metformin
- Thread starter grante
- Start Date
hi...was on metformin for 7 years,got hba1c down to "pre-diabetes", but after 3 years have tipped back over into "diabetic range". Gp restarted 500mg metformin at main meal, and after 3 weeks has now increased dosage to 1000mg. Nausea, stomach cramps, diarhoea and pain around liver and pancreas areas are a daily fixture in my life the moment....but it will pass????
Hi, I've been taking 2 x 1000mg Metformin per day since 2009. I've experienced no effects what-so-ever.I have started taking metformin. I've have no side effects as yet.
Just wanted to know if any of you guys and girls are taking it and what effects it has had on you. E.g weight loss , does it actually work ?
Metformin is used to reduce or prevent the liver from producing glucose, which it does to enable the body to function correctly, if you reduce your glucose intake too much the liver will compensate. So get control of your carbs and you should not need the metformin (or metfartin as we call it here in scotland). Anyhow mess with the liver and you mess with your output and its the increase in fats produced when metformin is used that messes up the whole process and causes the problems - so I have been told. Do not depend on metformin to solve your diabetic problems, "fess up and take control" its your body your overfeeding! I should know I was nearly 19 stone now under 12 from 48" waist to 32" but I still wear the belt to remind me as we do not see ourselves as the fat people we really are when we are really big. My belt just has lots of holes in it and stops in the middle of my back.
I am on metformin and I would say it does nothing for blood glucose levels but it is an appetite suppressant so I don't eat much but spend a lot of time on the toilet! However, I have found the only way to get my blood glucose down is a very low carb diet. My blood glucose in now in the range of non-diabetic and I am starting to wean off the metformin. I will be happy when I stop taking it as I don't like how it makes me feel.I have started taking metformin. I've have no side effects as yet.
Just wanted to know if any of you guys and girls are taking it and what effects it has had on you. E.g weight loss , does it actually work ?
sarah_chadwick
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 125
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
I have been taking 500g x 2 a day for 4 years now, it hasn't done anything for me with regards to weight loss and luckily I haven't suffered any side effects. I am losing weight on 5:2, low carbing on normal eating days, this works better for me. I am aiming to be medication free within the next year if my BG levels keep dropping.
I tried the diet but it raised my cholesterol levels to extremely high so doctor said to change immediatel y. Guess it affects us all differently, but keep eye on cholesterol levels everyone.
Metformin has such positive effects on all health and I am sorry you gave up on them so quickly. Have you been on the 'Expert' course; it is free and a real learning experience - your medical practice will have details of where it is run in your locality? One of the participants on the course I attended had similar problems and her doctor advised she build the dose up gradually and so she just took one metformin per day for x number of weeks. She intended to build up to three a day over a period of time. Others on the course reported that the 'toilet' issues improve over a few months (Tesco will home deliver shopping). There is an alternative in the form of injection (name of which I have forgotten) which is injected (once a week) and it has none of the side effects associated with metformin but doctors are reluctant to prescribe because it is most expensive! It's side effect is weight loss.
bulkbiker
BANNED
- Messages
- 19,569
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
You may want to do a bit of reading around on cholesterol and its role in the body. Also whether it is an indicator of CVD.
Clue... it may not be so bad as you currenty think...
Freema
Expert
- Messages
- 7,346
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
thanks... I did go 1000 calories the first 6 month as I was actually morbidly obese... thought my fat percent was around 40% but now I believe it was sooner 50%, and I am lucky I didn´t get eart troubles or blood clothings... after loosing the first 17 kg or around that I decided to go to a fitness center and make a commitment for life, did go there 3 times a week and still do that. It seems that going 3 times a week makes the progress much faster, and the important thing is to not be busy to get out from the fitness again, use time there and make it a good time , if it is hard then wait ten minutes in between, drink a cup of coffee or whatever you bring there a box of food... just decide this is a nessesary part of your life and you can just as well make it a cosy time.. I use sugarfree gum to stand the hours without food in the evenings.I did also do intermittent fasting for 4 month, which mean not eating anything from 19 o´clock in the evening untill next day at 12 o´clock it helps getting insuline lower, when insuline is high we store fat and seem to have a very hard time burning fat from our fatcells...so it is also of importance...
I eat lower carb, rather much protein (around 100-120 grams a day) and much more fat than I used to do... I do not eat 1000 calories anylonger as I exercise really a lot and become much more hungry these days.
but salats cottage cheese and ham and a few nuts and sugarfree gum , water with lemon in and apple cider vinegar in water helped me initially too. and a multi vitamin pill
Resurgam
Master
- Messages
- 10,086
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I was taking just one a day, except for two days when I tried taking two, as instructed - but I saw nothing positive about becoming incontinent, having constant all over itching, my muscles were screaming my joints seized up and my guts tied in knots, plus my memory lapses were most alarming. I would never willingly take a medication which did that to me ever again.
What is the point in even being alive if you can't go out of the house or remember anything from one minute to the next?
I did get a professional quality carpet cleaner out of the experience, so I suppose it is not entirely negative - but I don't need it now.
Jordi77
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 790
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
I've used metformin the full amount of 6 and had no problems with it but mind you I was also taking insulin with it and I was on 4 injections a day and I had no problems with it just when they also put me on victoza then fun and games as I had problems with the victoza but only after I had been on the full amount of Victoza was I okay and I had sickness tablets as the victoza was problem as I had been told that it would give me that when I went up to the full amount in injections and afterwards I was okay as lost the weight with victoza but not with metformin as I could not do it even with the 6 tablets a day u seen no difference in weight loss more weight gain due to it
bulkbiker
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- Messages
- 19,569
- Type of diabetes
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I think that may well be a matter for debate.. however if you had eaten something that had the "metformin" effect on you I think you would avoid it at all costs in future. That's what I did after enduring 3 weeks of it and haven't really ever looked back. It may be beneficial for some people but a big vote of no confidence from me.
Hotpepper20000
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,065
I have been on Metformin for about 15 years and started to have problems 18 months ago. Bowel cancer having been ruled out, my Doctor diagnosed IBS caused by long-term use of Metformin. She prescribed a drug to take before meals and Fibogel. Since then I have been prescribed slow-release Metformin and have recently had the dose reduced by one half. This has caused some improvement but may mean I need to take another diabetes medication - a problem with treatment I am receiving for another condition. No weight loss!
