Avandia

Avandia, along with diet and exercise, helps improve blood sugar control. It may be taken alone or with other diabetes medicines.

Certain people with heart failure should not take Avandia. Tell your doctor if you have heart problems or heart failure. Avandia can cause heart failure. Avandia can also cause your body to keep extra fluid, which leads to swelling and weight gain. Extra body fluid can make some heart problems worse or lead to heart failure. If you have swelling or fluid retention, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, an unusually rapid increase in weight, or unusual tiredness while taking Avandia, call your doctor right away.

For some people taking Avandia, possible side effects include other heart problems. Further information regarding potential heart-related risks is currently under review by the FDA. Talk to your doctor as FDA has made information on potential heart-related risks available to physicians on its website at

You should not take Avandia if you have liver problems. Blood tests should be used to check for liver problems before starting and while taking Avandia. Tell your doctor if you have liver disease, or if you experience unexplained tiredness, stomach problems, dark urine or yellowing of skin while taking Avandia.

Tell your doctor about all of the medicines you are taking.

If you are taking Avandia with another diabetes medicine that lowers blood sugar, you may be at increased risk for low blood sugar. Ask your doctor whether you need to lower the dose of your other diabetes medicine.

Avandia may increase your risk of pregnancy. Talk to your doctor before taking Avandia if you could become pregnant or if you are pregnant. If you are nursing, you should not take Avandia.

Talk to your doctor for advice on how to keep your bones healthy. More fractures, usually in the upper arm, hand, or foot, have been seen in women taking Avandia.

Your doctor should check your eyes regularly. Very rarely, some people have experienced vision changes due to swelling in the back of the eye while taking Avandia

Do not use Avandia if you have type 1 diabetes, or if you are in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis (call your doctor for treatment with insulin).

Before taking Avandia, tell your doctor if you have congestive heart failure or heart disease, a history of heart attack or stroke, liver disease, or eye problems caused by diabetes.