Maybe I should just stop eating

Well the sudden explosive D is where my journey started some years back. Do you know what I found! a few days of fasting (one small meal a day - generally small handful of meat, a few raw carrot sticks, lettuce , about 10 hazelnuts/almonds and about the same in blueberries/raspberries) followed by about a period of intermittent fasting (about 2 weeks) will normally stop it in its tracks and return me to normal.

By the way a single banana will trigger an episode for me!

I found this interesting article yesterday https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726123632.htm

chalup said:

The article is very interesting, however I have not had any grains at all for about 4 months. This misery started about a half hour after I took 2 metformin pills at the same time. I have decided to take them 3 times a day and it seems to be a bit better, not great but better. I ate a salad with a bit of chicken and mayo in it about a half hour ago and so far so good. It is 11 pm here and this is my first meal of the day so I was getting very hungry. I am hoping to be off to bed in a couple hours and not up all night again.

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Hun get your liver function checked. I had fatty liver which I got rid of by lchf diet.
I went on mixed insulin and off metformin for the same reason. As soon as metformin hit my stomach I started with watery no.2s.
No metformin for a year and I've just reintroduced it with no explosions. Softer but no G.
Liver problem is being monitored by blood tests monthly.

chalup said:

My liver is closely monitored because of other meds I take and is quite happy. I do have NAFLD or at least I did when I had a liver biopsy done but that was many years ago. My insulin level is extremely high and I would not want to add more. If this doesnt calm down I will drop it back to 1000 per day and talk to my doctor. I was ok at that dose. I have been VLCHF for the last 4 months. Thanks for your reply I was just needing to whine.

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Chalup - Is your Metformin "ordinary" or the Modified release variant. Some find the MR/SR helps a bit with gastric upset, so could be worth exploring with your Doc, if you're not already on it?

Another thing some folks comment upon is if they have a carb heavier day their tummies can object when on Metformin. Perhaps with the increased dose of Metformin, your tolerances have lowered?

I have never taken Meformin or any other medication to manage diabetes, so have no personal wisdom to offer, but could it be worth exploring trying a period of lower (than usual) carb intake to see if that helps a bit? To be fair, you're hardly eating anything might be mimicking that already, but you'd have to ensurer you would be eating enough not to be fading away!

Now, clearly that's a bit of a brain dump from me, so apologies if it's unhelpful.

Some people seem unable to tolerate metformin no matter the version or how they take it. It might be time to see your doctor again if it's interfering with your quality of life to this degree.

As outlined on @Galja's topic about Dr Bernstein's latest teleseminar:
There seem to be quite a few threads about Metformin lately and Dr Bernstein covers this in some detail including the normal/SR varieties, dosage, timing, diarrhoea, B12 etc - starts at around 22 minutes of the teleseminar:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/newest-bernstein-webinar.105449/

Hi. Yes, are you on Metformin SR (Slow Release)? If not the GP should have prescribed those as they are much kinder and probably essential with IBS. As Metformin never has that much effect on blood sugar anyway, if the SR version doesn't help, I would ask the GP to remove them from your prescription and rely on other approaches including insulin if necessary.

chalup said:

It seems a bit better today. I have split them up into 3 different times and that seems to helping. I eat 10-20 grams carb per day, I don't know how I can go any lower without cutting veggies completely and I don't want to do that. I am not sure if I can even get extended release in Canada but I will ask my doctor about it. I am sure fading away won't be an issue as there is rather a lot of me to fade lol. I have eaten tonight. It is now 3 am here and I think I am going to go to bed, the dog is tired and the hubby is long since gone to bed I am a bit of a vampire. The crazy thing is 2 nights of constant trips and 3 days of eating almost nothing and I have gone up a pound. Thank you all for listening and trying to help You are appreciated.

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Gosh - 10-20gr is very low carb, so it seems unlikely that's your issue!

I hope it all improves for you.

Daibell said:

Hi. Yes, are you on Metformin SR (Slow Release)? If not the GP should have prescribed those as they are much kinder and probably essential with IBS. As Metformin never has that much effect on blood sugar anyway, if the SR version doesn't help, would ask the GP to remove them from your prescription and rely on other approaches including insulin if necessary.

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Once again someone advocating insulin as the main solution for a T2D. The OP has said that 1000 mg seems to be sustainable, but the recent change to 2000 mg seems to be a step too far. There are other meds in the chest that are compatible with Met, and should be discussed with the HCP The issue being discussed was gastric reaction,