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Gliclazide

Wiganlad98 said:
Hi. Hope everyone is feeing ok today.
Have been prescribed ‘Gliclazide’
Any advice please.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum.
Is this in addition to other oral medications and what sort of diet are you following. What is your HbA1C.
It is a medication which encourages your pancreas to produce more insulin so you need to be careful of the potential of low blood glucose. Your GP should have prescribed a finger prick testing blood glucose monitor and test strips so you can check, particularly if you drive.
It is recommended you take 30 mins before eating so your pancreas gets a head start in producing insulin to cope with the carbs in your meal. Following low carb around 130g per day is usually OK for people but very low carb is not recommended due to the risk of hypos (low blood glucose).
Sorry for all the questions but it does help people respond appropriately.
 
Leadinglights said:
It is recommended you take 30 mins before eating so your pancreas gets a head start in producing insulin to cope with the carbs in your meal.
Click to expand...
Sorry to jump on this thread but I had not heard of this before. Do you know if it also applies to the slow release version (which I'm thinking of requesting at my next review)?
Leadinglights said:
Following low carb around 130g per day is usually OK for people but very low carb is not recommended due to the risk of hypos (low blood glucose).
Click to expand...
It's a good idea to get/ keep some kind of hypo treatment handy just in case. I have a bag of fruit jellies (jelly babies or skittles seem to be the most popular "hypo heroes") and a bottle of regular Coke in the bedroom, which I've fortunately never needed to use.
 
debs248 said:
Sorry to jump on this thread but I had not heard of this before. Do you know if it also applies to the slow release version (which I'm thinking of requesting at my next review)?

It's a good idea to get/ keep some kind of hypo treatment handy just in case. I have a bag of fruit jellies (jelly babies or skittles seem to be the most popular "hypo heroes") and a bottle of regular Coke in the bedroom, which I've fortunately never needed to use.
Click to expand...
This is what I had seen about it being best to take 30min before breakfast or eating. The slow release means you take your dose just once a day rather than twice.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The effect of timing on gliclazide absorption and action - PubMed

In this study we tried to determine when in relation to meals gliclazide should be taken for optimum hypoglycemic action. Eight non-insulin-dependent diabetics participated in this study during hospitalization for glycemic control. After stabilization of glycemic control on gliclazide, they took...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
Wiganlad98 said:
Hi. Hope everyone is feeing ok today.
Have been prescribed ‘Gliclazide’
Any advice please.
Click to expand...
Read the information leaflet then take it as directed on the box
 
Not all the necessary information is on the patient leaflet, at least not the brand I was given. There was no advice for example about taking it with a meal containing carbohydrate in order to minimise hypo risk.

I ended up having to ring 111 and even then wasn't given all the information I needed at the time but had to learn piecemeal afterwards.

Some further reading here

Gliclazide - Uses, How it Works and Side Effects

Gliclazide is a type of medicine that can be used to treat people living with type 2 diabetes.
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

but the advice about eating carbs came from forum members. I'd been taking it with my usual zero carb breakfast (eg fried eggs) which wasn't ideal as a couple of them pointed out. If your pancreas is stimulated to increase insulin production it's best taken with your highest carb meal(s).

I could have saved a lot of wasted energy and avoided a lot of risk if I'd been told this by the doctor who prescribed Gliclazide but obviously didn't understand how it worked.
 
I have just started taking Glicazide, just one 40mg tablet per day. So far I have had no side effects, and a reasonably gentle reduction of BG levels.

@Leadinglights, there is logic in the information you have found. Confusingly, my surgery has emphasised to take with a meal or after eating.

I do wonder if Doctors become blasé about prescribing all these drugs, some of which are incredibly powerful.
 
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