Do Not Start With These Medications Before Ramadan
Timing of Adding New Diabetes Medications
A diabetic patient may need to add additional medications to control blood sugar levels, but timing is a crucial factor so that these medications do not harm the patient. There are three families of medications that are not appropriate to add to the treatment plan just before Ramadan:
- Insulin.
- GLP-1 Analogs group: such as (Saxenda, Victoza, Ozempic, and Trulicity).
- SGLT-2 Inhibitors group: such as (Invokana and Forxiga).
Risks and Medical Precautions
The problem lies particularly with the last two groups as they sometimes cause dehydration, which becomes more dangerous with the lack of fluid intake during the fasting hours of Ramadan.
If the patient is taking any of these medications before Ramadan with sufficient time (more than four weeks), they can continue with them while considering the following controls:
- Dosage adjustment: It is necessary to adjust the insulin dose, in particular, under the supervision of a doctor.
- Fluid replacement: Be very careful to consume adequate amounts of fluids between Iftar and Suhoor.
- Dosage timing: For those taking (Invokana) or (Forxiga), the dose should be taken at the Iftar meal, not Suhoor.
(You can refer to the source of this information in the video description).