Metformin and Hypos?

[china]

I'm a T2, have been taking 2x500mg Metformin for 11 months now and am thriving. I test daily; my bg readings and all other results are all good and low and I have been told that I have tight control.

My question to you all is: why am I reading (here on the forums and elsewhere) that those on Metformin shouldn't/can't/don't have hypos? I have also had healthcare professionals (of all levels) tell me that I can't be having hypos.

I find it hard to believe that this is really true as my body tells me otherwise. I find that if I don't eat a snack between my main meals, or before/after exercising, then I start having hypo symptoms. As a diabetic newbie I test frequently in order to learn/read what my body is telling me, and also to educate myself in self-managing my condition. I know that if I don't eat I will go into hypo territory (bgs of 2s and 3s), plain and simple. How do I reconcile that fact with the 'Metformin = no hypo' stance?

Does anyone else on Metformin have hypos?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[sugarless sue]

Hi China, You can feel hypo but the difference is that you will not go so low as to require hospital treatment as some on insulin and other hypo inducing drugs do.. Your liver will 'dump' and bring your blood sugars back up again to a non hypo level.

 

[LittleSue]

Metformin is less likely than insulin to cause hypos, but it can still happen. You can get hypo-like symptoms if your bs is simply lower than you have been used to (rather than actually too low), but BGs of 2 and 3 are indeed hypos.

 

[china]

Many thanks to sugarless sue and LittleSue for your replies - I greatly appreciate it.

However, I feel that my question still hasn't been answered, or perhaps nobody knows why there is this perception that peeps on Metformin don't have hypos - is it another of those 'facts' trotted out by healthcare professionals, taken as gospel by patients and then aired on forums like this? :?

If anybody can refer me to some hard info I'd appreciate it.

 

[LittleSue]

is it another of those 'facts' trotted out by healthcare professionals, taken as gospel by patients and then aired on forums like this? :?
If anybody can refer me to some hard info I'd appreciate it.

That's precisely what happens, with metformin and other diabetic tablets.

http://diabetes.about.com/od/equipmentandbreakthroughs/a/metformin.htm

To quote from the link: "Though it's rare when there are no other medical problems, drug overdoses or durg interactions, metformin can cause low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), which is characterized by dizziness, shakiness, sweating, confusion, or numbness or tingling around the mouth."

Most other sources say that it "rarely" or "doesn't generally" cause hypos - which of course means it's still possible.

 

[kerryseacadets]

Hi
Also on Metformin, dropped to 3.9 this afternoon at work, could not cntinue working at that level, so regardless of what you call it, my work suffers. Thankfully work with a fellow diabetic, who recognised problem and assisted.

 

[jenrose]

I take 1 Metformin 500 mg after breakfast and if I have done more activity than usual then I go below 4.00 mmol/l and have been below 3.0 mmol/l a couple of times but I have never had the courage to test whether I would my liver would dump. I don't know how much blood sugar would rise if the liver did dump but I have a feeling it would probably rise higher than I would like. I read one post on a forum where a lady admitted that she sure she was not eating enough to go too high and did not have her HbA1c test for a year. At the end of the year her HbA1c test was way too high. She had been eating mostly cheese and salad so to end up with kidney problems is a hard way to learn about liver dumping.

 

[LittleSue]

Does anyone know what level of hypo triggers the liver to start dumping glucose?