The drug Glucophage® contains metformin as the active ingredient. Metformin belongs to the group of “oral antidiabetics” and is used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2 (“adult-onset diabetes”).
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus literally means “honey sweet flow”. This describes that the body produces a sweetish urine due to an elevated blood sugar level. This elevated blood sugar level is the main problem of this disease and can have various causes; however, it is usually caused by the body’s resistance to the carrier substance insulin or destruction of the pancreas.
The pancreas produces insulin and can therefore only release it in small quantities. The functions of insulin are manifold – important for this disease is that it triggers the absorption of sugar from the blood into various cells of the body. If too little insulin is released into the bloodstream or if it has a lesser effect, not enough sugar is transported from the blood into the cells and the blood sugar level rises.
Diabetes mellitus type 2, which usually develops over several years, rarely has direct consequences. It can lead to tiredness, listlessness, visual disturbances and an increased tendency to infections. In addition, sugar in the urine promotes the growth of bacteria in the urethra, which is why infections of the bladder occur more frequently.
Diabetes is dangerous not because of these direct consequences, but because of its long-term effects. A permanently elevated blood sugar level causes increasingly severe damage to small and large vessels over the years. This greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
80% of diabetes patients suffer from high blood pressure, which in many cases leads to strokes and heart attacks. Over 20% of diabetics are each affected by retinopathy – a disease of the ocular vessels that can lead to blindness – or neuropathy. A diabetic neuropathy describes the damage to nerves, which occurs mainly on the feet.
It leads to paresthesia in the legs, can cause permanent pain and weaken muscle strength in the affected part of the body. Together, the combination of vascular damage and unrecognized injuries due to nerve damage leads to amputation of the foot in many people. Furthermore, diabetics suffer much more frequently from arterial occlusions of the heart (heart attack), brain (stroke) and legs (peripheral arterial occlusive disease) and often suffer from reduced kidney function, which can lead to water retention, salt balance disorders and, in the final stages, to the need for dialysis.