• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Is this normal for medication

M

mch1966

Well-Known Member
Messages
166
Location
wales
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi all

I was diagnosed with type 2 on 31st May, I was started on 80mg gliclazide, then increased to 160 and today it has been increased to 320mg per day, my BG readings are eratic and I am being diet concious, the highest reading I have had was 24 mmol the lowest was 9.4mmol but generally they range between 13 and 17 mmol.

Will they come down with time, or is the increase in medication in such a short space of time an indication that the drugs are not working and are unlikely too, I have been told that 320mg of gliclazide is the maximum I can have. I also have an issue with my vision deteriorating quickly I cannot read print without glasses two weeks ago I could get by if needed it too, my diabetic nurse advised its due to high glucose levels which might improve when (if) the levels fall.

Finding it all a bit daunting, and a lot of anxiety is creeping in, as the mind runs into overtime.

Don't want to sound negative, I am just concerned and I think its the not knowing, especially with things like time frames for medication to work etc.

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom
 
Hi I only have words without the wisdom part, I found my bgs were very eratic at first, it took about 2 months and them doubling my metformin to 2g a day to start to see any sort of levelling off, oh and a low carb diet (which I think was more important to me than the meds) I suppose they just want to get you down to a reasonable level, then maybee you can reduce the meds as you get better control, unfortunately it may take a while like mine, try not to panic (easy to say) I'm sure someone with a brain will come along soon with advice, good luck!
Andy
 
Andy12345 said:
Hi I only have words without the wisdom part, I found my bgs were very eratic at first, it took about 2 months and them doubling my metformin to 2g a day to start to see any sort of levelling off, oh and a low carb diet (which I think was more important to me than the meds) I suppose they just want to get you down to a reasonable level, then maybee you can reduce the meds as you get better control, unfortunately it may take a while like mine, try not to panic (easy to say) I'm sure someone with a brain will come along soon with advice, good luck!
Andy
Click to expand...

Cheers Andy, did you start on gliclazide or straight to metformin? thanks for your response did not realise it could be months, thanks Mark
 
Just metformin, I was 24.9 when I tested myself, had keytones in my blood so doc sent me to a&e where they started me on metformin, then a week later I couldn't get below 18 so they upped them, this coincided with me reading about low carb here and immediately started trying to lower my carbs, seems impossible at first, then the more I learn the easier it got, for the first couple of months my bgs were crazy, I would often be 8-9 before eating then 6 after then back up again and terrible morning readings, it all seemed to not make sense because it was opposite to what I was reading but the kind folks here told me it takes a while to settle down and they were right 4 months now and I'm down to 30g ish carbs a day, my bg stays between 3 and 6 and 6 is rare, I'm hoping for a med reduction in July at my next hba1c...so I'm sure you will find things settle.....eventually
I hope anyway :)
Andy
 
30gms of carbs a day, that sounds an incredible challenge. you have done really well, I need to look at carbs, I have just put my daily intake from today in "myfitnesspal" and my carbs are high....
 
Hi Mch1966,
I was diagnosed about a 1.5 years ago and had very similar problems. I have since discovered that many of the medications used to treat type 2 often take a few weeks to take full effect and BG to settle. That is why when your meds get changed (as they do a lot when you are first diagnosed) you tend to wait about month before reviewing progress with your doc. The eye problem you have experienced is normal. When I first started treatment, my BG dropped from 29 to about 15 in a just a few days. I went into work on Monday, could read off my monitor no problem, on Tuesday, I couldn't read a thing.There was such a massive change in eyesight overnight that if my doctor had prewarned me, I would have been terrified. I quickly purchased some strong reading glasses, which I managed with. It took about a month for my eyesight to return to normal.
To begin with, treating type 2 is all about little steps. Diet, exercise and one medication, if this is not enough your doc will add in another drug and so on....until you get control. I know when I was diagnosed, I just wanted everything in place and working because I was scarred and overwhelmed. Unfortunately medications need to be added in slowly to avoid side-effects and unpleasent sudden drop in BG. Control will come and that awful overwhelmed feeling will disappear in time too.
Hope this helps
Flakey
 
I have a strong aversion to high doses of any medication. Have you tried controlling the carb intake? I see that as a much safer appoach.
Hana
 
Hi Flakey,

Thanks very much, your comments are very reassuring, and your right about being over whelmed and scarred definitely the emotions I have been going through, much appreciated, thanks Mark
 
hanadr said:
I have a strong aversion to high doses of any medication. Have you tried controlling the carb intake? I see that as a much safer appoach.
Hana
Click to expand...

