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metformin

B

burtybob

Member
Messages
24
Morning all,

Wot, if any are the side effects of metformin? sorry if this has been asked/answered before but cant seem to find it.

Thanks for any replies.
 
My wife is on Metformin, it has completly ruined her appetite for food, she has a metalic tast in her mouth. I was on Metformin and had the same side effects I changed to Gliclazide, half a tablet a day. Her Doctor has put her on a different type of Metformin but will not change to another tablet.
 
Sometimes it takes a while to get used to, it did for me although I no longer take meds. It may be a case of wait and see!
 
Hi

I was put on slow release Metformin to start with but still had the well-known metalic taste and strange food taste overall. This took about 6 months to clear but it did disappear so it's worth persevering; don't give up.
 
I don't ever remember having a metalic taste in my mouth but I did have the usual windiness which settled down after a few weeks. I also found it supressed my appetite but I liked that as I need to lose weight. That has also passed now which I am not happy about but hey overall I have found it a great drug
 
Hi, yes I had those symptoms but they really do pass and as I say if you have weight to lose it's great. For the first time in my life I found myself saying to people that I wasn't hungry...never said that before :lol:
 
I had been on metformin for years, before last Christmas I contracted salmonella poisoning, never did quite recover properly until just recently, back in January I had HBc levels of 18.9, doctor increased my metformin to 1500 grams per day plus glipizide, I continued with diarrea for another 7 months! tests, some not very pleasant because they suspected bowel cancer, 2 weeks ago saw the Endocrinologist who immediately stopped the metformin and I feel so much better, however, have to go on insulin next week but am beginning to feel positive about it
 
Hi Jan,

I am sorry to hear that you are having a rough time woth metformin. Have you tried taking your Metformin in the middle of your meal ? I too had the same problems that you are encountering, I started to take my Metformin inthem iddle of my meals and the problems disappeared. My appetite has not been the sme since taking Metformin ( 4 months ago) but I don't think that is a bad thing as I used to be able to eat until the cows came home !

Good luck, I hope that you will soon feel much better.

Bernie
 
Hi Jan,
Yes you can take Imodium, in fact my GP prescribed them for me. Luckily i didn't need them as my symptoms settled quite quickly. I was distraught at first as I work with the public and scared tha I may get 'took short' and would have to make a dash for the loo.
Hope that your problem goes away soon.

Bernie
 
I need help , since i started taking metaformine its making my IBS worst ,such as bloating and wind.
i would like to know if any one has any ideas of how to treat this.
or know any alternative treatments :?
 
Hi Jan.

Whilst the previous posts may well all be correct as Metformin does have unfortunate effects on some people there are also a number of causes of Diarrhoea which are not related to Metformin or Diabetes. If you are taking any other medication this could also have a bearing on this problem.

Have you discussed this with your GP ?

Ken.
 
I started Metformin nearly a year ago and didn't have any initial problems other than mild ones which soon passed. I did have a bit of a loss of appetite but it has come back lately - still, I lost some weight in the process. It's amazing how our bodies sometimes adjust to things in time. As to how much Metformin actually lowers my blood sugar, however, that's another question - I'd like to find out but I'm not really sure how...
 
Kittykat said:
I need help , since i started taking metaformine its making my IBS worst ,such as bloating and wind.
i would like to know if any one has any ideas of how to treat this.
or know any alternative treatments :?
Click to expand...



Hi kittycat.

If you think the Metformin is making you IBS worse you should see your GP and discuss. There are alternatives.

Ken.
 


Hi Dobbs.

Metformin typically only lowers Bg levels by around 1-2 mmol/l. This is dependent on dosage of course. The above figures are if you are taking the max dose on ordinary Met which is 3g daily.
SR/MR max dose is 2g.

Ken.
 
Hi Kittykat

Probably worth making the point that for those having bowel problems with standard Metformin that it would be worth asking the GP to change to slow release Metformin (Glucophage SR by Merck). It may not help and it's more expensive but it is intended to reduce bad effects. I was lucky that my GP put me on this version to start with so have no idea whether I would have had any problems with the standard formula
 
Hi Jan,
Are you on Metformin or the slow release form? I could not tolerate Metformin and felt so ill however my Dr pursuaded me to try the slow release tablet and touch wood I have had not problems at all. I always take the tablet half way through my meal. Apparently the metformin Dr's intially offer is much cheaper than the slow release version so i guess if a person can tolerate it then better on the purse. Shame it comes down to that really!
Hope you soon feel well and are under control.
Joy
 
I have been taking Metformin for about 3-4 years now and I must say that the first 2-3 weeks was a bit hairy - windy and a sloppy bottom (as I call it) but after that subsided never had any problems.

Never experienced metallic taste and it didn't appear to do anything to my appetite (unfortunately) - I put on weight . I found that the Rosiglitazone/Metformin combo I was on made me really gain weight and have only managed to start getting the weight off by trying to low carb.

Now changed to Gliclazide which has made a real difference and more recently still to a slow release metformin (as my morning readings were a bit weird so GP suggested that) and I really feel much better.
 
I took Metformin and had to stop it because of severe diarrhoea (I have IBS). I was going to the loo more than 10 times day and night.

Then my elderly mother was put on Metformin (she didn't need to lose any weight). She got the funny food taste, the metallic taste and, in the end, was living on half a bowl of soup a day. I took her to the GP and got the Metformin stopped as she was becoming very frail looking (she's 87) and couldn't go on with the Metformin. It was a case of cure one thing but replace it with something else!

If these pills suit you, then I'm sure they're great. If they don't suit you, then in my experience they're never going to suit you and the quicker you come off them and find something else that does suit you the better. Let's face it, it's bad enough having diabetes without being made miserable/ill by the medication! :roll:
 
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