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Metformin and me.

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,262
Location
Hazlemere
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
My recent holiday was almost ruined by the side effects of Metformin, I'd kept close to my usual low carb and didn't eat anything suspicious or in rich sauces or anything.

I was so fed up with it that I just stopped. It seems to have take a few weeks to work through my system but now I have a problem. I can't get my BG much below 12 whereas previously I could keep it in the 5 - 7 range unless I cheated and had toast or something.

I'm happy to go back to Metformin although I shall ask to try the Sustained Release, just slightly disappointed that for the time being it's probably necessary to keep with it. Rushing to a loo is much easier at home because I know where it is. Strange towns and airports just do my head in. The anxiety doesn't help much when you're not able to find a loo quick.

So, for me, Metformin is a necessary evil, we're all different though.
 
Each time I read a comment like this I thank my lucky stars that I seemed to have dodged a bullet with Met as I had/have none of the horrible side effects. You have my sympathy and yes, look into the SR version.
 
DavidGrahamJones said:
Strange towns and airports just do my head in. The anxiety doesn't help much when you're not able to find a loo quick.
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Get a app for your phone, I have one called Busting but it is mainly for Australian toilets, but on the link page there are alternative public toilet apps that may help if you are caught short.
 
Tipetoo said:
Get a app for your phone, I have one called Busting but it is mainly for Australian toilets, but on the link page there are alternative public toilet apps that may help if you are caught short.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I've even got a key to all those locked disabled toilets. A friend got hold of two when she had problems with Crohns, she now has a colostomy bag. Not sure where she got it from.
 
That sounds like a RADAR key - available from your local council for registered disabled people and often when applying for Blue Badges
 
RADAR keys are also available through the IBS website.I got mine from there.
 
The switch to SR sorted everything out for me, although I occasionally go the other way! At least you,re not looking for loos!
 
 
I have my issues with Metformin, too. I don't take it when I travel, but otherwise stay on a lower dose of the sustained release. Can't go more than 500 mg twice a day without severe issues, and usually I split a 500 mg tablet and take half in a.m. and half in p.m. Dr wants me to increase dose, and I've tried to do so gradually, but always with the same result--severe upset stomach.
 
I ‘grew out of’ the rush to the loo effect of Metformin luckily and take 500mg x 3/day no problem, but now have the opposite with the low carb diet!
 
I was on Metformin for over 10 years as well as two types of insulin and apart from stomach problems when I went on to three a day it seemed to suit me, so I thought. I'm one of those people who isn't and never has been overweight and over the years my appetite wasn't very good. In May 2016 I started to feel extremely tired, more like exhausted and a blood test showed that my B12 was low. This is one of the side effects of Metformin. I had to have five B12 injections over a couple of weeks and my B12 went back up. As my appetite still wasn't good and it is known as an appetite suppressant as it's given to overweight people which I wasn't and because of the B12 deficiency I thought I would try stopping the tablets for a couple of days - it was miraculous. My appetite came back straight away so I went for a week without them but thought I had better start taking them again. When I saw my diabetes nurse for my annual checkup in January 2017 I mentioned to her that I had stopped them temporarily a few months before and she asked how my sugar levels were and when I told her that they hadn't changed she told me to stay off them so I haven't been taking them now for ten months. I don't know if my B12 went back down but presumably it didn't as it was only six months from the B12 injections to when I eventually stopped. My sugar levels have been very good lately, good in the day apart from the odd high one when I've been a bit naughty and just occasionally have to adjust my Novorapid but they can also be high before bed, but I think is might be due to the Lantus wearing off too soon.

One other problem I have recently discovered is to do with the blood pressure tablets that I have been on for many years, not that I had high blood pressure but because the doctor said that as I have a higher risk of heart disease because of the diabetes I need to be on them (yet my twin sister who also has diabetes has never been prescribed blood pressure tablets). I started on Ramipril but was changed to Amlodipine, which I have been on for six years. I am being investigated for very low levels of blood platelets and guess what, one of the rare side effects of Amlodipine is low platelets! I am seeing the Haematology consultant tomorrow and will mention to him about the link between the Amlodpine and platelets but I would have thought that my doctor should have put two and two together in all the times she has asked for the many blood tests to check my platelets. I only found out the link after reading that low platelets can be drug induced and by Googling low platelets and Amlodipine I found evidence that they do. I also read the patient information sheet that comes with the tablets and down in all the small print was that 1 in 10,000 people have low platelets. I am hoping that this is the cause and that just stopping the BP tablet will bring them back up to normal. It seems that the medication prescribed for diabetes and many other health issues is actually doing us more harm than if we didn't take them.
 

I had an interesting conversation with my pharmacist today (they like a chat every year). I mentioned the problems with Metformin, obviously something he was familiar with and he explained that there are alternatives. I should have written them down because my brain is like a sieve (wonder what that's a symptom of, statin brain fog?).

I read sometime ago that Berberine is as effective as Metformin (according to some Japanese research) and works in a similar way, improving insulin resistance. My pharmacist confirmed that Metformin is probably no longer present in my body, having stopped a few weeks ago, so I might try the Berberine, just to see if it makes a difference.

