METFORMIN - nausea

Richard46

Member
Messages
5
I have been diagnosed a diabetic now for about 6 years or so. I have been on the metformin for about 5 of those years. The first year I controlled the blood sugars by diet and exercise only. Later I got more lax with the diet & exercise and got put on the metformin. As time passed I got increased to 750mg twice a day. I started felling nausea more and more and then have that feeling every day all day long. Went off it totally because it was so hard to function when you felt sick all the time. The nausea went away. Now I am taking 500mg every other day. This is not working either and still have nausea from time to time. I am running 180 to 190mg/dl. I think if I could take the 500 every day I would be able to control the numbers.

My question is, is there anything to take to keep the nausea under control?
 

carty

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,379
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Richard are you on SR met
CAROL
 

Sid Bonkers

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,976
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Hi Richard and welcome to the forum, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but even the max dose of Metformin, currently 1000mg bi daily will only help to reduce BG levelks by between 1 and 2 mmol/L (thats 18 to 36 mg/dl ) so the best it would do if you were to take 4 500ng tablets a day would be to reduce your bg to around 149 mg/dl (UK 8.2 which is still considered high.

Sorry to confuse you with the different numbers but here in the UK we use mmol/L where as in the US and other Countries mg/dl units are used. To convert mg/dl to mmol/L just divide by 18 and to convert mmol/L to mg/dl multiply by 18 :D

If I were in your position I would see my doctor and ask about alternative diabetic medication if you are unable to tolerate Metformin, many get a bad reaction to it, I am lucky in that I got very few problems with it and those I did get - stomach cramps - went away quite quickly. There are a number of other oral diabetic meds you could try :thumbup:

Diet also can be very effective at reducing bg levels and I'm sure Daisy will be posting the usual New To Diabetes info for you soon but if you want to follow the following link you can read it now and the information in it many have found to be the key to their 'good' control.

Link here viewtopic.php?f=39&t=26870

Good luck :thumbup:
 

Richard46

Member
Messages
5
Thanks for the reply Sid. Here's another problem,,,,,,I am allergic to sulfa drugs. As I understand it, all the other alternative meds for diabetes are sulfa based which only leaves some sort of injections. Quite frustrating.
 

Kerry-Michelle

Well-Known Member
Messages
176
Hi Richard

I am also on Metformin SR and I don't suffer with nausea I suffer with really bad bloating and tummy aches, my diabetic nurse told me to make sure I'm getting enough fluids during the day and to make sure I take my tablets at the same time everyday and with food, I have been doing this for a while now and there is no improvement, they won't change my Metformin or antthing as they said this is the last resort... I know how you feel..

Sorry to hear of your situation..

Kerry x
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
Hi Richard and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members which Sid mentioned. I'm glad you have already had some answers and I hope they will help, and that you will get more. Ask more questions if you need to.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

Sid Bonkers

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,976
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Richard46 said:
Thanks for the reply Sid. Here's another problem,,,,,,I am allergic to sulfa drugs. As I understand it, all the other alternative meds for diabetes are sulfa based which only leaves some sort of injections. Quite frustrating.

Hi again Richard, I dont have any knowledge of Sulfa drug allergies but could a decent Pharmacist help steer you towards an oral diabetes med that would be safe for you. Im pretty sure that not all diabetes drugs are based on the same drug groups but like I said I dont know anything about this allergy.

I wish you good luck in your quest though :thumbup:
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. It's possible that Sitagliptin isn't sulphur/sulfa-based; do ask a pharmacist. Sitagliptin is fairly new, a bit expensive, but does reduce spikes by extending the period of time after a meal that insulin is produced (it suppresses an enzyme that the body uses to stop insulin production). I've had no side-effects whatsoever with Sitagliptin although sadly it has ceased to work for me any more same as my other tablets. Hopefully the meds will work for you.
 

Richard46

Member
Messages
5
Well I want to thank all of you for your advise, opinions, and experiences. I have just got word from my doctor and he wants me to try glypizide in a small dosage. Now I am totally disgusted with this whole thing of diabetes. So I am once again going to try to do this without any of the meds. I have done it before. Just hope the ole pancreas still has enough go to do it again.

I looked up glypizide and how it works. I see that it stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin, therefore burning out the pancreas in time. Then I will be insulin dependent. Maybe at my age (66) I shouldn't be thinking this way, but I don't see why there is not another way to treat this condition without harm to the body. So I will limit the carbs strictly and hit the treadmill more often. No more fun stuff like cookies, ice cream, cake, etc. Just wholesome food, not processed, and not quite so much of it. I think, hope, I can do this!
 

Richard46

Member
Messages
5
I have made a few adjustments to the diet. Having a little trouble hitting the tread mill but if I can add it I believe I can do this again. Here are the numbers: 12-12= 189, 12-13= 184, 12-14= 172, 12-15= 166, 12-16= 159, 12-17= 141, 12-18= 146, 12-19= 134, 12-20= 135, 12-21= 148, 12-22= 147, 12-23= 141, 12-24= 159. So it does look like they are coming down at least out of the 180's and 190's. Still room for improvement but just need to hit the treadmill more.

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!!!!!!!!