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Gliclazide newbie

M

Mummyofone

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Hi, just after advice if poss, been on metformin (500mg x 2) for 4 weeks but taken off as I was not tolerating it, my readings weren't great on it anyway up to 15.5 after meals. I have recently started portion control of meals (and sticking to it), been reading how Gliclazide really lowers your blood sugars and was disappointed today at using for first time and tested 8.4 before breakfast and 9.7 after breakfast (muesli, semi skimmed milk, coffee). (80mg dose 1 x day) Does it take a while to get into your system or is it pretty much instant. And also how easy is it to hypo? Never had one and I'm a bit worried, thanks everyone :-)
 
Hi. I've been on max dose of Gliclazide for years but have never gone anywhere near a hypo but that's almost certainly because I have few islet cells left for the tablets to stimulate. If your pancreas is still in a good state then Gliclazide can have a strong effect and then a hypo may result. According to some DUK info, the med works over about a 10 hour timeframe and I would expect it to start to work within a few days. So my advice would be to keep monitoring your sugars to make sure you aren't going near the hypo region. May be you need a higher dose after discussion with the doc but if it continues to have little effect then there is a hint that your pancreas just isn't 100%. BTW note that if you are overweight and hence insulin resistant you already have loads of insulin floating around hence the Gliclazide would have little effect and could even add to it. Were you on Metformin SR; the Slow Release version? If not and you just had stomach upset then perhaps Met SR is still worth considering particularly if overweight but all this should be discussed with the GP.
 
I'm on 40mg of gliclacide on top of 2550 mg of metformin. I found it lowered my fasting levels by 1 - 1.5 mmol immediately.
 
Thanks for your replies. 3 hours after bf I started feeling really shaky, did bloods and down to 6.1, I've never been this low since I was diagnosed around 3 years ago, I know what I had was pseudo symptoms because I'm not used to be this low so instead of reaching for sugars I had turkey salad sandwich and an apple instead, took about an hour to stop feeling as shaky, haven't done 2 hour bloods yet, so these tablets must be working ? As for metformin, no I wasn't on slow release but I had just about every side effect going- constant diahorreah, almost constant nausea and dizziness, flu symptoms, cold sweats, feeling really weak, stomach cramps. I'm hoping these will go away soon. Would it be better to eat more often just less, I'm on a low calorie diet and want to keep up with it, I've heard Gliclazide can really pile the pounds on x
 
I havent found Gliclazide works too well for me. I have been on it for about a month, take 80mg twice a day, an also take 2000mg metformin daily and my levels rarely drop below 14 or 15. I had one 'hypo' about a week into taking it, when my levels dropped to 7 but that was a fluke, and hasnt happened since.

Assuming you see or talk to your nurse regularly, they will probably ask for your readings (mine phones once a week to discuss it all) and they may increase it. I started on one 40mg and within 2 weeks was up to 160mg a day as the effects are not as they should be. My husband is on double that, so there is a lot of wiggle room with Gliclazide.

Also I am overweight, but dieting, and havent noticed any weight gain problems with this. But everyone is different.
 
I find that the gliclazide doesn't put weight on me (carbs do that). When I'm on a fairly low level of carbs I find that my weight stays the same, although I could do with loosing about a stone or so.
 
I think the weight gain thing with Glic is when you don't low-carb and use the Glic to keep the sugars down instead; same problem for people on insulin who match that to the carbs rather than trying to keep both down.
 
Mummyofone

Metformin assists insulin to be more effective. Gliclazide causes the body to produce insulin. Gliclazide may not work as well if you take nothing to make your insulin work more effectively. Did you try the extended release version of metformin? many people tolerate that and it may help the gliclazide to be more effective. If the numbers do not improve with gliclazide then you might find that you do better with Byetta, Bydureon or Victoza.

Hope this helps

Doug
 
Hi doug ( and everyone ) thanks for the advise, bloods were 16.6 yesterday after 1/2 bag chips and fish cake, think I may need dosage change and/or different meds, never been so high.
 
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