Carb intake and gliclazide

[WallisOnline]

Hey all,

Currently I am on 40mg gliclazide for breakfast and 80mg gliclazide for my evening meal. With this I am having approx 100g - 130g carbs per day and I am averaging 5.5mmol/L with a finger prick test at least 3 times a day ( more tests if I drive anywhere) which seems to be pretty good to me.

Am I right in thinking that if my medication gets reduced or removed and I go to maintain by diet then I will most likely need to reduce the amount of carbs I eat to keep my 5.5 average?

Has anyone been through this and if so roughly by how much do you think I may need to reduce my carb intake?

I know everyone is different so will need to test what works best but just trying to prepare myself mentally with a rough idea!

I'm still early on my diagnosis / journey so it could be a while until I get to this point but just trying to get it all straight in my head.

Cheers

 

[rebrascora]

As with everything diabetes related, it depends on the individual and their diabetes. Some people manage to push their diabetes into remission and particularly those who are able to burn off the visceral fat around their liver and pancreas, can then find that those organs regain their ability to balance BG levels effectively and they can actually get away with eating a few more carbs rather than less, providing they maintain the weight loss. Others find they need to go a bit lower carb, some as low as 40-50g carbs a day, whilst others find that maintaining things with 80-100g carbs a day works fine for them. Some people need to maintain a level of medication together with dietary/lifestyle changes. Remission may not be possible for everyone, so you just have to do your best and see what happens.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Am I right in thinking that if my medication gets reduced or removed and I go to maintain by diet then I will most likely need to reduce the amount of carbs I eat to keep my 5.5 average?

Gliclazide works by encouraging the body to release more insulin than it usually would, so it seems likely that some sort of menu tweak may be necessary when adjusting to reduced doses.

However as @rebrascora suggests, there may be more factors in play such as weight (loss), abdominal/visceral fat, and general insulin sensitivity - along with the level of activity you are able to maintain.

I suspect it will all end up being a big melting-pot of factors, and that even if someone else on the forum offered a precise estimate of carb reduction from their own experience - how your body responds might be quite different?

I would imagine some immediately before and 2hrs after meal BG checks, looking to keep the ‘meal rise’ (difference between before and after) down to 2-3mmol/L may be helpful in seeing what if any adjustments are needed?