22 years old and HbA1c = 98

You poor thing @KS260400. first of all - a big hug to you, and well done you for coming into the Forum.

If it's type two - you have your youth on your side, as high, and serious, as your blood glucose level is. Your chances of turning your health around for the better are really good. If it's type one - your diabetes is really treatable, and with those new continuous blood glucose meters now - much easier to keep on top of it? (Plenty of type ones will come in and reassure I am sure.)

Your reaction to metformin is indeed one of the worse ones - very hard to live normally with diarhhea. As that medication is in response to a possible type two 'verdict' - could you talk to your medical team about dealing with your high blood glucose initially with a drastic lowering of your carbohydrate intake? And upping protein and healthy fat. And if you are able (probably can't do this with diarhhea) - an immediate uptake in physical activity? As in walking long distances if you are able to. This is the ol' 'Diet and Exercise' route, which is the best one for type two, which is why medical professionals are supposed to suggest it first and foremost, at least in the two countries I know best - Aotearoa/NZ, and Sweden, in their approach to type two treatment. I don't know what physical shape you are in of course - are you able to put on some walking shoes and get out and about? And be in control of your food intake? Straight away. Definintely something to talk to the docs and nurses about.

The unpleasant gastric side effects of Metformin are fairly common. It should settle down after a week or two, but if it persists you should speak to your gp about switching to slow release Metformin which is supposed to not have those problems.

@EllieM - type two at least is epigenetic. This means it is an interplay between the body/genetic make up we inherit, and our environment, including chemicals and pollution and so on in our physical environment, but principally - it's food and drink. At least for insulin resistance based type two. There is no such thing as 'being doomed' when it comes to epigenetics! And a whole lot to do with working on prevention big time. This is good news for your kids EllieM!

Prem51 said:

The unpleasant gastric side effects of Metformin are fairly common. It should settle down after a week or two, but if it persists you should speak to your gp about switching to slow release Metformin which is supposed to not have those problems.

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My understanding is the fairly common side effects of metformin are gastro-intestinal, which is a fancy way of saying stomach pains of varying intensity, but usually mild, and flatulence. Nausea is fairly common as well, actual vomiting less so. Diarhea is less common, I believe, and from what I read in here - is very debilitating, as one can imagine. Folks that I have been close to who suffer a side effect of diahrhea become house bound for obvious reasons, and are at the least lucky if they can work from home! There is a lot of mopping up and laundry involved.

My understanding is that if you have the more severe side effects one's medical professionals usually put you on an alternative medication, or as you say - try out the slow release one first before doing that.

KS260400 said:

If you have any tips about swallowing the tablet

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Swallow it with a spoonful of natural yoghurt instead of water, much easier!