Hi I'm new need advice on stopping gliclazide

[bonniroy]

Hi
my name is Gill
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in june 2010 , I had a mild heart attack and drank gallons of lucazade to make myself feel better!
I was admitted to hospital with hyperglycemia and given i.v. insulin and glucose.My blood sugars were 50!!!
I was released on 4 insulin injections a day 60 units,but as a needle phobic ,the consultant changed me after 3 months onto metformin 500mg and 80mg gliclazide a day,with no testing.My fasting bs was steady at 5.2 on the tablets .Since then I have strictly followed a low carb diet and no longer test bs.I now wish to stop the gliclazide as I don't want to harm my body anymore.I am not overweight and had no diabetic symptoms before the heart attack and have no family history of it.
Has anyone else ever had medication backwards like this!

 

[HLW]

I suggest you start testing for a while, eg morning (fasting), 2 hr after each meal, and at night. Then take these readings to your GP, to discuss stopping the gliclazide (the metformin could be increased maybe, can't remember what the max dose is but it's 2000mg or thereabouts). Then if you do decide to stop the gliclazide, you can continue testing for a while, to make sure your blood sugars don't rise without the gliclazide.

I'm sure gliclazide is less harmful than high blood sugar btw.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Gill and welcome to the forum Maybe it would help you to read the advice put together by the Forum Monitors which is routinely given to new members who are fairly new to diabetes. I see you are already on a low carb diet which is the best way to get your levels down. It might be a good idea to carry on testing though to keep track of how your levels are behaving and what effect your food has on your levels as it's different for everyone. Here is the link:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17088#p155405

Please ask if you have any more questions - everyone is always pleased to help.

 

[CollieBoy]

Gill,
Having your meds backward? Would that be a suppository? :twisted:
Seriously though, good luck with coming off the Glic. I am trying to do the same

 

[lovinglife]

many here have reduced their meds - I started on insulin and then full dose glic - down to what I am now (see my sig). Don't reduce without your HCP input though - but nothing wrong with discussing it with them and giving it a go.

you really need to do some intensive testing if you are to reduce your meds - you need a good picture of what your BS is doing at given times of the day - e.g.) before and after meals 1and 2 hr if you can and fasting levels of a morning.

5.2 is good - is that a random fasting test or your HB1Ac? - either are good numbers but are only an indication of what your BS is doing - if its a fasting test taken with a meter its a snapshot - if its your HB1Ac its a very good number but still only an average which won't tell you your spikes - only regular self testing will do this. It's spikes that do the damage.

either way you are doing brill and your hard work is paying off! I did try to reduce my meds but saw my spikes shooting up even after a lower carb meal ( I don't low carb as I have other medical issues which are aggravated by low carb diet - I average 90g carb a day - about 25g a meal - I only eat burgen bread basmati rice and new potatoes)

I like to keep my numbers below 7 2 hrs after a meal and manage this easily on the meds I am on - I reduced my glic by half and was seeing double figures so went back onto original dose.

I'm sure gliclazide is less harmful than high blood sugar btw.

Have to agree with this

 

[bonniroy]

I was told by the diabetic consultant to only test in the mornings(fasting) he expected me to have readings over 10 and told me to increase the gliclazide until they were lower but I did not ask him what to do if they were low ie 5.2,which is what I got for the 3 weeks that I tested for.I don't ever want to go back on insulin hence my wish to stop the gliclazide.
My gp does not seem to want to help with this but I am going to see him again and see if we can work something out,like maybe cutting them down to half?