Full description:
Metformin Denk 500 contains metformin, a medicine to treat diabetes. It belongs to a group of medicines called biguanides.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that makes your body take in glucose (sugar) from the blood. Your body uses glucose to produce energy or stores it for future use.
If you have diabetes, your pancreas does not make enough insulin or your body is not able to use properly the insulin it produces. This leads to a high level of glucose in your blood. Metformin Denk 500 helps to lower your blood glucose to as normal levels as possible.
If you are an overweight adult, taking Metformin Denk 500 over a long period of time also helps to lower the risk of complications associated with diabetes.
Metformin Denk 500 is associated with either a stable body weight or modest weight loss. Metformin Denk 500 is used to treat patients with type 2 diabetes (also called ‘non-insulin dependent diabetes’) when diet and exercise alone have not been enough to control your blood glucose levels. It is used particularly in overweight patients.
Adults can take Metformin Denk 500 on its own or together with other medicines to treat diabetes (medicines taken by mouth or insulin).
Children 10 years and over and adolescents can take Metformin Denk 500 on its own or together with insulin
What Metformin Denk 500 contains:
- The active substance is metformin. Each film-coated tablet contains 500 mg metformin hydrochloride corresponding to 390 mg metformin.
- The other ingredients are povidone K30, microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate [vegetable], hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, titanium dioxide, macrogol 4000, talc.
Possible side effects:
Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them. The following side effects may occur:
Metformin Denk 500 may cause a very rare (may affect up to 1 user in 10,000), but very serious side effect called lactic acidosis (see section ‘Warnings and precautions’). If this happens you must stop taking Metformin Denk 500 and contact a doctor or the nearest hospital immediately, as lactic acidosis may lead to coma.
Very common side effects (in more than 1 in 10 people)
- Digestive problems, such as feeling sick (nausea), being sick (vomiting), diarrhoea, bellyache (abdominal pain) and loss of appetite. These side effects most often happen at the beginning of the treatment with metformin. It helps if you spread the doses over the day and if you take Metformin Denk 500 with or straight after a meal. If symptoms continue, stop taking Metformin Denk 500 and talk to your doctor.
Common side effects (in less than 1 in 10 people)
- Changes in taste.
Very rare side effects (in less than 1 in 10,000 people)
- Lactic acidosis. This is a very rare but serious complication particularly if your kidneys are not working properly. Symptoms of lactic acidosis are non-specific (see section ‘Warnings and precautions’).
- Abnormalities in liver function tests or hepatitis (inflammation of the liver; this may cause tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss, with or without yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes). If this happens to you, stop taking Metformin Denk 500 and talk to your doctor.
- Skin reactions such as redness of the skin (erythema), itching or an itchy rash (hives).
- Low vitamin B12 levels in the blood.
Children and adolescents
Limited data in children and adolescents showed that adverse events were similar in nature and severity to those reported in adults.
How to take:
Always take this medicine exactly as your doctor has told you. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure.
Metformin Denk 500 cannot replace the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Continue to follow any advice about diet that your doctor has given you and get some regular exercise.
Film-coated tablets containing 500 and 1000 mg metformin hydrochloride are also available to facilitate individual adjustment to the required maintenance dosage.
