How long do medication effects (on BG) take to stabilise?

[Scubamup]

Just started on 30mg slow release Gliclazide and I've been watching my morning BG level come down from 15.6 down though to 9.5. Just had the first reading that has gone back up at 10.1 in the morning. Only six days so far. How long does it take before you reach a stable state when you start / change medication levels?

Ta

Karl

 

[jay hay-char]

I think this is a bit of a "How long is a piece of string"? question, as it varies from person to person. Just a couple of points about your readings: (1) Don't expect a smooth, steady downward path, there will be blips and inconsistencies, caused by all sorts of factors, none of which necessarily mean much in the great scheme of things. The important issue is that, overall, your levels continue to drop and, (2) there's quite a significant margin of error with B/G meters - iirc it's about 20% - so a variation in your readings of 0.6 over two days is fairly meaningless, in my view.

Hope this helps/reassures.

 

[Hergen]

Hi Karl! Just to give you an idea what my last three weeks looked like:

Your blood sugar readings can vary by the minute. I do not know which type you are, but Type 2s usually don't take readings as frequently as I do, I'm a bit of a special snowflake in this case. There's also the dawn effect, where the body seems to make more glucose available in the blood to wake up and get started into the day with more energy. Personally, my readings are always the lowest around 8pm. So comparing a morning reading to an evening reading doesn't make too much sense.

 

[Daibell]

I believe Gliclazide should settle with a few days and even less. It works up to a 10 hour period from taking the tablet and stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin. It isn't a magic cure but should help reduce blood sugar if you still have working islet cells left. A low-carb diet remains the most effective thing to have in conjunction with the tabelts if needed. I'm assuming you aren't particularly overweight. If you are overweight then Metformin is the most relevant tablet to reduce insulin resistance.

 

[Scubamup]

Just come back from the specialist. He's just told me he's sure I'm type 1. I'm kind if in a daze now. I thought the fact a single gliclazide had had a positive effect meant I couldn't be.