Warnings for Advandamet

Before you start taking Advandamet tablets, you have to do a blood test to check on your liver. Then once you ar on the treatment, your doctor should continue to monitor your liver function as well. Notify your doctor should you experience symptoms of liver problems such as unexplained nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, darkened urine or yellowing of the eyes or skin (jaundice). Moreover, regular blood tests should be done to monitor your kidney function as well.

Advandamet tablets can cause weight gain. Try to stick to a calorie-controlled diet and monitor your weight closely. Again, talk to your doctor if your weight increases.

Rosiglitazone may rarely cause fluid retention that may cause heart failure. For this reason you should consult your doctor immediately if you experience shortness of breath, swollen ankles, or rapid and excessive weight gain (which may be due to fluid retention) while taking this medicine.

This medicine may cause women who have stopped ovulating, for example due to polycystic ovary syndrome, to start ovulating again. These women will therefore need to use contraception to prevent pregnancy. If you get pregnant or wish to become pregnant you should tell your doctor, as you will need to stop taking this medicine.

If you notice any problems with your eyesight while taking this medicine, in particular any new or worsening problems with blurred vision or seeing fine detail, you should let your doctor know. He may want you to have an eye test.

Consult your doctor if your experience the following symptoms while taking this medicine, as they may be indicative of a rare but serious side effect of metformin, called lactic acidosis: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, general feeling of illness, loss of appetite, weight loss, rapid and/or weak breathing, weakness.

You should avoid drinking alcohol while you are taking this medicine, as it can increase the risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) and lactic acidosis.

Consult your doctor about your diabetes treatment if you are due to have surgery under a general anaesthetic. In these situations blood sugar is normally controlled by insulin, so your doctor may ask you to stop taking this medicine 48 hours before surgery.

Your doctor will ask you to stop taking this medicine temporarily if you are going to have a certain type of X-ray involving an injection of iodinated dye. Tell your doctor that you are taking this medicine if you are due to have this type of X-ray. You should not start taking this medicine again until 48 hours after the X-ray, and only after your kidney function has been tested and found to be normal.

How Does Advandamet Work?

Advandamet comes in the form of tablets and contains two active ingredients, rosiglitazone maleate and metformin hydrochloride. These are both medicines that are used to help control blood sugar levels in people with type 2 or non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM).

Patients with diabetes mellitus have a deficiency or absence of insulin. Insulin is the main hormone responsible for the control of sugar in the blood. In type 2 diabetes the pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin and the cells of the body are resistant to the low levels of insulin circulating in the blood. Insulin would normally make the cells remove sugar from the blood, hence in type 2 diabetes blood sugar levels can rise too high.


Metformin hydrochloride is a type of antidiabetic medicine known as a biguanide. It works in a number of ways to decrease the amount of sugar in the blood. It reduces the amount of sugar produced by cells in the liver. Then it increases the sensitivity of muscle cells to insulin. This enables these cells to remove sugar from the blood more effectively. Lastly, it also delays absorption of sugar from the intestines into the bloodstream after eating.

Rosiglitazone maleate is a type of antidiabetic medicine known as a thiazolidinedione or glitazone. Its main fucnction is to help control blood sugar levels by increasing the sensitivity of the liver, fat and muscle cells to insulin. This enables these cells to remove sugar from the blood more effectively. Rosiglitazone also preserves the functioning of the cells in the pancreas (beta cells) that produce insulin.