Lactic Acidosis

ElloBee

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Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone would mind sharing with me any experiences of Lactic Acidosis?

I appreciate that it is incredibly rare, but unfortunately, the statistics do exist.

If you have had it, was a cause determined?

I am asking as I believe that a family member may have suffered with it, but it is undetermined. Just thought it was worth asking to see if anyone else has had symptoms that mirrored my family members.

Thanks so much for any feedback, it's greatly appreciated!

P.S... one of the tags is metformin due to LA being a rare but recorded severe side effect. I thought the tag may help get a greater number of responses when it comes to LA experiences.
 

andcol

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Metfartin for me... Symptoms rapidly improved after stopping it. Did take about a week to build up to a point I was in severe pain. Seems my mother is also "sensitive" to it as well so may be genetic.
 

ElloBee

Active Member
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Tablets (oral)
Metfartin for me... Symptoms rapidly improved after stopping it. Did take about a week to build up to a point I was in severe pain. Seems my mother is also "sensitive" to it as well so may be genetic.

Hi Andcol, I've seen on a few threads from people tagged you in them that you experienced lactic acidosis! I have heard thought that LA is usually only caused when there is an additional underlying problem... be this kidney failure or dehydration etc. Was this the case for you (if you don't mind me asking) or was metformin alone enough to cause the problems?
 

andcol

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Ummm I would say metformin was enough but I do not know if at the time there was anything else. I am not aware of any
 

ElloBee

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Ummm I would say metformin was enough but I do not know if at the time there was anything else. I am not aware of any

I did think that Metformin alone could be enough, but i've had people telling me otherwise Were you on Met for a while before the LA happened or was it pretty quick to kick in? Again, please don't answer if i'm crossing a personal line, I am only asking to do my research cause i have extreme doubts that metformin was a good drug for my family member.
 

JohnEGreen

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Metformin combined with sufficient alcohol will do it.
 

LittleGreyCat

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JohnEGreen

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Enough to cause lactic Acidosis this can vary from person to person.probably a lot more than just the odd glass or two or three or even four. Metformin can increase the amount of lactic acid produced and alcohol can inhibit the body ability to get rid of it so it will build up in the blood.
 

ElloBee

Active Member
Messages
34
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Enough to cause lactic Acidosis this can vary from person to person.probably a lot more than just the odd glass or two or three or even four. Metformin can increase the amount of lactic acid produced and alcohol can inhibit the body ability to get rid of it so it will build up in the blood.

This would make sense! Do you mean in one hit though, so like an alcoholic binge, or do you mean consuming this amount on a regular basis, like over the course of a week? I have seen on the meds leaflet that alcohol is a no go!
 

JohnEGreen

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Well as to that I am unsure how the cumulative effect would build up I have maybe one or two glasses of whiskey in a day but not every day and that has given me no problems I would personally not push it much beyond that.
 

andcol

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Well not alcohol for me as I don't really drink - maybe a glass of port a month.

It was fairly fast. In total I was only taking it for at most 2 weeks and the symptoms built up over about 3 days