My 42 year old friend has a high blood sugar level (269 mg/dl [14.9 mmol/L]) and his doctor has advised to take two tablets of a sulfonylurea pill every day. Are there some other alternatives to control the disease? Diet control for 3 days lowered his blood sugar level from 269 to 235 mg/dl [14.9 to 13.1 mmol/L].

Your friend is lucky to have you and yes, more medicines are available for the treatment of diabetes. As you well know, those blood sugars are way above the target ranges that we aim for. If diet control did not lower the blood sugar much, than it’s not what your friend is eating, but that your friend does not have enough insulin in his body to match the food. It might be very helpful for your friend to use small amounts of insulin for a few days to bring the blood sugar down and then stop it to see if the pills will be able to maintain blood sugar control.

There are other oral agents (diabetes pills) available to use with the one he’s currently taking. If the blood sugar goes back up, then insulin might be the best tool to manage blood sugar at all times. As always, I suggest your friend discuss all the possibilities with his physician and begin today to gain better diabetes management.

KS