I am pre diabetic so have been put on 500mg x2 a day as a precaution . No changes after a year so Dr doubled my dose. I have none of the side effects I read on line like cramps and bowel changes, except for slight nausea at times. My biggest concern is I use to really enjoy food but now you can mention my favourite dishes and it just turns my stomach. Meal time is just terrible cause the last thing I want to do is look at food and I can't come up with good ideas cause the thought of food makes gives me nausea. One may think great.. Weight loss... However my appetite has changed for the worse. When it comes to meal times everything turns my stomach..even the most favourite meal turns me right off. I will try a bit of a meal but generally don't eat much and have lost any enjoyment like I use to have. However I will get hungry later and no problem eating sweet treats. I just Crave something sweet. Is it just me or anyone else have this problem.
Loss of appetite for right foods
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Mr_Pot
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- Type of diabetes
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Metformin was originally designed to be an appetite suppressant (which benefits some people) so that's probably it.
JoKalsbeek
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That does kind of sound like the metformin being the issue here... And no, it's not a matter of "great, weight loss"... The main goal here is bloodsugar control. Usually, weight loss is a nice benefit that comes with that. Do you know what the right foods for a prediabetic are? (Pretty much the same as a T2, truth be told: Low carbohydrate, high in fat, medium protein). Because if you're depending solely on metformin to turn this around, well... It's not going to work, I'm sorry. And I'm surprised your doc seems to think it will keep you from becoming a T2. (I am assuming that if your HbA1c is bad enough for him/her to medicate, it's headed towards T2 already. Do you know what your numbers are?). It's a diet thing mostly, before a metformin thing. Heck, even the leaflet says that for established T2's, they should try a change in diet for three months, and if that doesn't do enough, then to start metformin... Doing it beforehand without a proper diet change is like trying to mop the floor but leaving the fawcet running: it's not going to dry up anytime soon if your kitchen is overflowing...
If I were you I'd change tactics, as this obviously isn't working for you. It's not doing much for your bloodsugars and T2 prevention, and worse, it's making you miserable. You might want to discuss trying the diet with your doc and skipping metformin for now. If you get yourself a bloodglucse meter, all the better, because then you can see whether it's working and it's a great motivator if you can see progress daily. So, the cravings: they'll go away once your palate adapts to low carb, thankfully. Takes a little time, but it happens. And I enjoy my food more these days. Flavours seem richer, deeper, than they used to. And I think, for you, that'd be a more than welcome change.
Anyway, using diet to control bloodsugars and stave off the onset of T2: Like I said, low carb, high fat, medium protein. That means skipping bread, potatoes, rice, corn, cereal, pasta, most fruit and anything made with wheat. I know, that cuts out a lot of different foods... But you still get to have: meat, fish, poultry, cheese, olives, extra dark chocolate, full fat greek yoghurt, berries, above ground veggies/leafy greens, that sort of thing. Breakfast could be eggs with bacon and cheese, maybe some high meat content sausages. Lunch a salad with goat's cheese, tuna or salmon, chicken, whatever... In the evening you replace spuds with cauliflower rice: it's insanely versatile and i rarely eat the same meal twice, with the load of herbs and spices i use. Naturally plenty of meat. And I toss more cheese and bacon into the cauliflower rice, or broccoli rice, or spinach, whatever.... There's a million sites online that cater to low carb or keto eating. Try dietdoctor.com on for size, or this forum's main website. And maybe this'll help a little too, it's my quick start guide: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/
Right now you're miserable, and if it's the metformin, and you're supposed to be on it for life... That's not going to work out for you, I don't think. So it may be worth a shot. I was a T2 and in a rather bad way too... In three months I was medication free and losing weight the healthy way. I'm hoping you won't ever even get to the point I was at, and avoid T2 entirely.
Good luck!
Jo
Almost certainly a well known side effect of the Metformin. To test this just stop taking it for a couple of days and then try and eat something. I had similar symptoms but after going in to hospital for a couple of days and told not to take my usual meds my appetite returned within a day of not taking them.
Stopping for a couple of days will do you no harm. If it is the Metformin causing the symptoms ask your GP for advice, mine put me on Gliclazide for a while.
Stopping for a couple of days will do you no harm. If it is the Metformin causing the symptoms ask your GP for advice, mine put me on Gliclazide for a while.
