How long have you been diabetic? We have folks dispensing advice on a regular basis on this forum who are "prediabetic" which is another word for either not quite yet but might become diabetic OR already diabetic but not so bad a case. We have folks dispensing advice on this forum who are not diabetic at all. We have folks like me who have been diabetic a dozen years or more and have tried various medication strategies along with the medications for their other co-morbidities, i.e. the other conditions that tend to cluster around Diabetes.
How high has your A1C ever been? What is it now?
How precisely did Metformin make your life a misery and could any of the other drugs you were taking or food you were eating have caused the problem?
With what methods and medication combinations and diets has your particular case been improved?
What dose were you taking of Metformin and how were the parts of the dose spaced?
One common combination of Metformin for people who need slightly higher doses is three separate spaced (and one of these at bedtime after having had a small snack to prepare the tummy for the drug) extended relase version of either the 750 ER mg or 850 ER mg. doses.
I personally take 3 tablets of non -colored generic version (for me, the coloring in the non generic and several other generic versions causes me gastro and/or allergy problems) extended release 750 doses a day, 8 hours apart roughly as follows: Shortly after waking halfway through breakfast with a prepared tummy, eight hours later with a mid afternoon part of lunch, and before bedtime prepared with the snack. Meanwhile, I eat no beans, nor cruciferous vegetables. I have kefir or yoghurt daily, usually cut down with water as a drink. My highest A1C while tested was 12.8. My highest single bloodsugar while battling a raging infection was 670.
I was diagnosed 6 months ago, my highest reading which I believe accurate was 17.1mmol/l, my reading just now was 7.5 - after eating. My Hba1c when diagnosed was 91. When tested after 80 days it was 47.
I was told to work up to three tablets of Metformin per day, starting with just one. After only a few days I was rushing to the toilet, after a week I was living in the room next to the toilet as I could not manage to get up the stairs fast enough. I was told to take a statin as well, so some of the symptoms could have been down to that, but I experienced muscular pain, itching all over so intense that I had to cut my nails right down as far as I could to stop myself doing damage to my skin, I was unable to remember what I was doing, if I had made my husband's meals, where I had put things, why I'd gone to a cupboard. I tried taking the tablets at different times of day, but nothing had any effect. I was soiling the bed, even though I wrapped a towel around myself, and I sometimes leaked on my way to the bathroom despite having another towel handy. I was unable to go out of the house if I had eaten in the last 24 hours, and even then that sometimes wasn't safe. I did try to take two tablets per day but the pain was terrible, even though I took them alternate days and with meals.
After about 5 weeks I had to try to prepare for Christmas, and I managed to go to the supermarket, as there is one with toilets inside the shopping area. I had to go in there twice and when I left I could not remember where I had parked the car. When I found it the back was full of shopping I had forgotten about, so I just sat there crying for a while, then drove home determined that I'd taken the last tablet of Metformin and Atorvastatin.
I ate low carb as per Atkins throughout Christmas and New Year, and my blood glucose levels were almost normal, so I have just kept on eating the same way.
My memory is not back to normal, and I can't walk far - though I am not bad with sticks. The itching has gone so I have regrown my nails.
I eat nothing with flour, oats, rice - any grain is out, even sweetcorn. no potatoes or starchy root vegetables, Nothing with high amounts of fructose - measured amounts of berries are OK if I have them as part of a meal with no extra carbs. No sugary foods at all. This seems to be all that I need to do to keep my blood glucose readings down to normal.
