Watch this video for a closer look at how JANUVIA works in your body:
Understanding Type 2 Diabetes: An Interactive Guide for Patients. This interactive guide will aid in the understanding of type 2 diabetes. Digestion: Your body breaks down the food you eat. It turns carbohydrates into a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose is your body's main source of energy. What is insulin? In response to glucose, your pancreas makes the right amount of insulin. Insulin helps your body use glucose for energy. You liver also makes sugar. When you have not eaten, blood sugar begins to drop. In response, your liver releases glucose into the bloodstream. How glucose and insulin work together. Insulin helps glucose move from the blood into your body's cells. When insulin attaches to a cell, glucose enters the cell and can be used for energy. Glucose that is not used right away is stored in the body for later use. When you eat, glucose from food makes your blood sugar rise, and your pancreas releases insulin to keep blood sugar in balance. When you don't eat, your pancreas tells the liver to make glucose, and your pancreas releases insulin to keep blood sugar in balance. Understanding type 2 diabetes: When you have type 2 diabetes your blood sugar is out of balance. Type 2 diabetes may result from one or more problems. In type 2 diabetes the pancreas may not make enough insulin and the liver may make more glucose than the body needs (eg, when you have already eaten). The insulin that the body makes may not work as well as it should (insulin resistance). The role of DPP-4 in type 2 diabetes: Your body sends important messages to your pancreas to try to balance high blood sugar. In response, your pancreas makes more insulin and signals the liver to make less sugar. But a substance in your body called DPP-4 blocks some of these important messages. By blocking these messages, DPP-4 prevents the pancreas from making enough insulin, and the pancreas cannot signal the liver to stop making sugar. How JANUVIA® (sitagliptin) works. JANUVIA works in 2 ways. It helps your body increase the insulin made in your pancreas and decrease the sugar made in your liver to lower blood sugar. JANUVIA works by blocking DPP-4, so more of the important messages get through. This helps you pancreas make more insulin and signal your liver to make less sugar. This is how JANUVIA helps with lowering blood sugar when it is too high. This interactive guide is meant to aid in the understanding type 2 diabetes.
For important information about managing your type 2 diabetes, click here.
JANUVIA (jah-NEW-vee-ah) is a once-daily prescription pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Important Information About JANUVIA
JANUVIA has not been studied with insulin and should not be used to treat patients with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis (increased ketones in the blood or urine) or used if you are allergic to JANUVIA. Your doctor may perform blood tests from time to time to measure how well your kidneys are working. If you have kidney problems, your doctor may prescribe lower doses of JANUVIA.
When JANUVIA is used with a sulfonylurea, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) can occur. To avoid this risk, your doctor may prescribe lower doses of the sulfonylurea.
Allergic reactions, which may be serious, including rash, hives, and swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and throat that may cause difficulty breathing or swallowing, can occur. If you have an allergic reaction, stop taking JANUVIA and call your doctor right away. The most common side effects include upper respiratory tract infection, stuffy or runny nose and sore throat, and headache.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