Hi Hana

I thought I was being strict on my diet, but when I look at my intake today its not good from a carb count

Calories 1772
Carbs 239
Fat 54
Protein 77
Sugars 25

I am probably on the wrong diet, when I read that some people are managing on 30g of carbs

Mark
 
Mark

What sort of carbs are you eating?


Diagnosed type II 1998 2 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Hi. I suspect with that very high carb intake you may be overweight as well as having high blood sugar? If so, then you may want to discuss adding Metformin to your meds as this is the drug of choice to reduce insulin resistance. Gliclazide should have an effect within a week or so max as it directly prods the pancreas. I suspect it may not be working as any insulin resistance means you may already be 'swimming' in insulin and don't need any more? Your number one priority is to reduce your carbs to below, say, 150 gm/day. Your eyesight should recover once you blood sugar comes down; mine did.
 
Hi Neil,

Todays carbs, as follows:

50g shreddies bite size (47g carbs)
Beef sandwich on 2 pieces whole meal bread (48g carbs)
6 rough oat cakes (35g carbs)
2 x new potatoes (32g carbs)
steamed brocolli (13g)
weight watchers oaty biscuit (12g carbs)
1 packet quavers (13g carbs)
1 packet plain crisps (13g carbs)

other than the above I had a piece of steamed salmon with dinner which was 0g I think

Cheers

Mark
 
How much milk on your cereal? I now have my 50g of bite size shredded wheat dry with a glass of water. The crisps and quavers stand out as ripe for the bin apart from that keep the portion sizes down and include milk in your calculations.


Diagnosed type II 1998 2 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Daibell said:
Hi. I suspect with that very high carb intake you may be overweight as well as having high blood sugar? If so, then you may want to discuss adding Metformin to your meds as this is the drug of choice to reduce insulin resistance. Gliclazide should have an effect within a week or so max as it directly prods the pancreas. I suspect it may not be working as any insulin resistance means you may already be 'swimming' in insulin and don't need any more? Your number one priority is to reduce your carbs to below, say, 150 gm/day. Your eyesight should recover once you blood sugar comes down; mine did.
Click to expand...

Hi Daibell, and thanks for your reply, I could lose some weight but I do not think it is critical, my BMI is 24.7 so its on the upper limit, I will go for the 150gm/day carbs and see if that helps, the diabetes nurse did mention Metformin but with everything thats going on I tend not to take in everything that I am told, at least on the forum you can digest the information (no pun intended :D )

Once again thanks

Mark
 
Neil Walters said:
How much milk on your cereal? I now have my 50g of bite size shredded wheat dry with a glass of water. The crisps and quavers stand out as ripe for the bin apart from that keep the portion sizes down and include milk in your calculations.


Diagnosed type II 1998 2 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
Click to expand...

I weigh 50g of cereal and then add 60g of skimmed milk, which you suggested in an earlier post, with regard to red top milk 1% fat I am working on 5g of carb per 100ml does that sound right.

Thanks for your comments

Mark
 
Yes I have now cut the milk out and am finding it much better for me as I was still getting a bit of a spike. Through trial and error I eventually stopped the milk and now I have a consistent differential of 2 between Pre and post meal readings. I had to change as I have dropped to only one 80mg gliclazide following my last hBAc1 result.


Diagnosed type II 1998 2 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
hi, when i first started low carbing 150g a day seemed ridiculous and impossible, once i realised 150g was in fact posible i slowly looked at my highest carb intake for that day and tried to replace that one thing, for example i used to eat weetabix for brekkie with semi milk and realised by switching that to yogurt and berries it would cut x amount and tried that, then looked at the next highest carbolicious food and so on....its kinda fun challenging yourself to reduce the numbers (with the help of myfitnesspal) for example with my bg i used to eat a sandwich on burgen bread at lunchtime and found by eating a chicken salad my bg dropped by a whole 2, it was shocking that 2 small slices of "healthy" bread could have such a dramatic effect but they do (for me) so i wouldnt worry about getting so low very fast just small bites at it, i think some people find 150g a day is all they need to get down to. i am on a weight loss kick so im keeping my carbs low but hoping once i reach my happy weight i will introduce some more carbs and see what happens to my bg and my weight....i would love to go back to my sandwich at lunch, the salad is a bit of a pain but i want to get to the happy weight first so the bread wont affect my bg so bad (i hope) but i have come to realise that whatever "diet" we are on it has has has to be sustainable forever, theres no point doing it if you dont think you can keep it up so ive tried to eat like i always will (i hope again) with a few adjustments, im still learning same as you, what has helped me massively is learning to cook my own food (recipes), you can control exactly what goes into your food. the only food on your list i could eat would be the brocolli hehe
Andy
 
Back
Top