sinuses or throat
- Muscle pain
- Swelling or fluid retention
- Occasionally, blood sugar levels increased during clinical trials.
For more detailed information about Actos, ask your health care provider.
Common misspelling of actos - actose, acto, aktos, aktose |
