Follow all directions on your prescription label and read all medication guides or instruction sheets. Use exactly as directed by your healthcare provider.

Linagliptin comes as a tablet to take by mouth. You typically take it once a day, with or without food at the usual dose of 5mg.

Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) can happen to everyone who has diabetes. Symptoms include headache, hunger, sweating, irritability, dizziness, nausea, fast heart rate, and feeling anxious or shaky. To quickly treat low blood sugar, always keep a fast-acting source of sugar with you such as fruit juice, hard candy, crackers, raisins, or non-diet soda.

Your doctor can prescribe a glucagon emergency injection kit to use in case you have severe hypoglycemia and cannot eat or drink. Be sure your family and close friends know how to give you this injection in an emergency.

Blood sugar levels can be affected by stress, illness, surgery, exercise, alcohol use, or skipping meals. Ask your doctor before changing your dose or medication schedule.

Linagliptin is only part of a treatment program that may also include diet, exercise, weight control, blood sugar testing, and special medical care. Follow your doctor’s instructions very closely.

If overdose is suspected, seek emergency medical attention.

If you miss a dose, take the missed dose as soon as you remember. Skip the missed dose if it is almost time for your next scheduled dose. Do not take extra medicine to make up the missed dose.

Store at room temperature, away from moisture and heat.

You should not use linagliptin if:

• you have ever had a severe allergic reaction to linagliptin (breathing problems, swelling, severe skin rash);
• you have type 1 diabetes; or
• you have diabetic ketoacidosis (call your doctor for treatment).

Talk to your doctor before using ethanol together with linagliptin. Alcohol may affect blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes. Both hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) may occur, depending on how much and how often you drink. You should avoid using alcohol if your diabetes is not well controlled or if you have high triglycerides, neuropathy (nerve damage), or pancreatitis.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before using Linagliptin (Tradjenta)?

To make sure linagliptin is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have ever had:

• heart problems;
• kidney disease;
• pancreatitis;
• high triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood);
• gallstones;
• alcoholism; or
• if you are using insulin, or taking other oral diabetes medication.

Follow your doctor’s instructions about using this medicine if you are pregnant or breast-feeding a baby. Blood sugar control is very important during pregnancy, and your dose needs may be different during each trimester of pregnancy. Your dose needs may also be different while you are breast-feeding.

It is not known whether linagliptin passes into breast milk or if it could affect the nursing baby. Tell your doctor if you are breast-feeding.

This medicine is not approved for use by anyone younger than 18 years old.

What are the possible side effects of Linagliptin (Tradjenta)?

Get emergency medical help if you:

• have signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficult breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue;
• have symptoms of a spinal cord blood clot such as back pain, numbness or muscle weakness in your lower body, or loss of bladder or bowel control; or
• have bleeding that will not stop. This medicine can also make it easier for you to bleed even a minor injury such as a fall or a bump on the head,

Call your doctor at once if you have:

• a severe autoimmune reaction–itching, blisters, breakdown of the outer layer of skin;
• symptoms of heart failure–shortness of breath (even while lying down), swelling in your legs or feet, rapid weight gain;
• severe or ongoing pain in your joints; or
• severe skin reaction–fever, sore throat, swelling in your face or tongue, burning in your eyes, skin pain, followed by a red or purple skin rash that spreads (especially in the face or upper body) and causes blistering and peeling.

Common side effects may include:

• runny or stuffy nose, sore throat;
• cough;
• joint, back and muscle pain; or
• diarrhea.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects.

Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any you start or stop using, especially other medicines used to treat or prevent blood clots, such as:

• rifampin (to treat tuberculosis);
• dilantin;
• phenobarbital;
• tegretol; or
• insulin or other oral diabetes medications.

This list is not complete. Other drugs may affect this medication, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products.

Seek emergency medical attention