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Metformin SR

frazerl

frazerl

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Type 2
My HbA1c has gone from 7.1 to 8.7 in the last 3 months for no particular reason. My GP has increased my meformin sr from 1500mg to 2000mg per day and I am on 320mg gliclazide.

Since the increase last Monday I haved diarrhea and nausea - could this be
caused by the increase - if so any tips as i feel rough
 
frazerl said:
My HbA1c has gone from 7.1 to 8.7 in the last 3 months for no particular reason. My GP has increased my meformin sr from 1500mg to 2000mg per day and I am on 320mg gliclazide.

Since the increase last Monday I haved diarrhea and nausea - could this be
caused by the increase - if so any tips as i feel rough
Click to expand...

Many other people have reported stomach problems when taking Metformin so I guess that your problems could well be due to the increased dose. Presumably the tablets are Metformin SR which I and others find less of a bother.

I did have a problem of a different sort with Metformin and reported it to my nurse who reduced the dose. She said that she wasn't here to make matters worse. I find her attitude acceptable. If I have an intolerable side effect I can either reduce the dose and phone the surgery to tell my nurse or if it is tolerable I can wait until I next see her.
 
I had trouble with metformine and my gp switched me to SR which seemed to affect me much less and I have been on them for about 15 months with very little trouble it just seems to be a little more than coincidence the way I have been feeling over the last week with the increase in metformine and quite an increase with my HbA1c.
 
Hi. Your last HBa1C is very high and I think you need a discussion with your GP/nurse. There are alternatives to Metformin if you really can't tolerate it. If the Gliclazide isn't reducing your sugars and you are quite young and not overweight then do come back with the details as it is always possible that you have another variant of diabetes. Have a look at the NICE Diabetes Pathway information on the web both online and downloadable. It is very good and talks about alternatives to Metformin if needed and actions at different HBa1C levels. It's intended as guidance for GPs but very readable and it can be useful to have knowledge when seeing the GP (using tact of course!)
 
frazerl said:
My HbA1c has gone from 7.1 to 8.7 in the last 3 months for no particular reason. My GP has increased my meformin sr from 1500mg to 2000mg per day and I am on 320mg gliclazide.

Since the increase last Monday I haved diarrhea and nausea - could this be
caused by the increase - if so any tips as i feel rough
Click to expand...

Hi there, you are on the same drug trip as myself and yes I know what you are saying. That said, apart from incredible wind issues :wink: , I am now tolerating this regime reasonably well ( 58 year old male btw ) . Got to be better than injections :?
 
Hi. I should have said in my last post that it is not unknown for Gliclazide to cause some stomach reaction so perhaps this isn't helping. I guess it may settle but if it shown to be the cause then you could discuss Sitagliptin with the nurse as a possible alternative? It has a different action from Glic but as the NHS uses trial and error quite often for diabetes medication it's a consideration but I'm not the expert.
 
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