Side Effects:

Common Weight gain, Blurred vision, Respiratory tract infection, Numbness, Bone fracture.

Expert advice for K Pio Tablet
K pio helps to control blood sugar level and avoids long-term complications. You should continue to exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, and take your other diabetes medicines along with K pio. Full effect may be visible after several weeks of starting K pio. Weight gain, headache, and swelling due to fluid build-up may occur. Notify your doctor if you experience shortness of breath, heart problems, or any abnormal swelling. May not be suitable for patients with a history of heart failure or bladder cancer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is K pio a blood thinner?
No. K pio is an anti-diabetic medication. Blood thinners are the medicine that prevents the formation of a harmful blood clot. These include medicines like Aspirin, Heparin and Warfarin.

Q. Is K pio a diuretic?
No. K pio is not a diuretic. It is used in the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. Diuretics are those medicine which increases urination.

Q. Can K pio used in Hepatitis B infection?
Some studies have shown that K pio may be helpful in preventing Hepatitis B Virus-associated Hepatocellular Cancer (Liver Cancer). However, these findings are still very preliminary and clear role has not been established.

Q. Can K pio used in Hepatitis C infection?
K pio has been shown to inhibit Liver Cancer (HCC) recurrence in overweight Hepatitis C Virus-infected diabetic patients. It also improved insulin resistance (a state where the body is resistant to the effects and functions of the insulin hormone) in them.

Q. Can K pio used along with Vitamin D?
Studies indicate that Vitamin-D combined with K pio may be more effective in improving Bone Mineral Density and Bone Metabolism than Vitamin-D or K pio alone in the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus patients with kidney dysfunction (Diabetic Nephropathy).

Q. Can K pio be used along with sitagliptin?
Combination therapy with Sitagliptin and K pio leads to a substantial and sustained improvement in glycemic (blood sugar) control compared to the treatment with K pio alone. This is useful for patients who cannot tolerate Metformin or Sulfonylureas.

Q. Is there any role of K pio in Alzheimer disease?
Recent evidence suggests that K pio may be beneficial in Alzheimer's disease (AD), decreasing the cognitive decline early in the disease process. However, larger studies are now in progress to establish the same.

Q. Can K pio and repaglinide combined in diabetes treatment?
For patients who previously failed oral antidiabetic therapy, the combination of Repaglinide and K pio have acceptable safety, with greater reductions of glycemic parameters (blood sugar levels) than using either agent alone.

Q. Does K pio cause urinary bladder tumour?
Large population studies indicate that K pio is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. The absence of an association of bladder cancer with the other drug of the same class, Rosiglitazone, suggests that the increased risk is drug specific and not a class effect.

Q. Are K pio and rosiglitazone same?
K pio & Rosiglitazone both belong to a class of antidiabetics called Thiazolidinediones. Rosiglitazone has been removed from the market because using this drug was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. This is not seen with K pio.

Q. Can K pio be used along with glimepiride in diabetes?
K pio when added to Glimepiride in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus, has been found to significantly reduce plasma lipid levels and significant improvement in blood pressure control related to a reduction in the insulin resistance.

Q. Is K pio a steroid?
No. K pio is not a steroid. It is an anti-diabetic medication which belongs to the class of thiazolidinediones.

Q. How to use K pio?
K pio is an anti-diabetes drug used along with a proper diet and exercise program to control high blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes. K pio acts as an insulin sensitizer and decreases the extent of insulin resistance in the body too.

Q. How safe is K pio?
K pio cardiovascular safety profile compares favourably with that of Rosiglitazone. K pio has been found to be associated with bladder tumours but causality assessment has not been proved yet.

Q. How does K pio cause oedema?
K pio increases the permeability of fluid in tiny blood vessels called capillaries. This results in easier movement of fluids across the membrane and their consequent accumulation, resulting in oedema (puffiness). Also, K pio causes increased sodium and water reabsorption from the kidney that contributes to the oedema.

Q. How does K pio cause bladder cancer?
The mechanism behind the link between K pio use and bladder cancer is still unknown. Studies have suggested that use of K pio for more than one year results in increased risk of development of tumour of the urinary bladder.

Q. How does K pio cause heart failure?
K pio can cause fluid retention and edema. Consequently, there is a lot of fluid in the body (fluid overload). As a result, it may precipitate heart failure (which worsens with fluid overload in those at risk).

Q. How K pio protects against atherosclerosis?
Studies in animals have concluded that K pio improves the elasticity of the aortic wall ( the aorta is a large blood vessel that arises from the heart and supplies oxygenated blood to the rest of the body). This may be a mechanism by which it protects against atherosclerosis, but more studies are needed to confirm this.

Q. Can K pio be used with insulin?
The addition of K pio reduces daily insulin dosages, but study findings have not been consistent. Improvement of lipid profiles has also been weak with this combination therapy. Long-term studies are needed before any conclusions can be reached. Combination therapy should be primarily used for patients who achieve an insufficient reduction in blood sugar with insulin alone.

Q. Which is not safe in heart failure, K pio or rosiglitazone?
K pio & Rosiglitazone both belong to a class of antidiabetics called Thiazolidinediones. Rosiglitazone has been removed from the market because using this drug was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. K pio can cause heart failure too, but the risk is less that that with Rosiglitazone. Both the medicines should be avoided in heart failure.

Q. What are the alternatives to K pio?
Fortunately, there are many alternatives to K pio- Metformin, Acarbose, Sitagliptin, Exenatide, Insulin or combination therapies of these medicines can be used.

Q. Can K pio used for dementia?
Findings indicate that K pio treatment is associated with a reduced dementia risk in Diabetes mellitus patients. Prospective studies are needed to evaluate a possible neuroprotective effect in these patients in an ageing population.

Q. Can K pio used for infertility?
K pio may be of use in infertile patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are resistant to conventional ovulation induction such as by drugs like Clomiphene, Dexamethasone, or Metformin.

Q. Can K pio used for psoriasis?
The use of K pio for plaque psoriasis treatment is controversial. Some studies revealed no effect of K pio 30 mg daily neither on the clinical response of moderate-to-severe psoriasis whereas others demonstrate that it could be considered as an efficacious and safe agent for the treatment of plaque psoriasis.

Q. Can K pio used for autism?
In a research study in a small number of autistic children, daily treatment with 30 or 60 mg K pio for 3–4 months induced apparent clinical improvement. K pio should be considered for further testing of therapeutic potential in autistic patients but as of now, autism is not an approved indication for K pio use.

Q. Can K pio be used in depression?
K pio, either alone or as add-on therapy to conventional treatments, could clinically benefit patients of major depression according to a study.

Q. Can K pio used for weight loss?
A recent study shows that although K pio causes a significant decrease in blood sugar, HbA1C and lipid levels, it is associated with weight gain, which would limit its utility. It has not been shown to cause weight loss.

Q. Can K pio be used to treat fatty liver?
K pio has also been used to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver), but this use is presently considered experimental.

Q. Can K pio be used for secondary stroke prevention?
K pio reduces recurrent stroke and major vascular events in stroke patients with insulin resistance, prediabetes, and diabetes mellitus. However, its use as a preventive therapy requires more research.