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Doctor Wants Me To Continue Medication

brandonm

Member
i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on 2/19/18 with an a1c of 6.8 at the time my weight was 363lbs. on my 3 month follow up on 5/19/18 my a1c had gone down to 5.1 and i was around 325lbs. my last visit on 8/6/18 still showed my a1c of 5.1 and i was down to about 290lbs.

after my recent visit we agreed to see how i would do without medication seeing as how my a1c was now down to 5.1 well a few days ago my doctor calls again and tells me he would like to keep me on metformin 500mg twice a day untill my next visit in 3 months before he decides its best to take me off of meds. thoughts?
 
I'm going out on a limb here brandonm and others will be along shortly i am sure. First of all i was put on Metforim and lasted 5 weeks as couldn't handle the side effects. I got mine down from 11.4 to 5.8 with diet and exercise. From what you have posted you have done amazingly well getting those numbers down to non diabetic numbers. So congratulations first and foremost. If that were me i wouldn't be taking the drugs but i also know i can't advise anyone to stop their medications. Really well done on the weight lose also and you are really in control it seems to me. I personally don't understand why the doctor wants you to continue the pills. You also have taken control of your own health and you did the work not the GP i might add and you seem determined to continue on the right path. Others may offer differences of opinion but that's just my personal take on it. Good on you and good luck.
 
Some doctors like to keep patients on a minimal dose of metformin because it is claimed to have all kinds of other medical benefits beyond Type 2 - like CVD risk, cancer, increased lifespan and I forget what else. It's actually become quite a trendy drug among the life extension afficionados.

Your changes have been absolutely brilliant, @brandonm - well done!
 
First of all, congratulations on your progress.

Secondly I gave up on Metformin due to a side effect less dire than some. It made food taste like burnt plastic, especially vegetables so I felt the sooner I stopped taking it the better.

The more significant thing was that I could not detect any positive effect from it. Blood sugars didn't go down and they remained about the same when I stopped taking it. It was all a bit of a non event.

Of course, once you decide to stop taking a medication all sorts of other benefits "down the line" are mentioned in a similar vein to a financial advisor promising all sorts. The medical profession sometimes tells porkies to get you to do what they want. They certainly are keen on Metformin, which according to some accounts, works better as a laxative than a diabetes aid.
 
I love metformin because it helps me to lose weight. It has very little effect on my blood glucose levels but acts as an appetite suppressant and also helps to reduce insulin resistance. I would stay on it for life if I could for these reasons and those that @Indy51 listed too, but my GP won't let me. Thankfully I stockpiled some when I was taking a supplement from my naturopath which can't be taken with metformin, so I still have some left.

Well done on your results
 
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In your shoes I think I would want to know why my GP had changed his/her mind. You had agreed to stop and then they changed their mind with sufficient urgency to make a phone call to you and not wait for a 3 month check up. If you are happy with coming off Metfomin and your results continue to be good without it why start taking it again? If you come off Metformin would it mean that you would be regarded as non-diabetic by the bean counters and so your HCP would lose some funding? You would still need to watch what you eat and to be careful of your bg levels, dropping to a 6 month review and then an annual review if things remain good, so you would be saving them time and therefore money.
 
Just remember your Dr can’t make you take Metformin, he/she is there to guide you. Do your homework and make your own decision. I have recently dropped from 3 x 500mg Metformin/day to 2 with very little difference in my blood sugars. I’m happy to stay at this dose for it’s other benefits anyway. Here is an article about Metformin to help you decide:
http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2001/9/report_metformin/Page-01
 
Hi Brandon
I'm a bit of a rebel so stopped taking metformin myself when I decided to. Then informed the nurses 2 months later when they were crediting it for reducing my HbA1c significantly.. they were a bit non-plussed to say the least.. gobsmacked maybe that I could have dared be so bold!
 
Personally as I don't get the side effects from metformin I am happy to keep taking metformin even with my current blood glucose well below diabetic range.
 
My GP decided that my better HbA1c was due to metformin. Then because my HbA1c was in the normal range in Nov he refused to prescribe any more. So basically he wants me to stay in the diabetic range? Anyway he was wrong because I didn't take it for most of the year.
 
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First, I congratulate you on this good result
I believe that your doctor is afraid to lose this result as it is possible that you can get it with the help of medications
 
Great results @brandonm well done. When my HbA1c results came back at 41 the doctor said nothing about reducing my medication. I was on 4x500g Metformin, 4x80g Gliclazide and 50g Simvastatin a day. I stopped the Simvastatin about 5 months ago and I had cut this down Metformin and Gliclizide by half (my decision) a month before my test. I then stopped taking the Gliclizde when my results came back again my decision. I still take 2x500g Metformin per day for the other benefits this offers. At the end of the day you have to do what's best for you. Good luck on what ever path you take.
 
I stopped taking Metformin few weeks ago. I had no real side effects from it (as mentioned by others on this forum), primary reason was that it does elevate the heart rate which has an impact if one does some intensive sports etc. One thing I noticed, my FBG has gone up by approx 0.5mmol while postprandial levels have come down 0.5mmol on average. Interestingly enough, while I was on Metformin, say my FBG was 5.8 and 2 hours post breakfast was let's say 6.5. Now I consistently get 6.2 FBG and under 6 post breakfast... go figure ;-)
 
I just had my annual HB1C with the nurse yesterday and my glucose was up to 8.6. She has now prescribed me sitagliptin. I'm really disappointed as I haven't taken it for 4 years. I didn't like taking it at the time as with the combination of other drugs I was taking it made me put on a lot of weight. You then get into that vicious cycle of "you need to lose weight, oh and by the way here's another drug for you to take and one of the side effects is you'll gain weight" which is really depressing. She said if I don't get my glucose level down and lose weight she'll put me on insulin. That's something I don't want and I'm really try to lose weight at the moment. I'm already feeling depressed as I took a reading this morning and it was 8.6
 
So what kind of food are you eating to try and reduced your blood sugar levels?
 
 
I've been under a lot of stress as I got married recently. I eat quite well during the week and have one take-away at the weekend. I'm joining slimming world so hopefully that will help
 
gillgiruad said:
I've been under a lot of stress as I got married recently. I eat quite well during the week and have one take-away at the weekend. I'm joining slimming world so hopefully that will help
Click to expand...
When you say you eat quite well is that for a Type 2 or for a "normal" person?
 
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