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Pioglitazone is an oral type 2 diabetes medicine that helps the body's own insulin work better, sold as Actos 15mg and 30mg tablets and Actoplus Met 500/15mg tablets.
Metformin, Pioglitazone
500/15mg
Actoplus Met pairs metformin with pioglitazone in one 500/15mg tablet for type 2 diabetes, sold as generic packs of 30 to 180 tablets.
Pioglitazone belongs to the thiazolidinedione group of diabetes medicines and is taken by mouth to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. It is an insulin sensitiser: the insulin your body already makes goes further, so glucose leaves the bloodstream and is taken up by muscle and fat tissue. Other diabetes tablets push the pancreas to release more insulin; pioglitazone does not. It has no place in type 1 diabetes, where the body makes little or no insulin of its own. It is used when metformin alone has not brought blood sugar down enough, or when metformin does not suit, and often alongside metformin, a sulphonylurea or insulin.
Actos is one tablet a day, swallowed with water. Food does not change how well it is absorbed, so you can pair it with a meal you never skip. Nothing much happens in the first fortnight. After that blood sugar starts to fall, and it keeps improving for two to three months.
Headache, a sore throat or other upper respiratory infection, sinus trouble, weight gain and swelling of the ankles and feet are the usual complaints; some of that weight is fluid. Fluid retention is why people with heart failure do not take pioglitazone, and ankles that swell or weight that climbs sharply over a few days are signs of it. Liver trouble is rare: nausea that will not settle, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine. Blurred or distorted vision may be macular oedema, swelling at the back of the eye. Women who take pioglitazone break bones a little more often, and long-term use has been linked with a small rise in bladder cancer cases.
Insulin and sulphonylureas such as gliclazide can push blood sugar too low once pioglitazone is added. Gemfibrozil, used for cholesterol, raises the amount of pioglitazone in the body; the antibiotic rifampicin lowers it. Keep the tablets in their blister pack somewhere out of the heat.
Actos is pioglitazone on its own, as 15mg and 30mg tablets. Actoplus Met pairs pioglitazone with metformin, another type 2 diabetes medicine, in a single tablet — 500mg of metformin with 15mg of pioglitazone. People already taking metformin often prefer one tablet to two. Both sit in the diabetes category.
Pioglitazone can be ordered online from PockDose with delivery to Hong Kong. The page lists generic Actos tablets in 15mg and 30mg, and generic Actoplus Met, a combination tablet of 500/15mg. Every order ships in plain, unbranded packaging with nothing on the outside about the contents.
Each of the two pioglitazone products has its own price per pack, shown on its page in HKD or your selected currency; larger packs usually cost less per unit.
PockDose does not ask you to upload a prescription when you order pioglitazone. See the ordering FAQ for details.
Actos is a brand name of pioglitazone, which is also sold as Pioglit. Here, pioglitazone can be bought online as generic Actos. These are generics, not the original brand.
Blood sugar starts to fall after about two weeks. It keeps falling for two to three months. Do not expect a result on day one: pioglitazone works on insulin resistance, which shifts slowly.
Yes, and Actoplus Met puts both in one tablet. Metformin mainly cuts the glucose the liver releases. Pioglitazone makes your own insulin work harder. Together they lower blood sugar by two routes.
Often, yes, and part of the gain is fluid collecting in the ankles and feet rather than fat. A rise of a couple of kilos within a week points to fluid.
Alcohol does not interact with pioglitazone itself. It still swings blood sugar up and then down. With Actoplus Met, heavy drinking is a bad mix because of the metformin.
The two numbers are the two medicines: 500mg of metformin hydrochloride and 15mg of pioglitazone in each tablet. Actoplus Met is taken once a day, like Actos, but the metformin is already included rather than taken as a separate tablet.