Q: My mother (aged 47) is a diabetic patient for the past two years. She uses medicines like Hyponidd, Absolut and Sugarid M tablets & powder called D-Protin as prescribed by a physician. Now she has stopped consulting or periodic sugar testing & continues her medicines as prescibed by him. Is there any need to check with the doctor regarding sugar levels or is that ok if she continues her medicines regularly? She was suffering from some itching problem over various parts of her body. For that she is using Dexona and Cetriwin. She is using a cream called Povidone. By using these medicines she says that her problem of itching has considerably reduced. Please clarify my doubt of whether using these medicines is good for health or not. If there are any other good & safer medicines that are available, then please tell me about them.

A:The only two medicines that she really requires are gliclazide and metformin. Sugrid-M contains them but it is a fixed-dose combination. It is always better to give them separately such as Glyciphage 500 mg (for metformin) and Lycazid 80 mg (for gliclazide). The reasons for avoiding combination products are given below. Absolut is a product that is promoted by the manufacturer as a sort of tonic containing many ingredients in sub-optimal doses. Such products are not permitted to be sold in any developed western country. Due to lax laws no one bothers in India. I see no purpose of giving this product to the patient. Dexona is a brand name that contains dexamethasone, a steroid. It should be avoided by diabetics since it makes the disease worse. However the patient can use cetirizine (Cetriwal) one tablet in the morning for a few days.