Glyburide

What is Glyburide?

Glyburide is a type 2 diabetes treatment that comes as a daily tablet. It works by helping your pancreas produce more insulin, which can reduce high blood sugar.

The active ingredient in the tablets, glyburide, belongs to a group of medications called sulfonylureas. These affect insulin by helping your pancreas make more of it, and by allowing your body’s natural insulin stores to work better.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has approved glyburide as a highly effective adjunctive diabetes treatment, which can help you maintain glycemic control when used alongside other medications.^[1]

How does Glyburide work?

Sulfonylureas like Glyburide work in two ways to help you manage type 2 diabetes. They target your pancreas, stimulating insulin release. And they make the insulin your body already produces work in a more effective way.

Combined, these effects can help lower the high blood sugar associated with type 2 diabetes, improving symptoms like tiredness, excessive thirst, and unexplained weight loss.

Diabetes affects around one in ten Americans. Of those who have the condition, about 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes.^[2] This type can often progress slowly, over years, without any noticeable symptoms.

You might be more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes if you’re prediabetic, are 45 or older, or have overweight.

If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a physician might recommend using Glyburide to help bring your blood sugar levels down. It will be prescribed as part of a wider plan to improve the condition, along with improving your diet and exercising regularly.

What doses of Glyburide are there?

Glyburide comes in two forms, which each have their own strengths.

The oral tablets are available in 1.25mg, 2.5mg, and 5mg doses.

The micronized tablets come in doses of 1.25mg, 3mg, and 6mg.

A physician can help you decide which version of Glyburide suits you best. Micronized tablets might be a better option than the oral tablets if you need medication that is more easily absorbed into the bloodstream.

How to use Glyburide

Swallow your tablets whole, with water. Glyburide needs to be taken during or right after meals.

The usual dose is 2.5mg-10mg each day.

Because the tablets work better when taken with food, you might find it helpful to stick to a dosage routine if you take Glyburide with the same meal each day.

How long does Glyburide take to work?

How long Glyburide takes to work will usually come down to you personally. Sulfonylureas can start to work in your system right away, meaning you might notice the effects of Glyburide soon after starting your treatment.

But managing type 2 diabetes is usually a long term effort. Once you’ve been diagnosed with the condition, your doctor might suggest ways you can work towards reversing it.

You might be told to monitor your blood sugar levels yourself, by using a blood sugar meter (glucometer) at home. These sometimes link to apps you can use on your phone.^[1] Monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly means you can see if diabetes medications are working.

Glyburide won’t be the only treatment you use to balance your blood sugar levels if you have type 2 diabetes. It’s usually combined with medications like metformin, and DPP-4 inhibitors.

What if I miss a dose of Glyburide?

There’s no need to take twice the amount of Glyburide you usually would if you miss a dose. Taking more tablets than you need won’t make the medication work more effectively, and can be dangerous.

If you forget to take your treatment, you can take it as soon as you remember (as long as it’s not too close to the time your next dose is due). If this is the case, just skip the dose you missed and carry on with your normal dosage routine.