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occasional use of oral mediation

J

jassi

Member
Messages
24
Location
Northern England
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I'm type 2 and am well controlled solely by diet,as I have no wish to take any medication until absolutely necessary. However, I sometimes have problem finding something satisfactory to choose when eating in a restaurant.
I wondered whether taking oral medication on such occasions, so that I could choose something that I would normally avoid,, might be a solution.
Has anybody tried this? Is it likely to be effective?
 
Hi. First you would need an appropriate prescription for one of the diabetes drugs. Having an 'instant' Metformin probably wouldn't help as I think it works over a period of hours and doesn't prod the pancreas anyway. Gliclazide might help but you would need to take a little care as your pancreas might over produce if it's in a good state and cause a hypo. Sitagliptin might help but it's expensive and not prescribed that often. I think it's unlikely you would either have the prescription or the right drug for this.
 
Metformin would be no use at all as it builds up in the body so needs to be taken regularly for weeks before having its effects show, not sure about Glic or other diabetic oral meds but I would suspect the same is true for them.

As far as I am aware only a fast acting insulin would have the desired effect and I very much doubt that anyone would be prescribed it for an occasional meal out.

I would suggest either just watching the carbs you eat when eating out or just take a night off and accept that you may be higher than normal for a few hours, probably not the end of the world if it is just an occasional thing.
 

I do that anyway, its just that I don't like the idea of going outside the reference range at all if I can possibly avoid it. I feel lapses are the thin end of the wedge - once done, its easy to do again.
Clearly my idea is a non-starter, so I'll just have to put up with limited menu choices on occasion.
 
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