Gliclazide and weight gain

I noticed when I used to be on that drug that was when I wasn't losing any weight despite doing 2 hours of exercise daily (I was doing an average of 16000 steps per day or more, plus weights) and eating right. I just about went insane. I then started getting very sick and my exercise routine went out the window. But my thoughts on it is that Gliclazide actually stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin. So effectively you're not only insulin resistant already, but you've got excess insulin floating around in your blood.... of course insulin is a fat storing hormone. I think that could be the reason for why you're noticing weight gain. It is probably a good idea to discuss with your doctor and see if there are any other alternatives to helping you keep your sugar levels down. These days I don't have a choice as I no longer produce much insulin anyhow so meds won't help me. I wish you the best.

As you can see from my stats below, I am coming off the Glic too. There are 2 reasons I am coming off it, firstly the weight gain (under active thyroid not helping at all - but at least its now been diagnosed) and 2, I kept going slightly hypo.

Because my blood results were good, the GP said I could reduce my Glic to 1/2 (40g) tablet a day, then if after a few weeks I was still in single figures, I could come off the Glic totally.

My figures are somewhat higher now in the mornings (about 6.5) but still in single figures - if they are still the same at 1st August, I will stop taking the Glic totally to see if that will help any weight loss (I am really having trouble shifting anything despite becoming way more active than I was)

midiansangel said:

Thank you
I've spoken to the Dr and nurse, and they all agree on getting me off the glics in favour of replacing it with a new one soon.

I never knew insulin was a fat strong hormone! In my ignorance, I just thought it was all to do with glucose ... I'm a little slow I think

I think half my problem is ... I have no idea what questions to ask.

I wish you all the best and thank you for taking the time to help and share this valuable bit of information

Sent from my B3-A20 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app

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You're welcome

Yes, it is the glucose being out of normal range which would trigger more insulin to be floating around in your system. Basically most of the oral meds (aside from a couple like metformin and januvia) are designed to stimulate your pancreas. I think they possibly contribute to wearing your pancreas out too along with the insulin resistance in the long run. Mine is definitely worn out.... I was only on oral meds for 5 years. But prior to that I managed my diabetes for 7 years on diet alone. I've been on insulin since beginning of 2010. I perhaps should've been on insulin sooner than I was because I had a good couple of bad years on oral meds where docs didn't run the diagnostic tests on me and just kept changing drugs and dosages on me trying to get them to work. That's why I always say to anyone with type 2 that if things stop working ask for the diagnostic tests to be done again and of course sure try something different too.... but the diagnostic tests will tell you what your body is doing. Things can change and obviously with me they did change. I just think I wasted a lot of money on those meds and as I mentioned already I nearly went insane for a bit there as I was doing all I could and nothing worked. Finally they listened to me and agreed to my request for the GAD test and c-peptide test... then it was oh well oral meds won't work for you as you hardly produce any insulin anyway (my c-peptide test result was in the red). You're probably still producing your own insulin so getting your diet right and noticing changes will help you.

I didn't find a weight gain on Glic, although I was already on LCHF and running a continuing drop in dosing!

My weight has been steadily increasing ever since I was diagnosed with T2! I'm on metformin and gliclizide and was convinced it's the metformin that's to blame. I started on 2 metformin a day then increased that to 4 which I didn't think had much impact on my sugars but the nurse said to stay at that dose and add 1 gliclizide a day. I've increased exercise, I now run 5k three times a week( go me!), I walk 20 minutes to work, at a pace, not dawdling and then back again and really can't believe I should be expected to do more than that.

But reading this thread makes me think the gliclizide is maybe the bad guy, which is sad because the last hba1c (the first since taking gliclizide) was really encouraging.

Have taken myself off Gliclazide slowly over past 4 months................was on 240mg per day. Not told my GP yet. I did this because I wanted to try intermittent fasting a la Jason Fung, and was a bit worried about hypos.

Before doing this, my weight loss had stalled, but since off Gliclazide, losing weight again (about a pound a week). However, i do miss the Gliclazide a bit............most BG is now 6-7, rather than 5-6, even on a good low carb day.

