Personly I have no problem taking Metformin, and have got my BG down from a peak of 33 to under 6 after more meals. The Metformin is not magic, but the "low carb" is, I reduced my carbs as much as possible, just becouse my meters says it is OK to eat some carbs, does not result in me eating them. My meter tells me what not to eat, it does not give me promission to eat carbs.
Metformin may help your Hubby get great results quicker with "low carb" and "eating to the meter", most poeple have no issue with it after the first week or two. But its inportanant to release Metformin will not do that much without the changes to diet as well. However it is has been shown in a few large studies that Metformin reduces the damamge that high BG does to the rest of our body, more then it lowers BG. This is way doctor's and nurces like Metformin, people with T2 get less longterm illness when taking Metformin even when the Metformin does not lower the BG.
PS,
I think your Hubbies AC1 result will be a lot less then the nurce is expecting..... Should we start taking bets with DNs without telling them we have meters?