How do I remember to take my metformin?

Any tricks?

I have to eat it with food (yes, I tried without to see what would happen, do not recommend! ), which usually gives me 3 chances a day:
First meal: anywhere between noon and 4 PM, sometimes skipped.
Second meal: anywhere between 7 and 11 PM.
Substantial midnight snack: anywhere between 11 PM and 3 AM.

I'd prefer to take it with first or second meal, having the impression that having it with my midnight snack leads to more unwanted side effects than with one of the other meals. Still, at least half the time I only remember about two hours after eating, so I end up having it before bed anyway.
I do remember before bed, because that's the moment I take my long acting insulin and the other tablet I need but how do I start remembering when eating earlier in the day?

I've already tried putting the tablets on the table in the exact same spot where I will put my plate, and I still manage to pick it up and put it aside when putting down my plate without even realising.

I could keep the tablets with my mealtime insulin of course, no insulin, no food, but I often prebolus by half an hour. Anyone tried what happens when you take metformin half an hour before food? I'm rather apprehensive to try, after my last experiment...

How do other people remember?

@JohnEGreen and @h884 , the problem with any type of timer is that you need to tell it at what time to alert you. It would be easy if I had my meals at the same time every day, but I don't, so I'm looking for a different solution.

Bluetit1802 said:

Does it need a full meal? Would a small nibble do the trick?

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Still working on finding out. Yesterday I remembered an hour and a half after my main meal and took it then, with a couple of nutty chocolate things to be safe and this worked out well.
The problem with working out how much food is enough to prevent explosive results is that I'll only know many hours later, at a time I'd rather be sleeping. So finding a way to remember to take it with one of my meals would be the safer option...

Daibell said:

Two points. if you can get the GP to change you to Metformin SR you don't need to worry about having it with meals. Also do you really need it if it's a problem.? I also take Metformin SR together with insulin but that's largely to keep my DN happy. It makes about 1 mmol difference when I stop it.

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Asking for the SR a possibility as well, but I want to try with the one I have first.
So far, the jury is still out on wether I want to keep taking it. I asked for it myself to see if it would stabilise the amount of insulin I need somewhat, it fluctuates rather heavily for me (https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/adding-metformin-to-insulin.184734/).

At first it seemed it really helped, but I've been having a cold for over 2 weeks now, so no way to tell what the metformin is doing because everything is off. So I want to give it a bit longer before making decisions, and in the mean time I'll try to find the trick to get the least side effects.
Which would be much easier if I was capable of remembering to take it in the first place!

Rachox said:

I have an app called Medisafe on my phone, I have it set to remind me of my Metformin in the evening (when I take it in the morning I have other meds to take so don’t somehow forget). The reminder repeats every 10 mins til I confirm I’ve taken it, or it gives you the option to reschedule it.

Edit for typo

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But how does this work if you don't eat at the same time every day?
I can put a reminder in my phone to tell me to take my metformin at 7:30 PM, but this won't be of any use if I eat at 10, and I'm not particularly looking forward to keep having the alarm repeated every 10 minutes for 3 hours because I'm not eating yet.

A time based alarm is useless, unless I completely change my way of living, which I won't do only to be able to take a metformin tablet.

catinahat said:

You could put post-it notes on your food cupboards and fridge reminding you to take your meds.
Or maybe some loo roll strategically placed in your fridge will make you think of metformin when you open it to get food. Some cool paper could come in handy if the met does its thing

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Now there's a thought!
I might put in on the kitchen counter so I'm reminded to take it when I fill my plate. Worth a try!

jonathan183 said:

set a timer for 20 minutes after you do your pre-bolus for the first meal of the day?

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Sometimes the solution is so obvious, can't believe I didn't figure that one out myself!
Thanks a lot, going to try this. I'll put the tablets in with my pen, as a reminder to set a reminder, and see how it goes.

I also accidentally found another trick just now, but @jonathan183 's is better I think.
Living alone, I usually eat in front of my computer, and today when I went down to the kitchen to prepare my meal I didn't close the web page I had opened. So when I sat down with my plate the first thing I saw was this thread, perfect reminder!
I might have to bookmark this thread so I can open the page before going into the kitchen.

Rachox said:

@Antje77 , you can either have it repeating or you can press reschedule for later by which time you might know what time you’ll eat

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That would be like having an alarm going off at a random time each day to remind you to do something at a specific moment. I'm afraid I'd only get very annoyed with it, it really can't be a time based thing.

Riva_Roxaban said:

When I was taking metformin twice a day, I took one at breakfast with my other medication, and one with the evening meal with my other medication I took then as was my usual practise.

My pharmacy offers a packing service that sorts out the daily dosage in a box.

https://www.bloomsthechemist.com.au/medication-packing

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I dread the time when I ever need to take medication on a strict schedule!
The packing service looks brilliant, but rather useless if you only need to remember one tablet a day!

Riva_Roxaban said:

Looks like the alarm timer on your phone or watch set on snooze somewhere close to your meal times. Turn it off when you have taken the singular pill.

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Meal times vary by about 4 hours...

Antje77 said:

First meal: anywhere between noon and 4 PM, sometimes skipped.
Second meal: anywhere between 7 and 11 PM.
Substantial midnight snack: anywhere between 11 PM and 3 AM.

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AndBreathe said:

On my phone, and on my watch, I have a timer I can set for any period of time. I wear my watch from finishing my shower, until going to bed. On my watch I can set of a timer with 2 finger taps on the corner of my watch face.

On my phone it's not much more effort.

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Same on my phone, I use the timer for all kinds of things.
I just hadn't thought of using it when I inject for my meal, which is the moment I'm most likely to think of the metformin!