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Good morning all !

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R

RGG278

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi there I’ve just been diagnosed with type 2 in the last 2 wks & still in a daze re the diagnosis, meds & advice.
Already onto a low carb diet with the intention of losing some timber (1- 1.5 stone target) & upping my excercise.
40mg Metformin twice a day & 40mg Gliclazide once.
Hope to reduce this if possible or ideally no meds.
Couple of Qs
Any idea why I’ve been given both tabs?
My blood glucose has gone from 15 when diagnosed almost 2 wks ago & is 7-9 first thing then between 4-6 thereafter until bed.
Why so high in the morning?
Thank you in advance .
 
Hi RGG & welcome.

Some simple answers to your questions.... you have been given both pills, because both have been found to help BG reduction through different mechanisms and your GP is trying to work out what the best thing to do. Normally you start on metformin (up to 4000 mg in 500mg increments - I'm thinking your 40mg is a typo) and then move onto gliclazide if the metformin does not work or you can't tolerate it. Did you get an HBA1c blood test? If so, I'm guessing that your HBA1c was on the high side and that is why your GP is covering both bases.

There is a thing called the "dawn phenomenon" often referred to as DP where your system chucks some glucose from store into the blood and so you get a high reading first thing. The conventional explanation is that it is a hangover from the days we hunted mammoth for breakfast and needed an energy boost in the morning to help the hunting. Like all things diabetes, its probably a bit more complicated than that.

Read around the forum and you will soon find out that losing weight has been a good thing for many others along with controlling carbs in the diet.

Just keep asking questions... somebody will be along to help in no time at all.
 
Many thanks for your reply it’s great to have some knowledge on the subject.
Your right a typo with the Metformin goes its 500mg x 2 daily.
Really appreciate your help Docb.
 
Welcome to the forum @RGG278 . Glad that you have found us.

It is good to hear that you are testing already as that will help to give you a lot of information from which to make decisions about foods that you choose and portions sizes.

The levels you are now getting seem to be working with the meds that they have given you. One of the meds makes the insulin that you make work better, and the other makes your pancreas more effective at producing insulin. They are as others have said covering both possibly because your levels were quite high at diagnosis.

The rise in the morning could be the dawn phenomenon where you Liver dumps a bit of glucose to get you working when you wake up. Some have found that by nibbling a carb free snack as soon as they wake can Con the liver into feeling that it does not need to act (not exactly a scientific answer but hopefully it makes sense.

Keep the questions coming. There is plenty of help available on here.
 
SB2015 said:
Welcome to the forum @RGG278 . Glad that you have found us.

It is good to hear that you are testing already as that will help to give you a lot of information from which to make decisions about foods that you choose and portions sizes.

The levels you are now getting seem to be working with the meds that they have given you. One of the meds makes the insulin that you make work better, and the other makes your pancreas more effective at producing insulin. They are as others have said covering both possibly because your levels were quite high at diagnosis.

The rise in the morning could be the dawn phenomenon where you Liver dumps a bit of glucose to get you working when you wake up. Some have found that by nibbling a carb free snack as soon as they wake can Con the liver into feeling that it does not need to act (not exactly a scientific answer but hopefully it makes sense.

Keep the questions coming. There is plenty of help available on here.
Click to expand...
Thank you SB2015 .
Info is great & I’m a great believer in experience & personal knowledge so really appreciate you replying .
Thank you.
 
Welcome to the forum @RGG278

Sounds like you’ve made a great start - look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

As others have said, keep asking questions - we have centuries of lived diabetes experience on the forum, and no questions will be thought of as too obvious or ‘silly’
 
Hello and welcome to the forum @RGG278 🙂
 
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