• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Consultant's surprising action/help?

LucySW said:
Metformin has been around a long time and is very well known and completely safe. It has very benign effects on limiting liver dumps. The only issue is that it gives some people disagreeable stomach pain. (It didnt me.) I would try it and see.
Click to expand...
I agree with your overall approach but I don't think we can ever say a drug is "completely safe". I know of one member of this forum who says it caused him serious side effects. In addition to the stomach pain, some people get diarrhoea from metformin.

But overall, your comment is right... it's a very low risk drug, and has benefits for people in the target groups - women with PCOS, the obese, and T2 diabetics with high BG.
 
LucySW said:
Metformin has been around a long time and is very well known and completely safe. It has very benign effects on limiting liver dumps. The only issue is that it gives some people disagreeable stomach pain. (It didnt me.) I would try it and see.
Click to expand...
You forgot to mention the diarrhea, which is why somebody is suggesting Sustained Release, Extended Release, whatever they want to call the stuff that's not so aggressive on the old stomach. There again, not everyone gets the same reaction to the stuff and my reaction improved (no more mad dashes to the loo) when I cut the carbs.
 
https://www.idf.org/sites/default/files/attachments/article_61_en.pdf

^ This ^ is complicated, but the conclusions offers some clarity. My private consultant in London said, increasing or decreasing GH treatment can affect diabetes and diabetic control. I find it more than a little suspect that my diabetic control was good and I was well until the lowering of my GH treatment.

Obviously I didn't want to explain all that I have in terms of, well, it is complicated isn't it? Also I still see one bad result, rightly or wrongly. I don't see a pattern of poor results, I see one bad result slightly north of the boarder. Having explained all that I have, it has got me thinking that altering one thing at a time would be more prudent. If I can get the GH treatment increased I can more easily link the two, as in increased GH better control. If I go off an accept this and go onto Metformin, it just complicates matters doesn't it?

Also from what I have read liver problems is a contraindicator, not a better reason for Metformin. None of this is helped by having no trust in the consultant and that lack of trust is legitimate given his agenda generally has been to reduce GH treatment because of the cost and responsibilities/obligations it places on his hospital...he keeps writing letters to my gp asking for them to pay for my treatment and half of his focus seems devoted to trying to get me to persuade my gp to fund the medication, All very difficult.
 
I've gone very quiet over here in the corner. I'm silenced by your experiences and can only wish you a good recovery as far as that is possible. Keep us informed of your progress and also how you decide to integrate your diabetes management with the other issues. Priorities must be, well, a priority, I suppose.
 
Appreciated Deejay. I'm not sure if I am guilty of accepting my own advice and thinking, or doing the right thing. Either way, I have taken much onboard and certainly if I don't get my hbA1c in check By the next test, I'll be having that conversation with the gp and considering metformin with him.

Sometimes you want to explain things simply and not go into too much, spare people the details, avoid going too deep down the rabbit hole lol. Sorry for maybe ratting on in some ways. Will post how things go.

Thx again, everyone.
 
Good luck, and do let us know if we can help in any way. Sometimes it's just nice to know there are people going through similar things, who understand the difficult decisions we sometimes have to make.
 
I hope things go well for you.
If you do go onto metformin I was prescribd a fibre called Benefibre which helped with the diarrhoea
 
Metformin may have a protective effect against cancer, actually. Observational studies reported that people taking Metformin had lower incidences of cancer. Research has also shown that metformin can kill cancer cells in vitro. It is being used as a first line therapy for men with diabetes and prostate cancer in the USA. More research may follow because the jury is still out.

I would ask a pharmacist whether Metformin is suitable for your liver as s/he will have a degree in pharmacology which a GP or consultant doesn't. Maybe you can get a liver consultant to say yes or no. Maybe it would be a good idea to do your own research and find out whether the GH has an effect on blood glucose or insulin.

That's a lot of maybe but here's a definite, I would email or write to the PALS at your hospital and get them to intervene to quit trying to persuade you to get GP to fund the GH treatment. They should hash that out themselves without adding to your stress.

I also suspect that the reduction in GH is a cost-saving measure but it may be due to pressure to conform to guidelines by NICE. What you need to do is marshal your argument against the
Bureaucrats so the more research you can do to show that you need more GH, and something other than Metformin, and that they are trying to save money and involving you in financial decisions which are nothing to do with you, the better.

The Canadian neurologist Dr Jason Fung lists Metformin as the best anti-diabetic drug, with Sitagliptin and Acarbose second and third.
 
Back
Top