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How many metformin can you have a day?

sammy1998

Active Member
Messages
39
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, been on 2 metformin a day since the middle of December 2013. I have 1 in the morning and 1 with my tea. I eat healthy and only have a small amount of bread once a week. I've been checking my blood quite a bit over the last few days and noticed it's not as good as it has been. I've contacted my dn and she's told me to take 1 metformin in the morning and start taking 2 with my tea and have a blood test in a months time. I'm feeling really fed up about it all as I thought I'd probably be on 2 metformin a day for a few years before I had to start taking more. What is the maximum amount of metformin that you can take a day? My biggest fear is having to go on insulin.


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I take 4 x 500mg a day (2 in the morning and 2 at night) so it's at least that many
 
There is a maximum effect you can get on all oral meds, few of them will do more than shift your HBa1c by 1 point. On another thread it was said the max dose of metformin is 2000 or 2500 mg, depending on the type (lower for the SR type I think). Beyond that dose there is no benefit.

If you are not liking the idea of insulin, you need to look at reducing carbs and maybe increasing exercise.

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I've been on 2550 almost since I was first prescribed Met which was a couple of years ago now. They come in tabs of 850 and I take 3 a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also take half a tab of glipizide per day in the morning. If I wasn't low carbing I am convinced it would be an awful lot more. As Spiker says, reducing your carbs and getting some exercise might be really beneficial to you. There is a ton of info on here about low carbing. It doesn't have to be really low to have an effect. Read all you can on here, it's useful info whichever path you decide to take low carb or not.

Good Luck
 
I agree with Spiker. If you are an overweight T2 then Metformin will help reduce insulin resistance but won't move your HBa1C by much. The key is a low-carb diet. If you are quite slim and possibly lost weight recently then your risk of actually being a late onset T1 is higher and this will mean insulin eventually but most people diagnosed will be T2 and probably a bit overweight and having a typically high carb diet. BTW should you ever need to go onto insulin as I did a year ago you will find it is actually not the problem it once was with neat pens and short thin needles.
 
Insulin can potentially make you gain weight, but only if you are taking more than you need. If your weight starts to rise on insulin that is a great cue to reduce the insulin slightly, watching to make sure your blood sugars don't exceed your target range of course.

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Well yes, insulin is the main cause of hypos so that's the main thing to be careful of when using insulin. It is a powerful drug so care is needed with it.

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