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Metformin side effects?

Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments and kindness.
Jumapi
 
Jumapi said:
Thanks Avocado Sevenfold. I am already taking treatment for depression and anxiety. I am also on Prednisolone (steroids) for poly myalgia and have osteoarthritis. I do realise there are lots of people much worse off than I am. Because I've been on meds for depression and anxiety for many years off and on it didn't occur to me it could have got worse. Although I tend to think it's just me, I did wonder if it was the Metformin. I will take note of your comments and I will try to see my Dr again soon. At the age of 76 and alone after 52 yrs of marriage I feel defeated.
Jumapi


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Sorry for your loss. It sounds like you are in a vicious circle at the moment...feeling lousy due to the metformin side effects, being too queasy to eat, being tired due to lack of nutrition etc. Asking for the slow release metformin sounds like the start of a good plan that may help to break this circle.

Are you managing ok to do food shopping? I hope you have loved ones or a community psyc nurse looking out for you. Take care and keep us posted :)
 
"Metbum" was/is the only side affect that I'm aware of but as a few have mentioned the slow release version seems to alleviate the worst of that problem.
I take the 750mg version twice daily.


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Well update on Metformin - day 4 and now on 2 tabs and so far no side effects. First day very windy!!!! But nothing since (thank god). If all ok will start 3 a day at weekend.


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csholdom said:
Hi
Just looking at the forum. I have been on metformin 500mg, 1 per day for about 2 years now. When I first stated taking them, I had the usual side effects of stomach cramps etc. I asked my GP for the slow release tablets (SR), which I tried and al the side effects disappeared. I know I'm only on 1 tablet a day but it did work for me. I assume the Slow release metformin tablets are more expensive than the normal ones, hence they weren't prescribed initially, but if you're not already on the SR ones, insist that you go on them. Best of luck
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I am on Metformin SR and can still only tolerate 1 tablet a day ! I am on very large doses of 2 kinds of Insulin. I now have a condition that makes being constipated a no-no......perhaps I should take more Metformin !!!
 
I have noticed recently that metformin tablets are appearing in my stools. I am taking 4X500mg SR every morning. From what I have read this is not unusual and it is basically the packing, the business part having leeched out of the tablet, but it is a little worrying to spot!
 
I am at this moment in time ready to run to the toilet at a moments notice!!!!
i have been on 3 x 500 metformin a day for 7 weeks now with varying degree of stomach cramps and explosive diarrhea, this last 6 days its escalated to making me virtually incontinent, the most watery, arriving at a moments notice i have ever experienced in my life . I phoned the doctor yesterday and he has stopped my metformin and put me onto a retarded version of it, slow release I guess I seriously hope this works for me as I have been off work for 2 days now, not eating not taking metformin (i heard about the side effects), BG seems to be right as ninepence ( 4.4 yesterday and 5.5 today with no food). I really hope the new drug will not produce the same effects.
 
Raymond Starr said:
You will be fine just watch what you eat that's all
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Yes sometimes it's just Metformins way of saying "don't eat that". I have been on 1500mg daily for over two years and after a few stomach cramps in the first few days it's been brilliant at reducing bg spikes from the very first tablet I took. The only time it gives me any kind of problem is if I eat too much.

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Its definitely not eating too much for me, i am eating like a healthy sparrow now. Doctor said I may have had a bug and the metformin exaggerated the problem as it does tend to make people "explosive".

They should issue metformin out to the enemy in war times, they all be in the toilet.
 
hawnet said:
Its definitely not eating too much for me, i am eating like a healthy sparrow now. Doctor said I may have had a bug and the metformin exaggerated the problem as it does tend to make people "explosive".

They should issue metformin out to the enemy in war times, they all be in the toilet.
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If you're not already on it ask the doc for the slow release SR version that normally sorts things out for most people who get a reaction.

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MJ it was 7 weeks before the side effects got too much, I have been off the mets for about 4 days now and i still have stomach horrible cramps, but i do have the slow release tablets now, so i am going to wait for these horrible effects to go before i start all over again with the sr type.
 
My experience of doctors and nurses is that nonre of them realy seem to know what advice to give.on yhis forum our diabetic friends are given all sorts of advice and mis information. Just wish the medical people would get their act to gether..what I have found out is that hba1c is below 6,5 testing is once. A year, over 6,5 tests sould be every 6 moonths this is advice given by NICE. So remind your doctor or nurse to view thei web site

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Still got the awful side effects.
 
Doctor took me off of metformin as I generated lactic acidosis and all of my arteries were burning, cramps in muscles all over my body, uncontrollable teeth chattering - absolute agony and highly dangerous; only way to alleviate the symptons was with more exercise to get the heart to process the lactic acid, but that had further increases afterwards. One of the consequences of metformin is the liver cannot process as much lactic acid into glucose and as I was on the start of a major exercise regime (having done nothing for 15 years) I was generating lots. I have noticed my fasting levels have gone up from 4.5 to 5.0 without them but I can live with that at the moment.
 
mj14 said:
Went back to Doctors yest and he put me on Metformin. Told me to start with 1 500mg in the morning and after a few days another in the eve with meal. Eventually to up the dose to 4 a day. Told me of side effects and has put me right off before I've even started!!!!




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I have been on Metorformin for just over a year now, gradually went up to four a day,. But all of a sudden I have started getting bad stomach cramp's & needed the toilet badly, so now have been put onto 3 a day. But if I have to take 2@ once I still get stomach cramp's, so it seem's if I take 1 3times a day it might be better(finger's crossed). They have kept my sugar level down though. Hope this will help you.
 
mj14 said:
Went back to Doctors yest and he put me on Metformin. Told me to start with 1 500mg in the morning and after a few days another in the eve with meal. Eventually to up the dose to 4 a day. Told me of side effects and has put me right off before I've even started!!!!




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Also ask your doc to check your vitamin B12 levels: apparently metformin can stop you absorbing it, necessitating an injection every 3 months...B12 tablets don't help because the metformin removes the chemical in your digestive system which allows you to absorb the vitamin.
 
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