I've just taken myself off Gliclazide, I was put on it earlier this year, in conjunction with Metformin which I have been on for 3 years, and Lyxumia injections (18 months on those).
I was doing alright with weight loss, and then over the last three months have gained 7kg. 5 of those 7kg arrived during a low carb shake diet.
I haven't told my GP or Nurse yet - I have an appointment in 3 weeks time, and I wanted to prove that it was the Glic that was causing the weight gain.

I have found that my appetite has dramatically reduced, I'm not craving food all of the time, and I'm actually feeling a lot better in myself.
Blood sugar isn't great, but I know it will get better. I just don't think that being morbidly obese to begin with and being put on a drug that causes weight gain is the best idea for my situation. Losing weight is the key to stopping insulin resistance and improving levels, not slamming my body with a load of insulin that it can't use!

I was on gliclazide and was packing on weight, didn't help that I was also on novomix insulin which was needing to be upped regularly.
New endo and change to MDI insulin and taken off gliclazide immediately. My BG have come down dramatically and the weight is coming off slowly.

What is the reason you were given to come off gliclazide slowly?

My endo certainly didn't see a reason to .

Quite a few of our members have reported weight gain with this medication. Pretty sure @DavidGrahamJones is still dealing with the extra weight he put on from it.

Indy51 said:

Quite a few of our members have reported weight gain with this medication. Pretty sure @DavidGrahamJones is still dealing with the extra weight he put on from it.

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Please read as slightly tongue in cheek, not to be taken too seriously, but . . . . .
It's such a big story that I might write a book. Most of the time I feel that any chemical that interferes with the way the body works will have some effect on something. There's over 500 chemical processes going on in the body so it's got to interfere with something. My "weight by date" software goes back to October 2008 and I can see what I was eating and I know what drugs I was taking. I can see the rapid weight gain when prescribed Rosiglitazone up to 27 stone and the rapid drop when taken off Rosiglitazone because it was affecting my liver function (only back to normal in last year). The rapid drop stopped abruptly when I was prescribed Gliclazide and in fact I gained some 10 kgs. My diet was fairly ordinary and didn't change, never touched processed foods of any sort except for tinned tomatoes and WW tinned beans.

Low carb kick started weight loss again, but it stopped at the weight I was for many years before the Rosiglitazone, it's almost as if you're programmed to weight a certain weight. Try not to laugh too much, have you ever been to see a kinesiologist? Not so popular in Europe but you can study the subject at Canadian Universities. In my efforts to discover why I can't lose when eating much less than my RMR, my GP said I didn't eat enough and I should try eating more. Big mistake, guess what, when you eat more, you gain weight, even though it was still much less than my RMR of 2300. I've even had that figure verified,, calculated by the Harris Benedict formula and verified by the University of Westminster. I even went into their BodPod to analyse my fat/muscle ration and even that tied up with the scales I've been using at my Nutritional Therapist.

Great fun this dieting lark, just not straight forward. Not having to take Gliclazide or Januvia or for that matter a statin are all things that have an effect on my weight loss or lack of it. Just the Metformin and BP meds to go,

Gliclazide is well known for weight gain, see if you can switch to the more expensive Sitagliptin, that is weight neutral.

Hi all,

I’m quite young and I don’t eat a huge amount. I have been on glicazide for about 3 months now and gained a stone. I have been sick (stomach bug) and don’t have much of an appetite for the last 6 weeks. I eat half of what I usually eat, I go gym regularly and I swim. I’m on 240mg of glicazide and I take a weekly injection of trulicity. After 4 years of trying a wide array of medicines to control my T2, glicazide is all that seems to work. My doctor has been keen to get me on insulin and that comes with weight gain too. For the people that have said they’ve come off of glicazide, what worked for you to control your sugars? As in the names of other meds? I’ve tried dapagliflozon, victoza injection, metformin… a few more that I cannot remember. Nothing controlled my bloods! I would be keen to hear what worked for you guys as I am not a fan of injections and the weight gain is becoming depressing. Thank you!

Welcome @SGS2000
Its a very old thread (2016) I doubt you will get any answers from the original posters.
Many of us have managed to reduce or stop medications by eating a low carb diet. All carbs turn to glucose once digested, apart from the fiber which passes right through. So limiting the amount of carbs in your diet usually results in lower blood sugar levels.