Side Effects:

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

Expert advice for Plum Tablet
Plum 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 Plum. Full effect may be visible after several weeks of starting Plum. 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 Plum a blood thinner?
No. Plum 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 Plum a diuretic?
No. Plum is not a diuretic. It is used in the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. Diuretics are those medicine which increases urination.

Q. Can Plum used in Hepatitis B infection?
Some studies have shown that Plum 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 Plum used in Hepatitis C infection?
Plum 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 Plum used along with Vitamin D?
Studies indicate that Vitamin-D combined with Plum may be more effective in improving Bone Mineral Density and Bone Metabolism than Vitamin-D or Plum alone in the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus patients with kidney dysfunction (Diabetic Nephropathy).

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

Q. Is there any role of Plum in Alzheimer disease?
Recent evidence suggests that Plum 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 Plum and repaglinide combined in diabetes treatment?
For patients who previously failed oral antidiabetic therapy, the combination of Repaglinide and Plum have acceptable safety, with greater reductions of glycemic parameters (blood sugar levels) than using either agent alone.

Q. Does Plum cause urinary bladder tumour?
Large population studies indicate that Plum 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 Plum and rosiglitazone same?
Plum & 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 Plum.

Q. Can Plum be used along with glimepiride in diabetes?
Plum 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 Plum a steroid?
No. Plum is not a steroid. It is an anti-diabetic medication which belongs to the class of thiazolidinediones.

Q. How to use Plum?
Plum 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. Plum acts as an insulin sensitizer and decreases the extent of insulin resistance in the body too.

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

Q. How does Plum cause oedema?
Plum 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, Plum causes increased sodium and water reabsorption from the kidney that contributes to the oedema.

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

Q. How does Plum cause heart failure?
Plum 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 Plum protects against atherosclerosis?
Studies in animals have concluded that Plum 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 Plum be used with insulin?
The addition of Plum 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, Plum or rosiglitazone?
Plum & 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. Plum 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 Plum?
Fortunately, there are many alternatives to Plum- Metformin, Acarbose, Sitagliptin, Exenatide, Insulin or combination therapies of these medicines can be used.

Q. Can Plum used for dementia?
Findings indicate that Plum 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 Plum used for infertility?
Plum 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 Plum used for psoriasis?
The use of Plum for plaque psoriasis treatment is controversial. Some studies revealed no effect of Plum 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 Plum used for autism?
In a research study in a small number of autistic children, daily treatment with 30 or 60 mg Plum for 3–4 months induced apparent clinical improvement. Plum should be considered for further testing of therapeutic potential in autistic patients but as of now, autism is not an approved indication for Plum use.

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

Q. Can Plum used for weight loss?
A recent study shows that although Plum 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 Plum be used to treat fatty liver?
Plum has also been used to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver), but this use is presently considered experimental.

Q. Can Plum be used for secondary stroke prevention?
Plum 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.