It doesn't work like that for either of the drugs you're on. Metformin takes
several weeks to get into your system, then you maintain its level; it does
two things, calm your liver's glucose output down, and allow glucose uptake
by muscles without needing insulin. The Glimipramide is a sulphonylurea,
which I'm less familiar with; I think that's supposed to do its own calming
trick on your liver, as well as increase your insulin production.

How much help are you able to give your beta cells in terms of carb
restriction and exercise? It may be that, if you've exhausted that route,
insulin would be a better bet for you - have you discussed it with your doc?

Nicky.

Hi your holiness,
As Nicky says metformin is supposed to build up over a period and then work
away continously so I don't think you could tie it to specific fuel loads.
I take it you mean Glimepiride for the other one ?
One paper I read described it as having a "rapid onset" and "longer duration
of action" than other sulfs.
Another one says "Significant absorption of glimepiride was seen within one
hour" .
Which might suggest that you should take the glimi an hour before you start
strenous palaver.
But I don't think with all the variables - food, physical activity, time of
day, your weight, metformin, glimepiride, absorbtion rate, your own insulin
production, your own metabolism and insulin resistance -  you could pin it
down accurately. The onset and potency of the drugs might vary and never be
the same at any given time..
You would have to scour the scientific papers to see if any reported this.
Or you could start with Jennifer's advice - examine how individual foods
affect you and  then add in the timed effects of the drugs.
Failing that all you could do was read the PIN and take them as directed.
If it is Glimperide you are on you are a lucky blighter - its a third
generation sulf which helps with IR and does not cause as many hypos as
things like gliclazide. But one poster on here from Geordieland was taken
off it because it was too expensive.

Hi Saint

From 6.2% to 7.8% is a helluva jump in the wrong direction.
But you know that, so welcome to the group. I'm not a guru,
just a patient, see below.

In addition to the good advice from the others I have a
couple of questions.

You mentioned "a Constant stable rate of exercise and a
constant stable intake of food" and you also mentioned
"constant testing".

Could you amplify that please? Specifically, what would your
daily menu look like (in detail), what exercise/activity do
you do, and when did you test when you were "constantly
testing" related to your meals?

To put that in context, I suggest you read this before
answering: http://jennifer.flyingrat.net/
I think the link will work, but the site is being up-dated,
so in case it doesn't this is an alternate:
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm

Cheers Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 1000mg, ezetrol 10mg

I have no medical qualifications beyond my own experience.
Choose your advisers carefully, because experience can be
an expensive teacher.

Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

In which case my reccommendation for thought might be a
little hard for you to acomplish....for a while.

That's not too far off of my regime of
1 x 4mg [half morning and half evening]  + 1 x 850 evening
and 1 x 400 morning.

My A1C's bounce between 5.9 - 6.4 well over the last year
anyway.

The problem is it is a progressive thing that will get worse
over time. However, you can try to slow it down so that the
worsening occurs long after something else kills you.

You cannot. Simply because you cannot [yourself] make the
necessary tests to determine precisely the rate of your
degeneration. Regular A1C's will indicate this for you as
well as the onset of any complications.

I test infrequently now, and do so only to confirm/verify my
own personal feelings.

Well I suppose I do - for my circumstances that is. I have
been doing so for over a year now and with some success. It
took me 18 months or more to learn how to do so. I don't
think there is a quick way to get to where I have managed to
be.

The trick for me  - to put it into a nutshell is:

1] I always gauge what to eat, based on food type -  the
rate of energy release, total value of energy provided and
rate of digestion as well as the volume - for a given
projected activity level. I also vary times of eating as
well.

To make this a little easier, I restrict what I eat in terms
of food type to specific types. That is if I need carbs then
that is all I eat. Sometimes I will eat a large steak and
nothing else for 12 or more hours. [for example]

2] I never ever eat unless I am ten minutes into the hunger
routine. To do otherwise means I am not on low fuel and I
risk over fuelling.

3] I have learned from experience how to gauge my fuel burn
rate given certain activities and adjust my work rate
[litteral use of the word rate] to cater for available
energy.

My fuel gauge is my gut and the feelings I have. I have
learned to listen to my body's language and monitor what it
tells me. Then make adjustments as required.

I came accross this method by accident and not design as a
consequence of testing 10 times a day for over a year in an
effort to understand my condition and to try and get the
best performance I could given my circumstances. Then I got
pissed off with it all and just stopped testing and went
with my guesses. That is not to say I went back to eating
and drinking as I did before diagnosis, I didn't [I do not
enjoy food as most do - I simply see it as a fuel source]
it's just that I lost interest.

But wonder upon wonders, I found I was doing ok. I had an
A1C after not testing for ages and it came in about the same
as before. So I ran with what i was doing and now do not
even give it a second thought.

As the many who advised me in here long ago kept saying,
"It's a change of life style" and it is for me. There is no
other way and changing my attitudes and style of living has
made life a lot better and dare I say it?.....near normal as
far as I am concerned.

But that is me and what I do is not necessarily easy for
others or the best way. We each have to find out own
solution. But what I can advise you to do is to pay close
attention to your body's performance and the messages it
sends you.

I examine my turds every time to see what the results are.
Yes I know it sounds revolting but they can tell you quite a
lot when you bear in mind the previous hours feeding. Its
things like this that give the clues to you.

HTH