Is Repaglinide a 'switch' or a 'dial'?

curiouser

Member
Messages
5
I'm newly diagnosed T3c - yeah... that's gonna be fun explaining to docs and nurses for years to come.

Basically T3c = my pancreas is a bit busted (I had pancreatitis, but they're also checking for mild cystic fibrosis). The current situation is that I still make my own background insulin, but don't make bolus insulin in response to a meal.

I've been put on Repaglinide, and told to titrate the dose until I get normal post-prandial readings without going hypo.

It's never going to be perfect as T3c is a 'brittle' diabetes - insulin production is kind of sputtery. But I'm very sensitive to even slightly elevated levels so I'm trying to get my BM control as tight as possible.

What I'm wondering, and haven't been able to find out from papers online so far, is whether Repaglinide works like a switch or a dial.

If it works like a switch then - say - 1.5 mg would be my dose for most meals where I'm eating carbs, regardless of whether that's 50g of carbs or 150g of carbs. That is the dose that activates my pancreas to make some extra insulin, and from there my body decides how much to make.

If it works like a dial then I might take 1mg for 50g of carbs and 2mg for 150g of carbs - titrating the dose against the carb count of my meal.

Does anyone know the answer? I guess eventually I will know from my own data, but the brittleness makes the patterns a bit 'noisy'.

Thanks,

Curiouser
 

NatJS

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diabetes
I just started repaglinide and would be curious to know if you worked out the answer to your question!
I'm newly diagnosed T3c - yeah... that's gonna be fun explaining to docs and nurses for years to come.

Basically T3c = my pancreas is a bit busted (I had pancreatitis, but they're also checking for mild cystic fibrosis). The current situation is that I still make my own background insulin, but don't make bolus insulin in response to a meal.

I've been put on Repaglinide, and told to titrate the dose until I get normal post-prandial readings without going hypo.

It's never going to be perfect as T3c is a 'brittle' diabetes - insulin production is kind of sputtery. But I'm very sensitive to even slightly elevated levels so I'm trying to get my BM control as tight as possible.

What I'm wondering, and haven't been able to find out from papers online so far, is whether Repaglinide works like a switch or a dial.

If it works like a switch then - say - 1.5 mg would be my dose for most meals where I'm eating carbs, regardless of whether that's 50g of carbs or 150g of carbs. That is the dose that activates my pancreas to make some extra insulin, and from there my body decides how much to make.

If it works like a dial then I might take 1mg for 50g of carbs and 2mg for 150g of carbs - titrating the dose against the carb count of my meal.

Does anyone know the answer? I guess eventually I will know from my own data, but the brittleness makes the patterns a bit 'noisy'.

Thanks,

Curiouser
 

NatJS

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diabetes
Having been on this medication for a while now, I can tell you it's definitely a dial - more for a heavier carb meal, less for a lower carb meal.