Metformin
This Discussion Forum is for people using metformin (Glucophage) to be able to share their experiences.newcomers to diabetes to ask questions, and oldtimers to offer advice.
This is the 2nd Discussion Forum dedicated to this subject, and is a continuation of the previous forum on this subject. It was started on October 24, 2006, after what we call a “blogquake” happened — namely, the software underlying this blog became unstable and shook everybody up!
Notices to our new readers:
1) I would also suggest that anyone who is new to diabetes should read the articles at new to diabetes at DiabetesMonitor.com.
2) Inappropriate comments (for example, “I love vitamin Z — it made my blood sugar miraculously return to normal”) will be deleted without warning.
2) Also, the folks who are regular readers and writers about the new diabetes drug Byetta have developed all sorts of strange terms that you’ll gradually come to know, including “lizard spit”, “gillyspitkins”, “lizard of Az”, “yellow spit road”, “little brother” and “big brother”, “hug island”, and lots more. I think I’ll dedicate a new Discussion Forum soon to all this new lingo…
3) Finally, you can still read many of the earlier comments, and search for information throughout those forums, by using your webbrowser’s FIND or SEARCH feature while at the earlier forums, or by searching at the advanced search feature that is at the Diabetes Monitor.
As of June 1, 2008, the ability to post new comments at the Discussion Forums at Diabetes.Blog.com has been disabled. The old comments will remain available for you to read.
Please go to Diabetes Discussions to see new comments and to add your thoughts!
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Thanks.
Bill the diabetesdoc
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if your diligent of exercising and dieting should you only take 500 metformin instead of the doctor amount prescribed at a 1000.i get very dizzy every other day.i may be execising excessively for the prescribed dose. shouldnt you eat many carbs, while on metfoformin,otherwise with a low carb diet your blood will drop and youll get weak and dizzy?
mike, Since we do not know your medical history and we are not drs, we cannot tell you what dosage of metformin would be in your best interest. I think discussing it with your dr is what you should do. It is not necessary to excessively exercise, moderate exercise is usually best for a diabetic so that our livers don’t start dumping alot of glucose to keep up with the demand. The amount of carb is less important than what the type of carb we eat is. Simple carbs should be eliminated and incorporating complex carbs(lower GI foods) in their place will allow for lower glucose spikes. I suggest reading the exercise and meals, eating, and nutrition islands to maybe understand what I am saying. They are to the right in box #8. Hope this helps.
Hi,
Was wondering if anyone could advise me if it it safe to drink whilst taking metformin – I have been diagnosed with PCOS and have just started taking Metformin. Im going away to Barcelona at the weekend for a 30th Birthday and would like to join in and have a drink – is it safe?
Thanks x
Adele, my Metformin comes with a warning not to take with alcohol but I imagine one drink would be OK. I’m not sure if it would make you feel sick or not but on ocassion I have had wine or one cocktail and felt fine. I believe it may affect your liver if you consume too much alcohol with the Metformin.
After taking metformin 1000 mg for 3 years I regularly had a 6.8% A1c reading. Now my doctor says that’s too high and doubled my dosage. He wants me to get down to 6.5%. I don’t like his idea because I am satisfied with 6.8% and I get dizzy with the double dosage. Has anyone else had this dizzy feeling with double dosage?
Bill, I take 1000 mg. Metformin twice a day and don’t get dizzy from it but you have to remember that everyone is different and reacts differently to meds so what happens to one person doesn’t mean it happens to everyone. Usually with Metformin if there are side effects they tend to go away after a while for many. Maybe you will find that too.
Susan, Byetta5x2,Metformin,GlipizideXL,ToprolXL, Lisinopril, HCTZ,Zetia & Omeprazolw, Thank you for your message. I am now trying to watch my diet much more closely than before. For example, last night I had roast beef with radishes. I often have a late snack also around midnight. Last night I cut out he snack and my bg was down to 120 this morning. So maybe there is hope for someone who has not been as disciplined as he might have been.
