Precose

Overview

About Precose

Why should Precose not be prescribed?

Do not take Precose when suffering diabetic ketoacidosis (a life-threatening medical emergency caused by insufficient insulin and marked by mental confusion, excessive thirst, nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, and a sweet fruity smell to the breath).

You should not take Precose if you have cirrhosis (chronic degenerative liver disease). Also avoid Precose therapy if you have inflammatory bowel disease, ulcers in the colon, any intestinal obstruction or chronic intestinal disease associated with digestion, or any condition that could become worse as a result of gas in the intestine.

Special warnings about Precose

Every 3 months during your first year of treatment, your doctor will give you a blood test to check your liver and see how it is reacting to Precose. While you are taking Precose, you should check your blood and urine periodically for the presence of abnormal sugar (glucose) levels.

Even people with well-controlled diabetes may find that stress such as injury, infection, surgery, or fever results in a loss of control over their blood sugar. If this happens to you, your doctor may recommend that Precose be discontinued temporarily and injected insulin used instead.

When taken alone, Precose does not cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), but when you take it in combination with other medications such as Diabinese or Glucotrol, or with insulin, your blood sugar may fall too low. If you have any questions about combining Precose with other medications, be sure to discuss them with your doctor.

If you are taking Precose along with other diabetes medications, be sure to have some source of glucose, such as Glutose tablets, available in case you experience any symptoms of mild or moderate low blood sugar. (Table sugar won't work because Precose inhibits its absorption.)