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What medication should i stick too

A

andymint

Member
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Hi all, Im 41 male 5'11 and 12 stone, i run about 1.5miles a day, or walk 2 miles a day 7 days a week... newly diagnosed with T2 on 31st dec 08...........

So they put me on Metformin 2 x 500mg tabs a day,,,,, My 3 month blood test read 8.1 average... when i get up in the morning its usually around 7.8-9.7 and it sometimes higher rising to maybe 12-14 afer meals............. anyway i went for my forst review and the doctor changed my medication to as follows ( took me off Met)

80mg of gliclazide once a day........ which on the forst morning reduced it to 3.9 mid morning but since then it has risen to an average of 6.5 and sometimes 4.9....... then to my shock after about 6 days of good results its started rising to around 8-10......

Im really concerned now, my diet is good and im not sure what to do.. ie go back to dr and go back to Metformin or get glic increased, am i just being paranoid.....?????

Can anyone give me some guidance.please ... many thanks
 
Andy,
You say your diet is good. It might be an idea to say what a typical day's food intake is. This may help decide if your intake is influencing your blood sugar readings. I know nothing about the Glic. medication but I am sure someone will answer soon.

Catherine.
 
Andy, first and foremost, DON'T PANIC!

80 mg of gliclazide is generally considered to be the lowest dose that will have any noticeable effect on your BG levels. It would be irresponsible for anyone here to offer specific advice about what level of medication you should be taking but, please have a look around the forums for advice about what you should or should not be eating!

If you're using your meter correctly and still getting high results, it's time for another appointment with the doctor or nurse. Don't be shy, it's what they're paid for.

Keep coming back and ask as many questions as you like, many here are more knowledgeable than I, and more than happy to help.
 
Hi Andy,

There is no reason why you can't have both metformin and gliclazide, and from what you have told us it seems likely that you have some insulin resistance so really need the metformin.

Metformin is a medicine that does a number of things but the two most important are:
- one common problem that type 2s have is that the liver produces glucose that the body doesn't need and metformin cuts this production by a third
- the other most common type 2 problem is insulin resistance - metformin helps make body cells more receptive to the glucose that insulin tries to store in them, so makes your insulin work more effectively.

Gliclazide on the other hand does something entirely different - it forces your pancreas to produce insulin (the higher the dose then the more insulin) and continues to do that until the tablet wears off after around 10-12 hours.

If you have insulin resistance, which most type 2s do, then it really doesn't matter how much insulin gets produced if your cells are resistant to it. It's a bit like having a car with a blockage in the fuel line. If the petrol isn't getting through to the carburetta, the car is going nowhere no matter how much petrol you put in the tank!
 
Neat analogy Dennis. Is this another engineers' point of view?
 
Afraid not Hana - my qualification is in science, same as yours. Shame - I could have saved a fortune in car servicing over the years!
 
Thanks folks, that gives me a better understanding........ every little bit of information helps me understand this more..... ( i am grateful for your lenghty detailed replies )

Regards

Andy
 
Metformin is a long acting drug and mostly needs to build up to full activity: when you stop it the effect drops off slowly.

It sounds very much as if the metformin fade-out occurred as you were starting the glic, I'd be asking to go back on the metformin alongside the glic. (And watching out for hypos). Many people don't get much effect from metformin under 1500 mg, you are obviously one who does. I don't really understand why they didn't increase the met first, max dose is around 2500 mg, rather than switching you over completely.
 
thanks Denis and Trinkwasser,,,,,very useful info.... i thought they would have increased the metformin too ( from my little knowledge ) i am seeing the Doc tommorrow... im just like everyone else... trying to get it right to reap the benifits of good BG levels...

:)
 
hi guys. put on 3 X 500mg metformin.... 1 x 80mg glic............. wow doing the trick with a low carb diet hanging around 5 -6.2 happy days

Thanks again

Andy :) :) :) :) :)
 
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