Is it safe to take metformin without a doctor's appointment

This is so interesting how Metformin works differently on people I have been on it for about 4-6 years levels came down a bit but my diet and the new way to enjoy foods would have been a major help in that.
Due to Doctors either moving areas, retiring, incompetence incorrectly prescribing the wrong drugs for me, thankfully the Pharmacist picked up that mistake. I now have a great GP who is very proactive in Diabetes and was happy to refer me to an Endocrinologist. a 7-month wait to see her but she sent GP information.
Took Trulicity for a while it didn’t make a difference to me.
GP swapped me to Ozempic now up to 0.5mL I thought the horrific side effects I was getting were from that.
Have finally seen the Endo doctor, it appears I am allergic to Metformin. She told me to stop taking Metformin for an x amount of time and then go back on 500mg once a day.

Mentally, and physically I am back to how I was pre-diabetic the fog is gone. I can now walk more than 2 house fronts without chest tightening and total exhaustion, I am up ladders cleaning spouting (lives in Aust) house is getting a good scrub again. I am even cooking again - like cakes I don’t have to eat them people like you bring home-baked cakes over. I had not been like that for years and years. I seriously was thinking if this is old age and getting dementia I was not happy too young for that

Just a note there are side effects from taking Ozempic no desire to eat, never hungry, a diabetic not eating at all has put me into what I call a ‘diabetic drunk’ that was so weird and so dangerous. I now portion out small meals to nibble during the day.

I have become very proactive with my health I keep all my medical notes which my GP encourages, and I will be seeing him tomorrow for the next bit of the journey.

UsmanMo96 said:

Taking any drug without a prescription is bad. A doctor would only write up a prescription if the patient would benefit from it.
On a side note. I been on metformin SR for 8 years and never lost any weight from the medication.

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I have T2 diabetes and was prescribed Metformin years ago just after diagnosis. I have never lost any weight from being on this drug nor have I had the diarrhoea which a lot of people get. I have bad constipation due to the Metformin. My diabetes is now being controlled by the Metformin along with Glyclacide & Semagluptide which is an injection I give myself once a week. I'll be forever grateful to my diabetic nurse who initially prescribed this.

Metformina is available OTC in Spain for about £1 a box (50). Cheaper than U.K. prescription if not PWD. However SR is not normally available. Despite getting it on script in the U.K., I just purchase in Spain and save the NHS some money. It has a long shelf life.

Why do so few people actually research the drugs they're prescribed? It seems that so many just blindly accept what their doctors prescribe, without learning anything about the drug, how ro take it, or common side effects, interactions etc As to stomach issues, I was always told that if you take metformin and keep overeating carbs, you WILL have the diarrhoea side effects.

In answer to the original question, it's not safe to take any drug without prescription. What if she'd had an anaphylactoid reaction and died? Don't laugh, I was prescribed Atenolol, and had a serious reaction to my very first dose!(Luckily I was in hospital at the time and resuscitation measures had to be taken) This can happen with ANY drug. If you haven't taken it before it could easily have a very serious effect on your health!

Zhnyaka said:

the strangest thing is that no. Metformin seems to have a bad effect on the stomach, but she's fine. I'm a little scared of such a rapid weight loss, and such a strong delight from it. This is not a toy, but a serious medicine, and she treats it so negligently. And I feel guilty for that and for praising insulin so much that you'd think it couldn't kill

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I think she is trying to have her cake and NOT eat it because the action of metformin is to inhibit production of glucose by her liver. Less glucose means less fat storage (for type 1 we can't stop our livers chucking out glucose) but I am surprised she's lost 4kg unless she is merely being coy re the stomach issues.
Reminds me of my taking medicalised speed to lose eight (worked but being slimmer didn't sort my self esteem out and it had side effects). She probably needs to ponder why she is a slave to her scales and this diet culture.
As a type 1 I also get annoyed when people take meds they don't really need to sort a problem that in her case, they don't really have or could solve without pharma.

Zhnyaka said:

I am much more concerned about the problem of why people often do NOT take the medications prescribed by their doctors and believe that they themselves know better what will help them than people who have been studying for many years

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Sorry, I've been a nurse for 40 years and have worked with many so-called doctors who 'have been studying for many years' Doesn't make them any better, and they still make mistakes, especially these days when they are so rushed. Often it's the nursing staff who find these mistakes and bring them to the doctor's attention! Never blindly put your trust in medical personnel and always do your own research. These people still make mistakes and are often so arrogant that they can't or won't admit it.

EllieM said:

I hope you dissuaded him from trying this again!!!

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Perhaps you should have let him go slightly hypo, see how he liked that, if insulin is so safe........obviously not advocating you doing so, but I don't understand why someone would want to inject themselves with insulin if they really didn't need it

EllieM said:

I think it's a bodybuilder thing, like taking steroids... Neither are a good idea...

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Just watch he doesn't get the 'roid rage'!

Zhnyaka said:

it seems that with the help of insulin, you can somehow gain not fat mass, but muscle (as I understand it, you need to prick it before training and then all the carbohydrates that you eat after that will go into the muscles. I'm not sure for sure, because I didn't even want to hear where he learned such a thing).

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It's a thing among fanatical body builders, and there are (deadly) accidents with this often enough.

Zhnyaka said:

it seems that with the help of insulin, you can somehow gain not fat mass, but muscle (as I understand it, you need to prick it before training and then all the carbohydrates that you eat after that will go into the muscles. I'm not sure for sure, because I didn't even want to hear where he learned such a thing). I am calm about both diabetes and insulin, and he apparently adopted this attitude from me

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And is there a scientific basis for this reasoning? Sounds a tad like nonsense to me!

Zhnyaka said:

it seems that with the help of insulin, you can somehow gain not fat mass, but muscle (as I understand it, you need to prick it before training and then all the carbohydrates that you eat after that will go into the muscles. I'm not sure for sure, because I didn't even want to hear where he learned such a thing). I am calm about both diabetes and insulin, and he apparently adopted this attitude from me

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Apologies, just read a few articles regarding this: seems it stems from a review in 2016 which suggested that insulin has a part to play in building muscle mass, due to it's action in protein synthesis. And it's often abused with deadly consequences:

https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20030804/insulin-for-bodybuilding-can-kill

Zhnyaka said:

haha, it looks like I should stop admiring medicine in the presence of other people, otherwise my friend decided to try metformin, and my boyfriend read somewhere that you can quickly build muscles with insulin, and when I was horrified to see that he injected himself with my insulin, he said in surprise, "it's safe". Insulin, ****, it's safe ! I didn't let him go to training that evening and I gave him tea that had more sugar in it than water

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Hi,

Yarp, I learned that lesson many years ago. I was with someone who seemed really interested in my insulin regime.
“Awwww.. How sweet, she cares..”

Then it became more apparent it was more the hypoglycaemia effect & the possibility of dropping into a coma & eventual possibility of death.. She’d seen me low. She probably gleaned the rest from her mum who worked in a care home?
Then I discovered she was self prescribing morphine based drugs to get wasted too. (Usually when she ran out of “pot.)

So, I decided to hide my gear, keeping the needles apart from the pen..

That ain’t no way to live.. I took the safe option for her in the end after brief contemplation. & “walked….”

Antje77 said:

It's a thing among fanatical body builders, and there are (deadly) accidents with this often enough.

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Yarp, One that don’t need too much imagination is the chance of driving to & from a gym, going low & ploughing into pedestrians..

There is a responsibility when we use this stuff..