I may be wrong about this, but I thought Gliclazide is one of the drugs where patients are supposed to be issued with a meter and test their blood glucose before driving - to prevent situations just like this one. If I am right, your surgery has been very remiss in prescribing you the Glic without adequate information and care.
I will tag
@Oldvatr because I think he knows the DVLA driving requirements.
Hi. Here is the DVLA info for you:
https://www.gov.uk/diabetes-driving
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/503546/INF188X2_150216.pdf
and from this site:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/driving-and-hypoglycaemia.html
In essence, you probably do not need to tell DVLA unless you have had a hypo where you needed others to assist you to recover. But you do need to tell your insurance company you are T2 on orals. It should not increase the premium.
The suggested level of 5 mmol.l in the guidelines is higher than the level you would normally expect to get hypo symptoms at (normally 3.8 or lower for most of us) and that is to allow for meter inaccuracy. As MEP also says, you could still be dropping bgl at the time of test. Be aware that there are some meters around that are calibrated for plasma bgl levels, and these will read about 1.6 mmol higher than the guiddlines state, so for instance I have had hypos when my SD Codefree reads up to 6.4 mmol/l
I am also struggling with 2 Glic tabs a day, and I am dropping to 1 a day, with the 2nd one on standby for carby days. I have a collection of over 100 spares now. I was on 4 a day!!!! I am on a ketogenic diet, and I think this lessens the brainfog of the hypos, I still get lows, but do not need assistance. I also know now how my lows bottom out at a safe level, so I do not hit the panic sweetie jar button to over correct a low. With experience you can learn to live with low bgl levels, and to get averages of 5 mmol/l means this is probably going to happen. But I
always make sure I meet the guidelines for driving.
Thr last point I will make is that NICE guidelines to GP's say that anyone taking insulin should be supported for self monitoring, but T2's on orals or diet only should not get this support UNLESS there is evidence of hypoglycemic episodes occurring. Now you have had one, it is worth mentioning it to your GP and also that you are a driver The NICE guidelines do note that Glic increases the chances of hypo'e happening. My GP fully supports me, and last week my results were <<quote>>
magnificent <<unquote>> But you will be expected to keep a daily log of readings, medication, food eaten hypo detections etc.
And they want to see improvements being made for their investment. Because T2s on orals cannot bolus for meals it is felt by GPs that T2D cannot benefit from self monitoring, but those of us here know different. So play the safety card aka DVLA. The punchline I play is that since the GP was wanting me on insulin last year, then I would be getting full testing support anyway, So I save him money by needing less support. It is the Practice budget thats paying for my treatment and care.
Goof Luck.
EDIT: was it my wishing Goof Luck that everybody liked? Good Luck is what I actually meant to say, but my bgl was running low last night.
