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Short acting Glicazide

T

tiredoftesting

Member
Messages
7
I’ve been put on short acting Glicazide after 20+ years on Slow release. Has anyone experienced strange side effects? I’ve found I’m having extremely vivid dreams and I’ve actually fallen out of bed twice !!!! GP thinks I’m having hypo during the night. Anyone experienced similar? Thanks
 
Hi, not through Glicizide, and it may be side effects. Or even a hypo!
I had my Technicolor vivid dreams I was told the dreams was because of fluctuating blood glucose levels. Up and down for the majority of the day. And hes, on the floor, other side of the room, sweating, shaking and not restful at all, and feeling ill all day.

Too much carbs and sugar in your meals will still cause spikes, and not help with your diabes, wether you have ozempic or not.
 
Were you provided with a glucose tester? You should have been if you are on a medication which lowers blood glucose levels.
I have always had vivid dreams, so can't really help with that, but you can at least test and see if there is a correlation between low BG and your experiences.
 
Thanks- yes my bs were fluctuating wildly as the short acting tabs I had to take twice a day whereas MR just once in the morning which would level me out all day!
 
I have insulin too so I test regularly- the long acting Glicazide didn’t suddenly drop my bs and insulin long acting- but Diabetes nurse decided to change my meds as my hb1ac was 6.9 but wants it to 6 . I’ve had type 2 since 1995
 
The Extended release Gliclazide (MR) has only recently been made available as has only just had approval. Are you sure that you have been on it for 20 years?

I hve been on standard release gliclazide for the last 8 years, and never fallen out of bed. But then I am not also using insulin concurrent. It may be that there is an interaction with the insulin. Gliclazide only works while your own pancreas is delivering insulin in response to a carbohydrate load such as a meal or snack. It normally switches itself off when the insulin demand gets turned off by glucagon due to low blood sugars. So external insulin will keep going and may suppress the glucagon feedback.

Effects of the combination of insulin and gliclazide compared with insulin alone in type 2 diabetic patients with secondary failure to oral hypoglycemic agents - PubMed

Twenty non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients on insulin therapy for more than 2 months due to secondary failure to oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA) were additionally treated with gliclazide, 80 mg b.i.d., for 1 month and 160 mg b.i.d. for a further 2 months, while reducing insulin dose gradually...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
I have been on Glicazide MR since I was first diagnosed so I don’t understand why you think it’s new on the market? But as I take a combination of insulin, metformin and forxiga so I think you are right about interactions, it was the change of Glicazide when I noticed the difference in spikes and vivid dreams and falling out of bed! If it is my diabetes I’ll feel better about it as it’s really scared me! Appreciate your help , Thankyou
 
 
According to CCG reports published in 2022 the MR version could now be prescribed as a new treatment for T2D.
"6 May 2022 — Suffolk Drug and Therapeutics Committee has considered gliclazide modified release (MR) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes."/

There is a report of it being available in 2020. The drug itself was formulated in 2002 so will have been available for trial use since then, but I am not sure when it first got listed in the BNF for general use.

However, you did not mention Forxiga in your OP, and I would also suspect this drug as a possible problem causer, rather than swapping from an MR version to standard release of the same drug. It is only the cellulose carrier that changes, and has slower release. The active ingredient is the same in both variants.

One of the side effects listed for Forxiga is lighheadedness and dizzyness. It is listed for the USA version (Farxiga) but not the UK version (Forxiga)
 
Never thought it could be Forxiga, again I’ve been taking it since 2014 with no side effects. It was GP who said Glicazide was probable culprit and put me back on mr version. No vivid dreams since change and no thudding onto the floor
appreciate the information- sometimes I can’t see the wood for the trees!!!!
 
I am always nervous when I see insulin users being prescribed an SGLT-2 Inhibitor. This class of meds is strictly forbidden for use with Type 1 because of a real risk of DKA at lower bgl levels than the usual diabetic DKA. But it is prescribable for other insulin users. I presume that since the pancreas is still producing some insulin, then this will protect against DKA in these users. However, since the mechanism for DKA in Type 2 is not known yet in connection to this med, I would be wary of using this drug myself if I was also on insulin. We have had some reports here of Type 2 having DKA on this drug, without the complications of insulin or pancreatic insufficiency.
 
You should raise a yellow card to report a new side effect.
 
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