Wanting to try intermittent fasting & to reduce meds

[Kukkar]

Hi
I have been type 2 for 24 years .
I would greatly appreciate advice both from clinicians and expert patients.
My Hbaic jumped from 54 to 64 on stopping sitagliptin and Steglatro and reducing metformin from 1 Gm.Twice a day to 500 mg twice a day due to CKD. with eGFR of 45. ACR was not reported on as there was no protein in the urine
The current meds.
Empagliflozin 10 mg mane
Metformin 500 mg bd
Gliclazide SR 30 mg bd
Losartan 100 mg noct.
Bisprolol 5 mg noct
Mirtazapine 30 mg noct
Aspirin 75 mg daily

I would like advice on intermittent fasting e.g missing one meal a day ( if so,which one ,lunch or evening meal?)and hopefully stop Gliclazide gradually and come off all diabetic medication. I exercise regularly. My weight is 69 kg.

Thank you
Kukkar

 

[lovinglife]

Hi @Kukkar & welcome to the forum

We don’t have any clinicians on the forum & even if there was it’s against forum rules for members to give medical advice or advise on changing medication, what we can do however is share our experiences

I don’t and never have fasted, it’s just not for me. I eat 3 meals a day, no snacks with 5-6 hours between each meal.

But I did used to be on maximum dose Gliclizide, with the support of my GP I slowly reduced my carbs along side reducing my meds until I came of the gliclizide altogether in 2019. I am on Metformin but I was on that long before being diagnosed with T2 for something else.

Gliclizide is a hypo inducing drug so you have to be careful when reducing your carbs or fasting that your BG doesn’t go too low so testing is essential. Do you test your BG regularly?

When I was reducing my meds I was on 100g carb a day with maximum Gliclizide- about 30g a meal. I started dropping my carbs by 5g a meal and as I started to get more lows then the GP would reduce my medication until I went full Keto at 20g carb a day and no meds. Took me about 6 months I think

I don’t have experience of the other drugs you are on so can’t help there. Probably the best thing to do is to speak to your GP or HCP and see if you can put a plan in place where you can reduce your meds safely whilst fasting or reducing carbs

 

[Resurgam]

I'm fine with two meals a day at 12 hourly intervals, but I don't need medication to have normal numbers - I also stick to very low carb by most standards, 10gm in the morning and no more than 30 in the evening.
BUT I was only on Metformin for a few weeks and could not live with it, so I did not need to transition, AND I had done periods of just 50 gm of carbs a day when I could get away with it.
You'd really need to have help and advice to alter your regime, and my own experience has been less than happy when trying to eat low carb even before diagnosis - you might be lucky though and find a HCP who has seen what low carb can do.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Kukkar and welcome to the forum.
I'm a slim T2 Diabetic diagnosed just over 6 yrs ago and have been in remission for just over 5yrs. I practice Intermittent Fasting, but that is merely an add-on to the thing which put me on the path to remission.


In my search for a 'cure' I found 2 main ways to regain normal blood glucose: 1. lose a lot of weight or 2. cut out a lot of carbohydrates from food.
Being slim and not wanting to starve myself I chose the cutting carbohydrates route.

I used a finger-prick type of blood glucose meter to gauge if I was cutting out enough carbohydrates (test jet before each meal and then 2hrs later, if the 2nd reading is no higher than 2 mmol more than the 1st then that meal was probably OK). Even though I ate a lot of proteins and fats, I still lost some weight but found I could keep it within a reasonable range by eating more cheese and nuts or less cheese and nuts.
The Intermittent Fasting just happened all by itself because I became 'fat adapted' due to eating so few carbohydrates, which meant I stopped getting hungry. I was no longer hungry at breakfast time , so I just stopped eating it. I was not hungry at lunchtime either, so I delayed that by an hour or two on weekdays but on weekends when I have much more flexibility as to when I eat, I just have one meal per day (OMAD) and that is late afternoon - usually around 15:30 to 16:30.

As others have said, because you are taking Gliclazide, you must not reduce your consumption of carbohydrates without keeping your GP or HCP informed, otherwise you may suffer hypos where your blood glucose drops dangerously low.

 

[Lupf]

hi @Kukkar welcome to the forum.
Intermittent fasting works (IF) for many people, including myself. I do 5+2, i.e. eat very few carbs and less than 800 calories on fast days: a small breakfast, e.g. an egg or a Greek yoghurt with half an apple, lunch is a bottle of tap water, and soup, vegetables and salad for dinner. When I started doing IF, I was surprised that I don't feel hungry. But there are many other forms of intermittent fasting. It depends also if you want to bring down your HbA1c or also lose weight.
As you have a list of meds, you should consult your GP, in particular Gliclazide lowers blood sugar and could cause hypos. In fact I started IF when my GP prescribed Gliclazide. I decided there must be a better option.

