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Metformin

Sarah69

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,505
Location
Hethersett, Norwich
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Anything healthy!
I've read a few posts saying that metformin doesn't lower glucose, Ive always thought I was taking it for that reason! What does it actually do then? I don't want to take medication for no reason as I'm taking enough tablets as it is!
 
I think the prime reason they give it to diabetics is because it lowers the amount of sugar produced by the liver which is quite different from lowering blood sugar when the sugar is produced from a meal. From what I have seen, every time someone questions Metformin they give another reason for it's use. Usually it is said that you will get any benefits "down the line" which means you have to wait to see if it helped.

I believe the Japanese are even looking into what help it can be for multiple sclerosis sufferers. The bottom line is that every time they find a new use for it they can apply for a new patent. In my case it did not seem to do anything at all.

EDIT: Apparently it is Argentina.

https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday....on-metabolic-syndrome-and-multiple-sclerosis/
 
It helps a little in reducing insulin resistance, it helps a little in reducing the amount of glucose the liver produces, it is an appetite suppressant. It does nothing to help post meal rises. It is more helpful to overweight people than slim people.
 
Metformin also reduce the risk of death from hart attaches and stokes by about 40% for people with Type2, This is likely due to it reducing insulin resistance, as it seems that having a high BG and high insulin is very damaging.
 
I can only speaking for the way that it affects me - it might be different for you. My BG is mostly fine except for first thing in the morning when I always get an increase (known as Dawn Phenomenon). If I reduce my Metformin to either one tablet or none (and I have done both when fasting or eating zero carb) then my fasting blood glucose is a lot higher than normal even though I haven't eaten any carbs.

I have been told that Metformin has appeared to improve heart function in women but not in men.
 
Metformin has been in use since the 1930s, the side effects are well understood and it has been proven with many trails that it works well. Yet no one knows how it works, it clearly benefits different part of the body in different ways. The issue is that no drug company makes much profit from it, and hence there is no incentive to fund the level of research needed to work out how it works.

If someone has 100 million pounds to fund a 10-year research project there will be a queue of top scientists to work on it; I expect there is at least one Noble Price to be had given that a true understanding of how Metformin works will open the door to lots of other research directions.
 
When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I had a HbA1C of 99 mol/mol or 11.1%. Metformin can reduce blood sugars by about 1%. A low carb diet is much more effective. By eating low carb I reduced my HbA1C to 44 or 6.1%, so a 5% reduction or about 5 times what Metformin could achieve by itself.

Metformin does have some benefits. It suppressed appetite, so people tend to lose weight. However, it will not reduce blood sugars to non diabetic levels. For that you need to eat low carb and maybe try intermittent fasting as well.
 
What interesting is that it seems Metformin can increase the number of carbs someone can eat and still control BG.

Say someone is eating 300g of carbs a day and is put on Metformin, it will do a bit of good, but if they then reduce their carbs, they may find for example that they can control their BG with 50g a day when without Metformin they would have had to go below 20g a day. So it is a case of "every little helps"......
 
This diabetes ain't half complicated Ringi,but I'm getting there!It appears to be a balancing act for each individual.As my results improved with my diet, and having dropped Gliclazide on GPs advice,I thought I could work towards dropping a Metformin tablet,just taking two a day.This resulted in my morning readings shooting up.When I resumed the original three tablets a day,my morning readings were back to normal.For me,my aim is to keep my BG readings as close to non diabetic as possible.Later I will tweak the diet and try again.But Metformins protection against stroke and heart attack are also important for me.
 
I am happy to keep taking Metformins for the rest of my life even if my fasting BG drop into the 4's.
 
The effectiveness of Metformin on reducing levels must be dependent on by how much the liver dumps glucose and if they have some sort of impaired glucose fasting, possibly also insufficient basal insulin, or if they are severely insulin resistant. For those with small or no liver dumps, (like me) it will be less effective. .
 
Metformin does not just work on the liver, or also improves the Insulin sensitivity of most cells regardless of where they are in the body.
 
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