My mom is on 45mg Actos and 2200mg Metformin. Does anyone feel if she goes up to 2500mg Metformin that it would help lower her numbers? She is very strict with what she eats and does the exercise bike 15 min, 10 min rest, 15 min bike every morning before breakfast, it helps allot.
Margaret, I don’t know if taking more Metformin will help your Mom’s numbers any better because she is already taking a high dose of it and she can only take so much. If she is exercising and watching her diet and not getting the numbers down then maybe her doctor will consider putting her on something else or something in addition to what she is taking.
Metformin – My morning numbers did not improve on Metformin until I started taking one of my dosages at bedtime. Now my morning readings are excellent. Just that one change was what did it. Metformin works with the liver, and apparently the liver starts working overtime early in the morning before waking – that was why my readings were so high when I finally got up. Now the evening dosage does the job of controlling that overworking liver. WIsh I had known this years ago – I have been fighting those early morning problem numbers for far too long.
glyncor, do you take your nighttime Metformin alone or with a snack?
Anyone having bad diarrhea as a side effect to metformin?
ab, many people have bad diarrhea while on Metformin. Some give it up but for others it gets better once they get used to it. Check with your doctor and see what he/she advises.
ab,ab, That is the most common side effect that people suffer from. I had to go off because of the explosive diarreah but then my dr had me try the xr version(er for the generic version) which is the extented release, and that seems to not bother me. Might work for you.
I just started on Metformin ER. My doctor advised me to start with 500mg for two weeks taken at bedtime and then I’ll start with 1000 mg after two weeks. I guess this is to give my system time to adjust. I did have diarrhea on one occasion but seem to feel fine now. My A1C has been running a steady 5.9 for a couple of years. I am 53 and about 25 pds overweight. I’m hoping this medication helps in helping me with the weight. I’m good with exercise and diet but can’t seem to make any headway on the weight. I feel like it’s a catch 22. Any suggestions or comments are welcome!
I have been taking Meformin for PCOS for over 2 months now and have gone down from 3 to 2 tablets as when I took 3 I was sick all the time. Since going back to 2 this time round I have become Hypo on several occasions as my blood sugar level was as low as 1.9 and I thought I was going to pass out. I went back to the doctors and saw a different doctor who really did not have a clue (he said he did not know much about PCOS ?) he said just take 1 instead then !!! will this be strong enough for treatment for PCOS and whats with getting really low blood sugar level all of a sudden – its really scary when it happens x
Adele, are you diabetic too or just have PCOS? I haven’t heard of people having sugar lows on Metformin but they sometimes do on other meds if they are diabetic. Are you in Europe or in Canada? I ask because I have no idea what 1.9 means as far as a sugar reading goes. It sounds like the doctor your saw was not very helpful but be sure to watch your numbers. It is dangerous when sugars drop too low.
shannon berger, do you have diabetes or PCOS? I have been on Metformin and other meds for diabetes for a long time and only during the last two years did I find out that Metformin is being given to help people lose weight. Some people who have PCOS take it too. It has never helped me to lose weight but a friend who is a psychiatrist told me he gives it to his patients for weight loss. I guess some people are lucky enough to respond to it and lose weight. I wish you good luck with it. I sure wish it would work on my weight.
I have PCOS and slight Type 2 diabetes (nothing worth worrying about Doc sais) but was prescribed Metformin for PCOS tested my blood level as was feeling like I was going to pass out and like my head was exploding and it read 1.9mml or 35mg my dad is so wondered if thos was to do with the Metformin or was related to something completely different. This head rush and pass out feeling is happening more and more frequent now – its horrible !
Adele: Lows can be dangerous and you don’t want them to continue. First of all, always keep glucose tabs or sweet hard candy or soda (real with sugar) or juice on hand. They will get the sugar into your system faster than foods. Second, you need to tell your doctor that this is happening. Most likely he/she will want to adjust your meds.
Adele, if you continue to have lows on Metformin your must let your doctor know again because it shouldn’t be doing that to you. I haven’t heard of others going so low just on Metformin but it might be how your body reacts to it. You need to get it checked out and don’t just go by what lay people tell you.