I have noticed that my BG is running quite high, around 12 yesterday and 9 to day (that's better), any carb has an immediate impact and seems to affect by for a very long time. It might not be ideal to have high BG but when I consider that I probably wasn't diagnosed for a long time and even on diagnosis I waited 5 months to see a consultant for a prescription. I almost seems that the NHS thought it was OK to have high BG for a while.
 
When I stopped taking the Metformin and Atorvastatin I saw no change at all in my BG - as far as I can remember, but at that time - just before Christmas last year, I was in such a wretched condition that I scarcely cared if I lived or died.
The amount of increase seems to be rather high though as Metformin is not supposed to reduce BG by anything like the difference between the numbers you saw and are now seeing.
I worked with my meter to find what I could and could not eat, keeping my BG low by reducing or excluding foods which caused spikes.
I would far rather be able to go out of the house and walk, cycle or go out with the morris side I joined, than have to stay close to the bathroom day after day.
 


I'm only prediabetic so don't take metformin but I do have hypertension and have taken medication for that for 5 years. Dr initially wanted me on Amlodipine but I'd done some research into side effects and refused it. From all I hear Amlodipine can cause all sorts of side effects so I'm glad I did refuse. I actually was put on Ramipril but developed the predictable cough so it was changed to Losartan which is fine.
I have a friend who had taken benzofluoride for over 20 years without a break. Suddenly she got gout and is also now on Losartan: Gout is listed in the side effects but she had never read them! But it just goes to show we need to take special care of our own health and be aware of these side effects.
 

I was on a lovely mix of Chloropropamide and Metformin. Utterly useless.
Chloropropamide isn't good for your heart and Metformin did strange things to my head, making me very short tempered and unreasonable.
I went back to the Diabetes clinic and told them to get me off Metformin before I finally lost the plot and became at risk of attacking someone!
So I started my life on Insulin 28 years ago (now on Novorapid and Lantus), have barely looked back since!
In all honesty, while I know Metformin works for people, my own experience of the stuff was awful and I could never recommend the stuff to anyone!
For the record: Diagnosed T2 at end of 1986 after failing a medical. Was nowhere near being overweight. Have history of T1 and T2 in my family. Been on Insulin since 1989 and now, am finally loving life, after dumping Sitagliptin tablets for another injection (Luraglitide) which actually works and has helped reduce my total Insulin intake from 91 units daily to 57.
 
Resurgam said:
The amount of increase seems to be rather high though as Metformin is not supposed to reduce BG by anything like the difference between the numbers you saw and are now seeing.
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I've heard that several times. I've been exceptionally strict and in the last week especially only had something obviously carby, 1 slice of toast, it's effect was different to in the past. It's obviously only anecdotal and I must get back to trying Newcastle type diet again. I'm seeing GP in 2 weeks and if I can't get BG back in the 5 - 7 range which I know I can do because I did it while taking Metformin, then Metformin is back on the cards, Sustained Release this time. I'm also going to see if Berberine really does make a difference as well.
 
So refreshing to read posts from those members who have come off Metformin. I am beginning to think that nearly all drugs prescribed for me over the past 11 years or so have been contra-effective and have done me more harm than good

Example No. 1 - STATINS - decided to come off them after reading contributions here about side-effects - GREAT RESULT no more aches and pains at night in shoulders, neck and elbows and tender painful bone to bone contact AND considerable reduction in nocturnal leg cramps.

Example No. 2 - all of the heart drugs intended to prevent hypertension caused me to
have immediate and serious HYPOTENSION. Needless to say that I have come off each and every one of them almost immediately especially as I have always had PERFECT BLOOD PRESSURE notwithstanding 62% left ventricle Congestive Heart Failure. For those on Metformin with CHF - I would refer them to Google (can give all of the references) where there is a large body of opinion (from experts) that Metformin and all similar drug constituents should NOT be prescribed for those with CHF or similar heart problems.

Example No. 3 - LASIX - I think Lasix has been killing me - not helping me bcause I have been worried for sometime now that Lasix is NOT A CONSISTENT drug - there has never been a proportionate passing
of urine all of the years I have been taking it and the higher the dosage (withing safety perameters) has resulted in seriously reducing output to almost stopping me from urinating. I have greatly reduced my dosage from 160mg to 20mg and have suddenly felt better in the mornings than for a long time - almost a sense of well-being. And, by the way - no improvement to feet, ankles and lower leg oedema whatever the
dose I am taking.

I am not a prolific contributor but hope that my little 'nuggets' help someone out there.
 
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I was put on Metformin at beginning of year. Disaster. Terrible diarrhea, for a couple of months my life revolved around toilets. Then I got pancreatitis ,hospital continued administering Metformin. On discharge I re-read leaflet of do's and dont's. Says clearly do NOT take if suffering from pancreatitis. I stopped taking,doc put me on the SR version but to no avail. Taking nothing now until next HbA1c test results. Purely by chance one of my grandsons, a newly qualified pharmacist, not knowing of my T2D and medication, in a general conversation about drugs said Metformin is a " horrible" drug and the only reason he could see for it being widely prescribed is that it is cheap.
 
I'm sorry you suffered , but I am not surprised.
Metformin is a cheap drug and for some effective. I went on this a year ago when diagnosed. I have never been so unwell wretched and miserable. G.p asked me to do bloods on metformin in then bloods on same foods no metformin. No difference! I had to fight but now on sitigliptin. Amazing! No side effects of stomach pain etc.
 
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