New to Gliclazide

[Fraddycat]

Hi,

I have just discovered this forum and its great to meet you all!

I wonder if anyone can give me advice? I was diagnosed just over 2 years ago with type 2 diabetes, and take 4 slow release metformin a day, which I was getting on fine with. I was not particularly good over Christmas and my tests in January were high. I struggle to lose weight although it remains fairly constant and I do manage to get exercise most days. Just recently I have been prescribed Gliclazide, and started taking it this Sunday.

I am struggling to find a balance. I find my blood sugar dropping and I am starving and shaky at different times of the day. When I am like that I just want to gorge on rubbish even though I know it won't help with the weight loss. I had a good lunch today, veg soup and brown ham sandwich, and a banana at 3 ish and I was still shaky and feeling ill when I got home at 6.30. This is ridiculous, it seems completely counter intuitive. I know I need to improve my numbers but I just can't seem to manage this new tablet.

Any advice?

 

[volorg]

Hi and glad you found the forum!

I was prescribed Gliclazide some months ago and I had the same problems with sugar swings - I was forever getting low sugar which lead to me eating on quick fix food such as chocolate. I found that it didn't really matter what I ate to try and prevent the lows, they would always come. I am overweight and it seemed a bit mad to be on something that was, in effect, encouraging me to eat ****!

I discussed it with my doctor and highlighted the difficulties I was having with it and how I felt it was making me eat more. She prescribed Pioglitazone (Actos brand) which I took for a while. However, since finding out that it makes you gain weight(!) I have come off it. I am also on metformin and another drug, sitagliptin (Januvia brand).

The best advice I can offer is to discuss the side effects with your doctor and highlight that you want to lose weight to manage your diabetes rather than upping your meds. (I really want to get off the sitagliptin as can have horrible side effects.)

I take chronium with my evening meal to help balance my sugars. This is available from good chemists and holland & barrett and is well known for helping to balance sugars.

I hope this helps and good luck with getting your sugars down. Just out of interest, how high did they go after Xmas?

Jane

 

[paragliderpete]

Hi, I'm on exactly the same meds as you 1000mg metformin sr in the evening and 1000mg metformin sr plus 80mg gliclazide in the morning.
I was on 240mg of gliclizide two years ago but managed to reduce it to the current dose by diet control.
It sound like you don't use any type of diet control. For example your lunch of veg soup if canned could be up to 20 grams of carb plus two slices of bread and a bannana. Not done all the sums but suspect over 60grams of carb in total. Which would send your blood sugars high. If I had a bannana my blood sugars would be above 12 within an hour. Do you test your blood sugars if so what are they at 1hr and 2hr post meals. When you get the shakes how long after food and do you test at this point. If so what are your readings.

I find that the more carbs I have with gliclizide the stronger insulin response I get. Exactly as it's supposed to do.

I take mine first thing in the morning with a very low carb breakfast (below 3 grams total ) usually a protien shake. I find doing this gives a lot gentler response a lunch, and less at tea time. I also find that I have to take it before 9am or again I get low sugers mid afternoon. However this is predictable and i can offset the effect by a little snack of meat or cheese no carbs.

It also sounds like you have a fairly high carb intake to stop the low sugers. you need to be very careful or you will get a jojo effect.

Hope you found this of help. unfurtunately we are all different , and what works for me might not work for you. The only way is to test and test and test again and over time you will start to understand how you react to the drugs and carbs.

I find and I'm sure a lot of others on the forum will agree , the 80% of the control is by diet and only 20% or less by drugs.
You may find by lowering your carb intake that you can stop the need for Gliclazide. I'm still working on it . Best of luck

 

[Fraddycat]

Hi Paragliderpete,

I don't feel like I have had good advice or support, I don't monitor my sugars as my Diabetic Nurse said it was not necessary, and took away my prescription for strips. Plus I have never heard about controlling carbs, my DN gave me a diet sheet which says what I can have often, rarely and never but its pretty mainstream.

I would love to lose weight, and I know that's the best thing I can do to control my diabetes but it just seems to defeat me.

Hi Volorg,

I don't know what my HB1AC was I am seeing the doc tomorrow so I will write it down.

Thanks for your support you two!

 

[xyzzy]

Hello FraddyCat and welcome.

Like Pete says it sounds like you've had very little good dietary advice which maybe why you now need to go on Gliclazide. Many of us manage on just diet or diet + Metformin it's just a case of knowing what foods are safe and what foods aren't. Anyway here's what I did. I was diagnosed in December last year and using the advice I found on the forum I got my blood sugar levels back to normal within around a couple of months or so and I have also normalised my cholesterol levels and blood pressure as well. I have now lost over 3 stone in weight too. My doctor is very pleased how I am getting on and has advised me to keep doing what I have been doing since it's obviously working really well. I have normalised everything and just take Metformin to help a bit. Not a cure as I still have to be very careful what I eat but I feel loads better than I did.

