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How does metformin work

I

ittiandro

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Can anybody explain in lay terms the process (bio-chemical or other) by which Metformin works in Diabetes 2?
Does it restore the pancreas to produce more insulin? If not, how does it reduce the amount of sugar in the blood and /or decrease insulin resistance ? If the daily dose simply " burnt" the " daily" excess sugar in the blood, why does it take as long as three months to see the effects, as opposed to when I exercise: everytime I am back from the gym, after 45 minutes of treadmill and other exercises, my sugar reading is down to normal by 2mmol/L ( 5.6 ) as compared to before the gym.

Thanks

Ittiandro
 
ittiandro said:
Can anybody explain in lay terms the process (bio-chemical or other) by which Metformin works in Diabetes 2?
Does it restore the pancreas to produce more insulin? If not, how does it reduce the amount of sugar in the blood and /or decrease insulin resistance ? If the daily dose simply " burnt" the " daily" excess sugar in the blood, why does it take as long as three months to see the effects, as opposed to when I exercise: everytime I am back from the gym, after 45 minutes of treadmill and other exercises, my sugar reading is down to normal by 2mmol/L ( 5.6 ) as compared to before the gym.

Thanks

Ittiandro
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I believe it's an insulin sensitising agent which makes it easier for muscles to take up glucose and also helps with reducing liver dumps.
 
I found a paper on this 4 years ago. One of the things it does is change the balance of ATP and ADP in the cells from a 50-50 to a 40-60 ratio and thereby impacts glycolysis and other cycles. Have a read of this to understand ATP and all of its processes http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Biology/atp.html
 
Metformin moderates the release of stored glucose by the liver. Us Type 2'ers must still observe carbohydrate diet restrictions as metformin has little control over what you put in your guts. One thing to be aware of is just because we may take metformin doesn't mean that we can dine on doughnuts with impunity.

A brief lowdown - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin

Glenn
 
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