Metformin questions.

zolabud said:

I read somewhere that Metformin does not make any difference to blood sugar levels, it makes other differences.

Does this mean I can eat more of what I want without it making any difference to my blood sugars?

Will eating an ultra low carb diet reduce my blood levels whilst on Metformin?

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I am not sure how you made the leap from line one to line two. In my case Metformin made no detectable difference to my blood sugar levels but it did upset my taste buds. The dose was reduced to counter this and I was eventually taken off them due to them being "ineffective".

Again, in my case, I have much better control of my blood sugars by eating the right things. I do not low carb excessively but I have to avoid sugar and flour as much as possible. This improvement began before I was taken off Metformin and continued right up until now. In short I still don't know what good Metformin did for me if anything.

If you reduce carbs, and do not excessively replace them with other calories you will lose weight.

Ultimately the only way to lose weight is eat fewer calories than you use.

Meformin is useful as it can supress appetite.

Hi. Metformin only ever helps reduce blood sugar a little bit. It does this by reducing the liver's output of glycogen (=glucose). It's most usefull aspect is that it reduces insulin resistance for those who have excess weight/fat. This then enables blood sugar to reduce as the body's insulin can work better. Metformin will not directly help you lose weight but a low-carb diet will, so both together will help a lot with weight loss. With regard to your stepdad you may want to ask him what his last HBa1C was? Anyone who is very slim and has lost weight without trying is a possible Late onset T1 diagnosis and not T2. If so, blood sugar needs to be monitored quite often and meds increased if needed by agreement with nurse. If his blood sugar is too high he should reduce the carbs and make up with proteins and fats to get the calories the body needs.