Trajenta

Trajenta is a medication used to treat type-2 diabetes by helping to reduce your blood sugar levels. It may be prescribed if diet, exercise, and metformin haven't been effective in managing your blood sugar properly.

Type-2 diabetes occurs when your body can't produce enough insulin, or your cells become less responsive to it, or sometimes both. This makes it difficult for your body to clear sugar from your blood effectively, resulting in high blood sugar levels, known as hyperglycaemia. If hyperglycaemia persists over time, it can cause long-term health issues.

When you have a meal, your body creates hormones known as 'incretins' that prompt your pancreas to release insulin. To prevent an excess of insulin, your body also has enzymes called DPP-4 that break down these incretins, ensuring your pancreas releases insulin only when necessary.

If you have type-2 diabetes, your pancreas often needs to produce more insulin for a longer period. In such cases, the DPP-4 enzyme can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help.

Trajenta is a type of medicine known as a 'DPP-4 inhibitor'. It prevents DPP-4 from functioning as it normally would, which extends the effect of incretin hormones. This helps your pancreas produce more insulin, thereby reducing your blood sugar levels.

Trajenta is available in just one strength: 5mg of linagliptin. The usual recommended dose is one tablet a day. If taking 5mg daily doesn't effectively lower your blood sugar, your doctor may suggest an additional or different treatment.

There are various treatments available for type-2 diabetes. Most of these are in tablet form, but some can be injected. After diet and exercise, the most commonly prescribed initial treatment for type-2 diabetes is metformin. Metformin helps by reducing the amount of glucose your body produces and improving how your cells use insulin.

Metformin doesn't work for everyone, and it might not be the right choice for all. In some cases, people may need to try other treatments or add to their current ones to manage their blood sugar levels. Besides DPP-4 inhibitors like Trajenta, some other options include:

It can take a bit of time to find the treatment that suits you best. You might need to try a few different options before discovering what works well for your health and lifestyle.

Other DPP-4 inhibitors are Januvia, which contains the active ingredient sitagliptin, Galvus with vildagliptin, and Onglyza with saxagliptin.

Each of these treatments affects your body differently because they contain different active ingredients. This means that some DPP-4 inhibitors might be more effective for you than others, depending on how your body reacts to them.