Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Proper Use
Follow carefully the special meal plan your doctor gave you. This is a very important part of controlling your condition, and is necessary if the medicine is to work properly. Also, exercise regularly and test for sugar in your blood or urine as directed.
Metformin and pioglitazone combination should be taken with meals to help reduce the gastrointestinal side effects that may occur during the first few weeks of treatment.
Dosing
The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.
- For oral dosage form (tablets):
- For type 2 diabetes:
- For patients already taking metformin alone:
- Adults—At first, 15 milligrams (mg) pioglitazone and 500 mg metformin tablet or 15 mg pioglitazone and 850 mg metformin tablet once or two times a day, as instructed by your doctor. Your doctor may increase your dose a little at a time until your blood sugar is controlled.
- Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
- For patients already taking pioglitazone alone:
- Adults—At first, 15 milligrams (mg) pioglitazone and 500 mg metformin tablet two times a day or 15 mg pioglitazone and 850 mg metformin tablet once a day, as instructed by your doctor. Your doctor may increase your dose a little at a time until your blood sugar is controlled.
- Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
- For patients switching from a combination of metformin and pioglitazone as separate tablets:
- Adults—At first, 15 milligrams (mg) pioglitazone and 500 mg metformin tablet or 15 mg pioglitazone and 850 mg metformin tablet, based on the doses of pioglitazone and metformin already being taken, as instructed by your doctor. Your doctor may increase your dose a little at a time until your blood sugar is controlled.
- Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
- For patients already taking metformin alone:
- For type 2 diabetes:
Missed Dose
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
Storage
Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.
Ask your healthcare professional how you should dispose of any medicine you do not use.
