Avandia® | Avandia (Rosiglitazone) - 4mg (28 tablets)

How does Avandia (Rosiglitazone) work?

Avandia tablets contain the active ingredient rosiglitazone maleate, which is an antidiabetic medicine used to treat people with type 2 or non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM).

People with diabetes mellitus have a deficiency or absence of a hormone produced by the pancreas called insulin. Insulin is the main hormone responsible for the control of sugar in the blood. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin and the cells of the body are resistant to the low levels of insulin circulating in the blood. Insulin would normally make the cells remove sugar from the blood, hence in type 2 diabetes blood sugar levels can rise too high.

Rosiglitazone is a type of antidiabetic medicine known as a thiazolidinedione or glitazone. It helps to lower blood sugar levels by increasing the sensitivity of liver, fat and muscle cells to insulin. This enables these cells to remove sugar from the blood more effectively.

Rosiglitazone also preserves the functioning of the cells in the pancreas (beta cells) that produce insulin.

The overall effect of this medicine is therefore to help the body control blood sugar levels and prevent them becoming too high.

Avandia (Rosiglitazone) Side Effects

• Low blood glucose level (hypoglycaemia).
• Excessive fluid retention in the body tissues, resulting in swelling (oedema).
• Constipation
• Low red blood cell count (anaemia).
• Increase in the level of fats, eg cholesterol, in the blood (hyperlipidaemia).
• Weight gain.
• Increased appetite.
• Headache.
• Fatigue.
• Dizziness.
• Pain in the muscles.
• Pins and needles (paraesthesia).
• Difficulty in breathing (dyspnoea).
• Heart failure.
• Decrease in the number of platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia).
  
• Abnormal liver function.
• Fluid in the lungs (pulmonary oedema).
• Swelling of the back of the eye (macular oedema).