Diet wise its really easy. Just drastically cut down or better cut out all things with plain sugar, so biscuits, cakes, sugar in tea and coffee, pure fruit juices, non diet versions of soft drinks. Next and really importantly try halving starchy foods like rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and any other flour based products. Replace what's now missing with extra meat, fish, eggs, cheese and especially vegetables. Vegetables that grow above ground are best although most of us find carrots fine. Things like yoghurt are fine as is a small amount of fresh fruit. I find the ones that end in "berry" are the best. If you don't mind artificial sweeteners things like Diet Coke are fine to drink. On the starchy foods that are left swap try brown basmati rice instead of white and brown or tri-colour pasta. The bread that most recommend is actually Bergen soya bread but some do ok with wholemeal as well.

The above diet is close to one you would be one recommended to try by the Swedish Health service. It was introduced in that country last year and the American health service and several other countries health services recommend something very similar for Type 2 diabetics. In the UK the diet guidelines are now over 30 years old and are only gradually being updated. As the UK is lagging behind you may find what I and other forum members recommend is different to what your are told is a good diet for you follow.

Did your doctor give you a blood meter and strips as some do and some don't? It's a bit of a post code lottery and we find the progressive surgeries are pro testing and others anti. I'll warn you the anti ones can sometimes be very vocally anti! If you find your surgery is really anti then many of us would recommend getting a meter and strips yourself. If that turns out to be the case then just ask and lots of members can help.

The reason testing is important is you should try and keep your blood sugars below 8ish two hours after eating any meal. Above the 8 value is where the dangers of complications do begin to occur according to diabetic experts. So if you can't test how will you now if what you are eating is keeping you safe? The problem is every diabetic is different so my earlier advice to halve starchy foods is just a rough guide. You may find you need to eat less than half (like me) or that you can eat more than half like others.

As you get into it all and read around the forum you may see people talking about carb counting. If you want to understand what that is just ask. It is a powerful weapon that a diabetic can use to control their condition and one that many of us use to great effect.

Good luck and keep asking questions.

Regards

Steve

PS Here's two good links about what's good to eat.

First is the lady doctor who's low carb / low GI recommendations seem to form the basis of what's recommended in Sweden

http://blogg.passagen.se/dahlqvistannika/?anchor=my_lowcarb_dietary_programe_in

Second is a good beginners guide to low carb regimes that are excellent for reducing blood sugar levels and losing weight.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

 

[Fraddycat]

Hi Xyzzy,

(you don't use KCS do you? If you do you know what I am talking about)

Thanks for this great advice, I had been coming round to thinking in the last few weeks that there has to be something wrong with my diet and last time I saw my DN I asked if I could do something like meal replacement (as a shortterm solution to get my weight down) she had no idea and said she would be willing to give me a prescription for testing strips if I wanted to try it.

I feel like I am in a destructive cycle, eating the wrong things, my weight stays high, my Diabetes is uncontrolled, I need more meds, they make me hungry, I eat the wrong things.

I'm grateful to you all, why didn't I find you all 2 years ago! I am going to try to change my diet and take back control.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Daibell]

Hi. If you take Gliclazide you do need to have a meter and test your blood sugar as it can cause hypos. As others have advised, you should probably ignore the NHS diet sheet and reduce your carb intake. If you can get your weight down through a sensible low-carb diet you may be able to reduce your gliclazide which will help with sugar swings and how you feel.

Volorg, although sitagliptin can by exception have bad side effects I think for most of us who take it we have no problem at all and it's mechanism is probably safer than for Gliclazide as it doesn't hit the pancreas and doesn't cause hypos.

 

[hanadr]

Do you test your blood sugar level when you feel hungry? You could be experiencing minor hypos.
I was on Gliclazide some years ago and didn't like what I read about it, so, with the agreement of my GP, I went Low Carb and stopped taking it.
It can and does cause hypos, if your dose is too high. Eating more carbs to correct the hypos will cause weight gain. You may like to have a further discussion with you healthcare team about it.
Hana

 

[Fraddycat]

Hi Everyone,

Doc took me off Glicazide (woohoo) and has approved me going onto a low carb diet. I tried it yesterday for the first time and my fast BG this morning was 4.7 (it was 7 the day before) so a good start.

I do feel empowered, like I can take back control which is great, thanks for the support, weblinks and advice!

Jane