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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KennyA" data-source="post: 2740050" data-attributes="member: 517579">Hi - first off I need to say that I've zero personal experince of metformin, never taken it.  Information from Bilous and Donnelly's Handbook of Diabetes.Metformin is a derivitive of guanidine which is found in a plant called Goat's Rue. Goat's rue was used as a tretment for diabetes in mediaeval times.  It increases insulin action (although the docs say "the exact mechanism is unclear" which means they don't know how it works, just that it does) and lowers glucose mainly by decreasing the amount of glucose the liver itself makes and releases. It doesn't cause hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose) or weight gain and it is thought to have an appetite suppressing activity that might help weight loss. Whether this is anything to do with its common side effects is another question.  The main side effects are nausea, anorexia, and diarrhoea affecting about one-third of patients.  Lactic acidosis is a rare but serious side effect, avoided by not giving the drug to anyone with a history of renal, hepatic, cardiac or respiratory failure or to anyone with a history of alcohol abuse. It's usually thought of as the first line in medication following a T2 diagnosis.</blockquote>

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