Thanks for your support and advice all x
Hi Everyone! I just had one quick question regarding Metformin. I began taking it last week, as I just found out I have Type II. I havn’t had any stomach related side effects, but the past 2 days I have been having bad joint pain in the fingers of my right hand. Has anyone heard of or experieneced this side effect (if it is even a side effect of the metformin at all). Any commets would be much appreciated!
Just wanted to chime in on here. I feel so much better after reading some stuff in this blog. I’m on Metformin ER (500mg 2x/day) for PCOS along with Aldactone (testosterone) and Femcon (birth control). My main concern was that I started seeing the pills in my stool. My pills are white and powdery, oval shaped, no casing. Yet sometimes when I go to the bathroom, after digesting them they somehow get coated in a yellowish gel in my system and seem to not be fully digested because I can see them in my stool. I’m gonna bring it up to my dr next time, but after reading on here it sounds like other people have had the same problem and found out it’s not a huge deal. I hope it’s not. Has anybody else had this and brought it up to your doctors? What happened?
diana, certain medications do leave a casing that you can plainly see in your stool and it isn’t anything to worry about – it is supposed to happen. You can check with your doctor or pharmacist about it but I believe they will tell you it is very normal.
diana, I’ve had the undigested pills too, not the yellow casing, when I was on metformin and the mail order company switched manufacturers. My numbers went up also so I told my dr about it and when I went to the name brand that went away. They believe there was something different in that manufacturers formulation that didn’t digest in my system and I didn’t get the full dose of the pills. Generics are not necessarily the same as the name brand and each manufacturer has their own variations, no matter how slight as long as it is within 20% of the original. You could check and see if there was a manufacturer switch, they don’t tell you when they do it, from one refill to the next.
I just started taking Metformin (dx PCOS) and I have terrible pain in my left upper thigh. So bad I can’t even sit down or walk! Running to the bathroom was solved by starting on a low dose. Other than the leg pain I feel fine but i have to use crutches. My fingers and toes feel cold though. Anyone else experience this upper leg/groin area pain?
jolagirl, I sometimes have a pain in my upper thigh but it did not come on with taking Metformin. I was on meds a long time before the pain started. My doctor believes the pain is from a pinched nerve which has been bothering me. I don’t think Metformin would be causing your pain.
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YES! Metformin caused pain in my fingers the evolved into pain in my hands and ultimately my foot began to hurt as well. There are not enough physicians who take this complaint seriously. Another woman had the same complaint and her physician told her, “you must have slept on your hand.” When she stopped taking Metformin, the pain stopped. When she started again, the pain began again. Unfortunately for me, I did not make the connection quick enough and I still have the pain in my foot from Metformin. I will never never take that again. If I had just known from the outset that was what was causing it, I would have stopped and would not be left with this pain in my foot. At least my physician concedes that Metformin can do that and my podiatrist (which I now had to acquire) said the he has seen it too. This is a tragic pathetic situation and another example why drug companies have such a bad reputation. Someone else posted, “Metformin has hurt me more than my high glucose numbers ever did.”
Incidently, I have seen several other postings in forums with individuals with the similar complaint and other individuals post a response that they should stay on Metformin as the pain they have now is peripheral neuropathy and they should essentially thank their lucky stars that they got on Metformin in time. I think that is either an irresponsible response or a calculated response from a pharma employee . . .
ANGEL2: This is an interesting post, and I, for one, had not heard this before. I wish you would come to our new discussion forum and share with others on metformin. This blog is being shut down on June 1 so we are moving to a new place: Diabetes Discussions. The link is in Dr. Bill’s announcement at the top right of the page.
As of June 1, 2008, the ability to post new comments at the Discussion Forums at Diabetes.Blog.com has been disabled. The old comments will remain available for you to read.
Please go to Diabetes Discussions to see new comments and to add your thoughts!
Instructions for posting comments may be found at Getting Started.
Thanks.