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Gliclazide- constant hypo

Denisa79

Denisa79

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I have reactive hypoglicemia for 20 years ( along with type2 developed during Covid) and cos i couldnt tolerate Metformin they gave me Gliclizide ( 80mg) Been week now, the longer i take it the worse i feel. On wesnsday i had a bad hypo despite i ate carbs 3x a day. Easily become angry, sleepy, fatique, zero motivation, depression, knee pain so on wensday morning i took 40mg last time. This late evening i even had a bigger hypo so i ate apple, then few mins again hunger so ate yoghurt and a bit of beans, still feelings of hypo, i was worried i become unconscious in sleep, now i still feel hypo but its getting better.
So no matter how much carbs i eat, it just keeps my bs down….especially when doing activity, thats when i have to constantly eat. At some point i felt like being close to mental breakdown, crying, eventrough i ate as i say.
I spoke to pharmacist and told her how i feel , she asked if i measured my bs i said no so she basically said either pick up the monitor or no other medication.
Now here is a problem.
If i take this Gliclazide again so i could measure it i might feel even worse, and another few days spend in misery just laying bed instead of working and going to gym. Just thinking about it makes me cry. So i dont know what should i do?
Maybe i should just rat like pig , pasta, coke, candies etc and lay in bed and become even more obese? Or should i request different medication from Dr and not pharmacist? Or should i change Gp?
What would you do in my case?
 
Hi @Denisa79 & welcome to the forum :)

I’m T2 diet only & have no experience of reactive hypoglycaemia so can’t really advise you other than to say you really need to be testing your blood sugars to see how your numbers are behaving. Those symptoms you describe is how I would feel if my BG was high not low. You may not be hypo even though you’re feeling it. It could be a false hypo and eating more carbs will just push your BG up further & this could be aggravating your RH even more.

We can’t advise on medication and dosage & whether you take it or not, we also can’t give medical advice, but members can share their experiences. I’ve tagged a member @Lamont D who is very experienced in RH & may be able to help you

But my advice is get yourself & meter & start testing, without testing it’s like driving a car without a speedometer. As you are now on Gliclizide your GP may provide you with a meter & a prescription for strips, though you may have to push hard for it. I had to many years ago when I was on Gliclizide. Most diabetics, apart from those with T1 or LADA have to self fund testing. I’ll tag @Rachox who has a list of a few affordable meters if you need to go down that route
 
own experience not with that particular drug, however from insulin...
inititally high sugars hba1c was: 162 this equates to average of 24.4mmol/l
felt more tired inititally when the blood sugar control was getting better, had issues with vision when they were lowered into more normal range, including being shakey alongside other hypo symptons. it was explained to me that the body was used to higher levels and that should ignore any 'false hypo' the levels should be checked against fingerprick and only then treat if hypo feeling was confirmed via a fingerprick result. gradually over time became more acustomed to more 'normal readings'. vision started to imporve slowly too was just the eyes getting used to working with lower sugar levels.

here is a couple of links for trial cgm that you could find useful:
https://www.dexcom.com/en-GB/one-plus-campaign-sample? offering a free 10day trial
https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html offering a free 15day trial

thats 25 days worth of 'realtime data' (its slightly lagged as reads from interestrial fluid 10-15 min delay approx). you can get the samples only if you've not had before free of charge. otherwise 100% you should get yourself a blood glucose meter, factor in costs of strips some can be a lot cheaper than others even if the meter itself is cheaper ...

heres a fairly recent link to another thread in the forum: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/which-blood-glucose-monitor.208142/post-2747465 which has purchase info (if you cant get on prescription) ensure to check the box to get the vat back :)
 
As you are newly diagnosed T2 @Denisa79 you may also find this link that is in my signature useful, it has info on carbohydrates but also when to test & the numbers you are looking for & how to use the information. You can do all the testing in the word but if you don’t understand why you’re testing and how to use the information then it’s a pointless exercise:)

Administrator

Thread 'Basic information for Newly Diagnosed Diabetics'

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 190,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes...
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Hi @Denisa79 and welcome to the forum. I have no experience of taking Gliclazide but from what I’ve read here I think diabetics on Gliclazide are supposed to be prescribed a blood glucose meter, lancets and strips because of the risk of hypos so might be worth checking with your surgery. However if this is not the case here’s some info with links for UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.



HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/



Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)



If you’d like to try a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus follow this link:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott



Dexcom also offer a free trial of their Dexcom one + here

The Dexcom ONE+ CGM (Continuous Glucose Montoring) system | Dexcom
 
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