I've been taking Glyburide successfully for almost 12 yrs now and have been happy with it.  I've been taking it for so long and have so much experience titrating it (on me, for me) that I pretty much know exactly what it's going to do and when, depending on what I've eaten.

Today, though, I received a form letter from my Kaiser doctor (not even signed by my doctor) saying that he has "approved" a change from glyburide to glipizide and that my prescription will automatically be changed on my next refill request of glyburide.

I haven't talke to my doctor yet, but I take this to mean that Kaiser has changed its formulary and now gets a better deal on glipizide.  I will indeed talk to my doctor before it's time to refill the glyburide prescriptions.

I've looked at the literature on the web and it doesn't seem like there is any effective difference between glyburide and glipizide in terms of fasting glucose and A1c.  It does, however, look like it takes roughly twice as much glipizide as glyburide to do the same job.  The cost consideration for many might be that it would cost more to use glipizide, but for Kaiser patients, I don't think it makes any difference cuz you are buying a 30-day supply or a 3-month supply for a fixed amount rather than paying for it per pilll.

The big difference seems to be in the activity curves.  Both go into action in about 30 minutes (1 hr if taken with food).  The peak for glipizide is about 1-3 hrs with a half life of about 6hrs wheeas the peak for glyburide is about 4 hrs with a half-life of about 10hrs.

Does anyone have any comments about glipizide or a comparison of glyburide and glipizide in the real world?  From the activity curves, it looks like glipizide might get to work faster, but it also peters out quicker.  Obviously, I wouldn't know if that would help me or be a detriment to me since I've never used glipizide.  I have no idea if I need the longer activity curve of glyburide or can do better with the quicker activity curve of glipizide.

Hence, I'd be interested in any comments about glipizide.  I'm trying to gather data before I see my doctor next month to talk about glyburide vs glipizide.  On the one hand, I don't mind trying glipizide, but re-titrating for my personal use is a real pita...  connie