Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM)

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic illnesses nationwide, impacting approximately 29.1 million Americans. DM poses as a significant public health concern as its’ prevalence steadily increases diabetes poses as an enormous public health challenge because it steadily increases every year (ADA, 2014). The more common type of diabetes is type 2 which is the progressive failure of pancreatic beta cells. Type 2 diabetes leads to hyperglycemia and insulinopenia. Well over 90% of patients with type 2 diabetes are obese or overweight. This makes obesity and type 2 diabetes correlated to one another (ADA, 2014). In order to be diagnosed for diabetes blood glucose levels are measured. If a patient’s fasting blood glucose levels are …show more content…

Oral medications are divided into classes and each class of medication works on different parts of the body to help lower glucose levels. Also, each class of medication has different side effects associated with it. According to the American Diabetes Association, ADA, guidelines the first line therapy when being diagnosed with diabetes is to be started on Metformin. Metformin belongs to the biguanide class of medication. Biguanide oral medications work directly with the liver in order to improve glucose sensitivity. The number one side effect of Metformin is gastrointestinal events such as diarrhea or loose stools, stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting and overall abdominal discomfort that more than 10% patients experience. Over a period of time metformin can cause side effects that will cause more harm for the patient than actual benefit. Patients will start to take Metformin but however due to the uncomfortable side effects many patients decide to stop taking the drug because they find that this drug isn’t for them FIND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT. Another serious and sometimes life threatening event that could happen while being on metformin is lactic acidosis but is a very rare side effect. Lactic acidosis is when there is a decrease of the pH level in the blood and body tissues and a built up of lactic acid. This condition usually occurs when a patient works out vigorously and the cells in their body don’t receive enough oxygen which in the end causes a buildup of lactic acid. This condition can be very detrimental to a patient's life because it can lead to a coma or possibly death FIND AMOUNT OF PATIENTS THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY THROUGH THIS DRUG (Vroomen-Durning, 2015). Even though some of these side effects are rare the patient is still at risk while taking this drug versus TLC where there are no known side

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