Levels now lower but too low each day

[JohnJ]

Hi
Been a while since on the forum - started with a reading of 22+ back in April, put on 320mg Gliclazide per day and now 240mg Gliclazide and 500mg Metformin per day and levels are good (4 to 9) but I have found that by around 4pm each day my levels drop and lowest has been 2.7.

My surgery, who are superb (get all testing strips free and they are the expensive Accu-Chek Compact Plus) said to add a snack or Glucose tablet but I don't want to do this every day.

Just had first major checks - kidney/liver and feet all OK!

Are they keeping something from me?

Has anyone else had similar daily pattern of highs/lows?

...oh, still can't press the lancet trigger!

 

[evilcat]

Hi John,

I'm pretty similar to you - diagnosed in May with readings over 20. I'm on 500mg metformin and 160mg gliclazide and I too tend to go a bit low mid to late afternoon. I've found that a portion of salted popcorn or a couple of crackers normally get me back on track.

I did experiment (with the doctor's agreement) with reducing my morning Glic to 40mg and also splitting my morning dose and having another 40mg at lunch. Neither of which made much of a difference to the hypos so I'm back on 80 mg am and pm.

I do find that if I have any carbs in the morning, then my levels go shooting up and then drop right down low. Yesterday I had a bowl of porridge (even though I know it spikes me) as I was tired of bacon and eggs. After two hours - 12.5 then at four hours I was down to 2.9...

 

[JohnJ]

Hi John,

I'm pretty similar to you - diagnosed in May with readings over 20. I'm on 500mg metformin and 160mg gliclazide and I too tend to go a bit low mid to late afternoon. I've found that a portion of salted popcorn or a couple of crackers normally get me back on track.

I did experiment (with the doctor's agreement) with reducing my morning Glic to 40mg and also splitting my morning dose and having another 40mg at lunch. Neither of which made much of a difference to the hypos so I'm back on 80 mg am and pm.

I do find that if I have any carbs in the morning, then my levels go shooting up and then drop right down low. Yesterday I had a bowl of porridge (even though I know it spikes me) as I was tired of bacon and eggs. After two hours - 12.5 then at four hours I was down to 2.9...

Hi evilcat,

I too have porridge every morning (spent most of my life not having any breakfast!)
In a way good to know someone else has similar 'figures'. Looking at posts on the forum, levels and treatments vary vastly and it is difficult to get a comparison.

My big worry is the thought of losing limbs, I have one ruined leg from an accident which took 6 months to heal, slowed me right down. This has resulted in permanent circulation damage which may have contributed towards my diabetes. My nurse told me of one of her patients who started with a blue toe and lost his leg - younger than me! Scary!

Please let me know how you progress - cheers John

 

[Sue o2]

Hi John,

4pm to 6pm i call my danger zone now, sometimes going as low as 3.2 so i usually have a piece of fruit and maybe a coffee at this time to tied me over till dinner time,
was on gliclazide but came off it completely a few months ago for a months trial, but happy to say i havent had to start taking it again.
Sue

 

[Etty]

Hi John, hypoglycaemia is a side effect of gliclazide, according to medicinenet.com. You might like to check the other side effects there. You could try a protein-fat snack (piece of cheese) in mid afternoon, or readjust levels of the drug with your doc?

 

[angieG]

I had this prolem on the Glic and have now stopped taking them altogether on the advice of my DN. She said they were only used to get my levels into the normal range from 25 and have now done their job.
I also find that quick up = quick down. The faster you shoot up to high numbers the faster you fall. If you can maintain readings between 5 and 8 I find you don't tend to plummet so low so quick.
Speak to your doctors etc about reducing or quitting the Glic for a bit and see if things inprove.
HTH
Angie

 

[JohnJ]

Thanks angleG,

My levels are now between 4 to 7.6 whatever time of the day, so within normal range. My diabetic nurse suggested dropping 80mg Glic in the morning and replace with another 500mg Metformin. Shall speak to her...