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How much time before you see a drug have any effect?

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hurf0rd

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A month ago I was happily using insulin to control my diabetes. This was something that was originally prescribed by the diabetes consultant at my local hospital, although I vary the dose myself according to my blood sugar tests.

I then went for a check-up at my local doctors surgery. The nurse suggested taking some Metformin, said this might help reduce the amount of insulin I take.

I've been trying them for a month, and whilst they give no adverse effects, they have not reduced my blood sugar either. I measure myself every morning and my sugar is pretty much unchanged and I'm taking the same amount of insulin as I ever did to control my sugar.

I phoned the nurse, told her that the Metformin was not having any effect, and that I was going to take myself off it. She urged me to give it another month. I'm currently trying to work out how helpful this is, whether it is true, or whether this nurse just doesn't want to be proved wrong.

Would anybody with some medical experience care to comment here? Obviously, I'm happy to take the drug, just as long as it helps, But I'm not into taking stuff unnecessarily, if I see no gain.

Are there any benefits that Metformin will give me, that I can't see in my blood sugar tests?

I'd also like to understand why she thinks that a blood test to measure my HbA1c will yield a more accurate picture than my many months-worth of daily glucometer measurements. I understand that the glucometer only provides a "spot" value, but since I see very little change in my glucometer reading each morning, I would assume that my blood sugar in between times is behaving itself. I'd have thought that my extensive historic data would give an even better idea of my long-term sugar trends than even an HbA1c value.
 
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I have no medical experience and have never taken Metformin. However, I have read about it and seen many threads about it on this forum.

It seems Metformin has only a minimal effect on blood sugars. It works on the liver, and helps reduce the amount of glucose the liver produces. It also helps with insulin resistance, but all to a limited extent. It is also an appetite suppressant, so helps people that are overweight more than skinny folk.
 
Hi and welcome. Metformin has a small effect on blood sugar and I take it with insulin. I increased my Basal by one unit when I reduced the Met from 2000mg to 1000mg. It takes a few days or so to have an effect but never makes that much difference but helps a bit. The NHS tends to think of it as the panacea when it isn't quite that. As well has reducing the livers output of glycogen (glucose) and helping to reduce muscle insulin resistance it is claimed to help a bit with the heart etc. It has few side effects apart from bowel issues some have in the first few weeks which the SR (Slow Release) version can help with. I would take it if it has no downside for you. The HBA1C is what NICE recommends and it's what GPs use to decide where you are on the NICE Diabetes Pathways and what meds to use. It is a very good 'average' measure.
 
Ha, I could do with an appetite suppressant! My lifestyle has become that much more sedentary over the last year and I've rocketted from around 75kg to 85kg!

But, anecdotally, I can't say that I've eaten less this last month.
 
Metformin only helps very little like a stick to lean at there is no way around looking at ones diet and lowering carbs really very much if one want control over type 2 diabetes and adding exercise to ones lifestyle
 
Thanks @Freema. Believe you me, I used to get loads of exercise, and a decent diet, yet I still ended up having a stroke. So obviously something was wrong over-and-above. Sometimes, lifestyle changes are not enough.
 
hurf0rd said:
Thanks @Freema. Believe you me, I used to get loads of exercise, and a decent diet, yet I still ended up having a stroke. So obviously something was wrong over-and-above. Sometimes, lifestyle changes are not enough.
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no you are right about that---- I do really not envy you.... but I am glad you have so much will to fight...send you a virtuel hug
 
Humalog Mix 25. Is that relevant to the question? How? Sorry for being so direct, I just don't want to be ignorant, especially when lots of people try to blind me with science.
 
hurf0rd said:
Humalog Mix 25. Is that relevant to the question? How? Sorry for being so direct, I just don't want to be ignorant, especially when lots of people try to blind me with science.
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Not trying to blind you with the ol' BS buddy.. That's the last thing I would do.. I'm a "layman" I use the terms. ;)
Not trying to "hunt you down" or judge either. Just help resolve your issue..

What stands out in your original post is that you adjust your insulin requirements based on one test in the morning?
I used to be on a similar regime as a type one kid testing with vague pee tabs..

My straight up answer is randomising your daily insulin dose should be the real focus of your issue at this stage?

I mean that with the best will in the world.. (I apreciate sometimes it's hard to convey true intentions on the Internet.)
 
Jaylee said:
Not trying to blind you with the ol' BS buddy.. That's the last thing I would do.. I'm a "layman" I use the terms. ;)
Not trying to "hunt you down" or judge either. Just help resolve your issue..

What stands out in your original post is that you adjust your insulin requirements based on one test in the morning?
I used to be on a similar regime as a type one kid testing with vague pee tabs..

My straight up answer is randomising your daily insulin dose should be the real focus of your issue at this stage?

I mean that with the best will in the world.. (I apreciate sometimes it's hard to convey true intentions on the Internet.)
Click to expand...

I adjust my dose up to about 5% each morning. There are occasional days where I test myself about 4 times throughout the day, I try to keep food out of the equation by making sure it's at least 2 hour since I ate, although to be honest if I did that every day, not only would my fingers look like a pin cushion, but I'd be bankrupted by the cost of the strips :)

But yeah, as long as I see the same-ish value each morning, my general assumption is that my diabetes is pretty steady
 
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