 

[Kukkar]

Hi @Kukkar & welcome to the forum

We don’t have any clinicians on the forum & even if there was it’s against forum rules for members to give medical advice or advise on changing medication, what we can do however is share our experiences

I don’t and never have fasted, it’s just not for me. I eat 3 meals a day, no snacks with 5-6 hours between each meal.

But I did used to be on maximum dose Gliclizide, with the support of my GP I slowly reduced my carbs along side reducing my meds until I came of the gliclizide altogether in 2019. I am on Metformin but I was on that long before being diagnosed with T2 for something else.

Gliclizide is a hypo inducing drug so you have to be careful when reducing your carbs or fasting that your BG doesn’t go too low so testing is essential. Do you test your BG regularly?

When I was reducing my meds I was on 100g carb a day with maximum Gliclizide- about 30g a meal. I started dropping my carbs by 5g a meal and as I started to get more lows then the GP would reduce my medication until I went full Keto at 20g carb a day and no meds. Took me about 6 months I think

I don’t have experience of the other drugs you are on so can’t help there. Probably the best thing to do is to speak to your GP or HCP and see if you can put a plan in place where you can reduce your meds safely whilst fasting or reducing carbs

hi @Kukkar welcome to the forum.
Intermittent fasting works (IF) for many people, including myself. I do 5+2, i.e. eat very few carbs and less than 800 calories on fast days: a small breakfast, e.g. an egg or a Greek yoghurt with half an apple, lunch is a bottle of tap water, and soup, vegetables and salad for dinner. When I started doing IF, I was surprised that I don't feel hungry. But there are many other forms of intermittent fasting. It depends also if you want to bring down your HbA1c or also lose weight.
As you have a list of meds, you should consult your GP, in particular Gliclazide lowers blood sugar and could cause hypos. In fact I started IF when my GP prescribed Gliclazide. I decided there must be a better option.

Thank you Lupf

hi @Kukkar welcome to the forum.
Intermittent fasting works (IF) for many people, including myself. I do 5+2, i.e. eat very few carbs and less than 800 calories on fast days: a small breakfast, e.g. an egg or a Greek yoghurt with half an apple, lunch is a bottle of tap water, and soup, vegetables and salad for dinner. When I started doing IF, I was surprised that I don't feel hungry. But there are many other forms of intermittent fasting. It depends also if you want to bring down your HbA1c or also lose weight.
As you have a list of meds, you should consult your GP, in particular Gliclazide lowers blood sugar and could cause hypos. In fact I started IF when my GP prescribed Gliclazide. I decided there must be a better option.

Thank you Lupf. Much appreciated.

 

[Kukkar]

Hi @Kukkar and welcome to the forum.
I'm a slim T2 Diabetic diagnosed just over 6 yrs ago and have been in remission for just over 5yrs. I practice Intermittent Fasting, but that is merely an add-on to the thing which put me on the path to remission.


In my search for a 'cure' I found 2 main ways to regain normal blood glucose: 1. lose a lot of weight or 2. cut out a lot of carbohydrates from food.
Being slim and not wanting to starve myself I chose the cutting carbohydrates route.

I used a finger-prick type of blood glucose meter to gauge if I was cutting out enough carbohydrates (test jet before each meal and then 2hrs later, if the 2nd reading is no higher than 2 mmol more than the 1st then that meal was probably OK). Even though I ate a lot of proteins and fats, I still lost some weight but found I could keep it within a reasonable range by eating more cheese and nuts or less cheese and nuts.
The Intermittent Fasting just happened all by itself because I became 'fat adapted' due to eating so few carbohydrates, which meant I stopped getting hungry. I was no longer hungry at breakfast time , so I just stopped eating it. I was not hungry at lunchtime either, so I delayed that by an hour or two on weekdays but on weekends when I have much more flexibility as to when I eat, I just have one meal per day (OMAD) and that is late afternoon - usually around 15:30 to 16:30.

As others have said, because you are taking Gliclazide, you must not reduce your consumption of carbohydrates without keeping your GP or HCP informed, otherwise you may suffer hypos where your blood glucose drops dangerously low.

Thank you Ian. That is a wonderful and meaningful advice. So glad I used the forum.