Stopped metformin sugars ok

[greasemonkey]

Hi i know its daft but i haven't taken my metformin for a week -
My sugars have been around the 7 -8 mark
i have eaten normal foods including beers in the evenings and mars bars
i am checking my sugars 4 times a day at random times and the average is 7.6 for the last 7 days
What is going on - when i was diagnosed i was 19+
do i need the metformin ?
The main reason i stopped was the stomach cramps were horrenous - my pain threshold is very high but the cramps were doubling me over - and the diarreia was really bad -
I stopped the metformin and no more pain and number 2's are good too
Any advice recommendations please
cheers
Steve

[Fraddycat]

Metformin can help to reduce your sugar levels, but many of us have stomach problems - its worth asking your doctor for the slow release version of Metformin which doesn't seem to have such a nasty effect.

Sugars at 7-8 consistently can be setting you up for complications in years to come, so although you are no longer getting 19+ you should still be trying to achieve lower numbers by avoiding mars bars, and modifying you're diet to reduce your carbohydrate intake.

[hallii]

Metformin has other protective qualities apart from the moderate effect of increasing insulin sensitivity.

If you want to stop them discuss it with your doctor and at least have an HbA1c done to see what effect stopping them has on your overall control.

Even if you do come off most of them I suggest that you continue with a low dose simply for the protective effect on your liver and kidneys.

My suggestion is that unless you can manage an HbA1c of less than 6% without Metformin then you are far better on them.

Yes, reducing from 19+ to 7 or 8 is a very good result, and you should be pleased.

However, you really need to be lower and you should not be eating "normal" foods and ceratinly not Mars bars.
So, get back on the waggon, this T2 is a long term progressive disorder, uncontrolled you could progress to all sorts of complications some time in the future.

H

[AMBrennan]

metformin for a week
[...]
What is going on - when i was diagnosed i was 19+
do i need the metformin ?
[...]
I stopped the metformin and no more pain and number 2's are good too

Did you lose weight? Also, as far as I know Metformin takes weeks to start acting so you might not have seen everything yet. Further, it depends on when you test - was the 19 mmol/l on diagnosis fasting, random or OGTT? "Random tests" (depending on what you mean by random) will be lower if you mostly miss postprandial spikes (8h sleep means 16 waking hours per day, of which 6h will be postprandial spikes... so 2/3 of your tests should be near fasting)

this T2 is a long term progressive disorder

Oh dear... wait for it...

[lucylocket61]

Lets nail this "progressive" discussion on the head, right??

It is progressive in the same way as any other untreated disease is progressive.

An infection is progressive. If you treat it with the correct antibiotics, it will go away, but if you use the wrong antibiotics, or stop treatment early, or it is an endemic infection, it recurs.

So YES diabetes is progressive if untreated, or incorrectly treated. Sometimes it is progressive despite the best treatment as each pancreas is different, and each person differs in the speed and severity of their diabetes and pancreatic decline.

But, as of now, we cannot make our damaged pancreas regenerate into a healthy one. And until that happens, it cannot be cured.

(sticks tongue out and runs for cover)

[Fraddycat]

Well said Lucy!

[hallii]

Hmmm! but then we might have "slow progression" and "fast progression".

I hope I have slow progression (very slow) as I am 70 next year, I might get to 80 before I depart this mortal coil.

H

[BioHaZarD]

I stopped taking mine weeks ago, BG levels are the same.

[AMBrennan]

I stopped taking mine weeks ago, BG levels are the same.

You are eating a low-carb diet to control your diabetes whereas OP has made it quite clear that he does not, so your implication - that Metformin does not affect BG in any way - is, IMHO, a dangerous over-generalisation.

[BioHaZarD]

I stopped taking mine weeks ago, BG levels are the same.

You are eating a low-carb diet to control your diabetes whereas OP has made it quite clear that he does not, so your implication - that Metformin does not affect BG in any way - is, IMHO, a dangerous over-generalisation.

I must have somehow missed that bit, sorry!

[Superchip]

5 weeks off of metformin now, drank a bottle of red last night FBG 5.9, BG at 1800 hrs 5.7.
Average BG's very little difference. Also if metformin was good for the old ticker the NHS would be supplying it along with that satanical drug, the dreaded statin !
I'll take the vino any day of the week - see signature.

GLA whatever you do.....

Roy