pioglitazone

I was on it for three months, but I found it made absolutely no difference whatsoever.
The only side effect I was aware of was that I had a few headaches.
Am pleased you've decided to go back on your meds, hopefully you'll feel much better

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Hi Roger,

Pioglitazone is believed to be one of the most effective diabetes treatments but it comes with a pretty extensive range of side effects, as does all the glitazone family. The following might help as it lists the most common side effects
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004419.html

Rapid weight gain and fluid retention are the most common side effects. I was put on rosiglitazone and put on 5 stone in 6 months (despite constant dieting), suffered blurred vision and dizzy spels (not hypo related) and had legs so swollen it was painful to walk more than 100 yards.

My daughter-in-law is a dietician and I hadn't mentioned my treatment to her, but as soon as she saw how much weight I had gained her first reaction was "Oh, so they must have put you on one of the glitazones then!". As a community dietician her biggest case-load is not dealing with fast-food addicts but with the after-effects of thiazolidinedione (the glitazones).

Having said all that, you may be one of the lucky ones who doesn't suffer the side-effects, but you do need to be watchfull for them.

why did you come off it Fugs and are you now on Insulin?

Hi rogervansteeden, I have been on pioglitazone since may last year and after about 2-3 months of taking it I started having terrible joint pain, to point that I could not climb stairs etc. What problems did you have as I am new to the forum and still taking the tablets.

Hi, I went on Pioglitazone last year and gained a stone! I had refused to take Rosiglitazone as it can thin the hair as one of the side effects. On the Pioglitazone I had a hypo every morning when I went out and had to go and snack (hence the weight gain). I cannot snack on fruit and veg as I have a very sensitive stomach with slight IBS. If you take it maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who can tolerate it. I take Simvastatin quite happily whereas other people cannot tolerate it so you never know.

I hope it works out. I have reached the end of the road as far as tablets go unless I take Pioglitazone.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I was trying to get to grips with my pump.
I was taking insulin at the same time as the pioglitazone. Highly unorthadox but with bm's of over 45 despite taking 900 units of insulin daily, my consultant, nurse & I decided it was worth a try.
After 3 months it was clear that it wasn't making any difference thanks to severe insulin resistance, so it seemed pointless to continue taking it.
I'd also just got a leg ulcer healed after 2 years & didn't want fluid retention

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Roger,

An alternative to pioglitazone that your GP might want to consider is repaglinide (used to be called Novanorm). Works in a similar way to the glitazones but is faster acting and has less side effects.