Glucophage Long is designed to regulate the level of sugar in diabetes, but it is also used to reduce excess weight. Refusal of sweet is a stress for the body, which some decide to overcome with alcohol. Therefore, the question becomes topical: is it possible to combine the drug with alcohol?
Glucophage Long and alcohol
Glucophage Long is a popular drug from the biguanide group. It has a hypoglycemic effect, reducing the sugar content in blood plasma. The difference between Glucophage Long and standard dosage form is a longer period of assimilation of the active substance.
Indications for using Glucophage Long are:
- type II diabetes in children from 10 years( complex treatment or monotherapy);
- insulin resistant type II diabetes mellitus in adults;
- obesity;
- diabetes mellitus type II( for additional regulation of sugar in insulin therapy).
The product is available in two kinds of oral tablets, which differ only in the content of the active substance metformin( 500 mg or 1000 mg).500 mg is the minimum dosage, but if the effect is insufficient, the doctor increases it.
Now endocrinologists are increasingly appointing Glucophage Long to their patients for weight loss. Extra pounds are associated with impaired metabolism, because fats are deposited when the body can not split them.
Glucophage Long normalizes the production of glucose and insulin, restoring metabolism. Unlike other hypoglycemic agents, in healthy people, Glucophage Long does not reduce blood sugar and does not increase insulin levels.
Video review of the drug Glucophage:
Compatibility
The drug is pretty cranky in combination with other substances. Including in the instruction it is specified, that both kinds of tablets - on 500 mg and on 1000 mg - it is forbidden to combine with alcohol. This applies not only to alcoholic beverages, but also to any drugs containing ethanol.
Alcohol penetrates very quickly into the bloodstream and reacts with metformin. It triggers the synthesis of lactic acid, and an increase in its level leads to lactic acidosis. To develop such a reaction, a dose of 500 mg and a minimum amount of ethanol present in the composition of any drug are sufficient.
OPINION OF SPECIALISTS!
Elena Malysheva:
"Is Alcoholism Cured? Yes! Use an effective home remedy. .. "
Read more. ..
In addition, alcohol in large quantities causes acute intoxication of the body. This is a provoking factor in the development of lactic acidosis in insulin-dependent patients. Especially in cases where people observe a low-calorie diet or suffer from liver failure.
Consequences of interaction
The main risk for patients drinking alcohol simultaneously with Glucophage Long, even in the composition of medicines, is the development of lactic acidosis. The disease is serious and requires medication.
Lactoacidosis is characterized by a sharp increase in the acidity of the body due to excessive release of lactic acid. Under such conditions, tissue cells cease to cleave or excrete lactate, which they impregnate. At the same time, the liver and muscles even more increase the release of lactate into the bloodstream due to the violation of acid metabolism.
The disease develops within a few hours. Usually, the previous symptoms are absent, and lactic acidosis appears suddenly with a whole bunch of symptoms. Among them:
- abdominal pain;
- vomiting;
- pareses;
- loss of reflexes.
Lactoacidosis is rapidly progressing and without emergency medical help leads to collapse, urination disorder, hypothermia, thrombosis and coma. Disorders of liver function and low-calorie diet are factors that aggravate the condition with lactic acidosis. The number of deaths with this disease is more than 50%.
Another danger is the development of hypoglycemic syndrome, which is characterized by a violation of the regulation of plasma glucose.
Its symptoms include:
- arrhythmias;
- inadequate behavior;
- tremor;
- dizziness and double vision;
- skin blushing;
- hypertension;
- nausea with vomiting;
- acute hunger;
- general weakness;
- epileptic seizures;
- amnesia;
- disorders of breathing and circulation;
- fainting;
- coma.
Without the influence of alcohol Glucophage Long does not provoke hypoglycemia. This applies even to cases of drug overdose.
How to combine
Glucophage Long lasts for about 7 hours. Accordingly, it is necessary to wait this time to prevent "mixing" the drug and alcohol.
However, the time of absorption of alcohol can significantly extend - for example, if a person drank to a full stomach. Therefore, if you can not do without alcohol, after using it is recommended to skip 2 of the drug intake.
On the other hand, during a long break between the medications the blood sugar content will be unstable. Alcohol will lower it, but then it will rise in the absence of treatment. In the urine and blood will be found acetone.
As a result, short-term decompensated diabetes will develop. Therefore, skipping the drug is not recommended. Especially it is impossible to combine it with alcoholic beverages.
In addition, Glucophage Long is used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and people with this disease alcohol is contraindicated in principle. The same applies to people who take the drug to fight obesity. Alcoholic high-calorie, so it does not fit in any diet.
Reviews
Patients who took Glucophage Long say that they drank alcohol during treatment, but in small doses. According to them, it did not cause serious consequences.
Individual patients developed diarrhea, but perhaps it is the reaction to alcohol, not its combination with ethanol. And yet most people stop taking the medicine for a while if they really want to drink.
Doctors say that cases of lactic acidosis, provoked by a combination of alcohol and tablets Glucophage Long, are so rare that it is impossible to conduct any statistics. However, they insist that with diabetes, alcohol often provokes hypoglycemia. Glucophage Long with hypoglycemic action in this case only aggravates the symptoms.
Is it possible to drink this way?
Take Glucophage Long and alcohol can not be taken at the same time. This drug is prescribed to people who basically should refrain from alcohol - diabetics, slimming. However, the combination of alcohol with a hypoglycemic agent will only exacerbate the severity of the consequences, so during the treatment period one can not even consume medicines containing ethanol.
If you still need to consume alcohol during the course of treatment, you can minimize the risk. To do this, wait 7 hours before drinking alcohol and 14 hours after it.