Patient was educated on precautions to be exercised while taking dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors as follows:
- If the blood sugar is too low, despite eating regularly and without skipping a meal, you can defer taking the medication for that dose and notify your doctor regarding the same.
- Keeping a track of frequency of episodes of low blood sugars, despite eating regularly, can help your physician revise your dose on the medication.
- Also, notify your doctor, if the blood sugar continues to be high, despite taking the medication as recommended, so that, your medication dose could be revised.
- Be aware of any signs and symptoms of acute pancreatitis, such as, severe upper abdominal pain, radiating to the back, along with nausea and vomiting. This is a serious side effect of use of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors, that should be immediately reported to the physician.
- If a dose is missed, it should be taken at the earliest notice of noncompliance. Report the noncompliance to your physician. If it is time for the next dose, the missed dose can be skipped. Compensating for the missed dose by taking an extra dose can pose serious risk for an episode of extremely low blood sugars, thus precipitating an emergency.
