No benefit of metformin at all long term ?

I love that guy's parodies

It was seeing the slide he shows (around 13mins in) on the woeful lack of benefits of all the Type 2 drugs that went a long way to convincing me to try and control my Type 2 by diet and avoid medication for as long as humanly possible.

I haven't watched it yet because the sound has gone on the PC I'm using to type this. (Sound Card driver has disappeared and will not re-install)

The primary effect of taking metformin is that the release of glucose from the liver is lessened, resulting in lower blood sugars.
Metformin also works to lower blood sugar in two secondary ways: by increasing your sensitivity to insulin and decreasing the amount of glucose that is absorbed from the food you eat.

As I have recently discovered, insulin resistance can be measured.

Does anyone want to have their insulin resistance measured, stop taking Metformin for several days (weeks? How long would it take?) and have insulin resistance measured again?

If you're monitoring with something like a FreeStyle Libre, you'd probably spot a difference in insulin resistance very quickly.

I'm saying that because I've been having HbOT recently and every time I use the compression chamber my BG drops because the compression causes an improvement in insulin resistance (there's some Japanese research that has looked at this). As soon as I leave the chamber my BG returns to what it was before. I can see the drop in BG very clearly on the Libre monitor and the graphs I print off, sometimes quite dramatic and sometimes BG has gone as low as 3. There could be some inaccuracy in that number, or maybe because it was only for a short period, because I felt fine. So a change in insulin resistance because of not taking Metformin would probably be detected quite quickly.

Trouble being, keeping BG stable seems to be such a balancing act that I'm not sure I want to chance it.

I have some serious questions regarding the supposed weight loss resulting from Metformin use. Surely any drug which causes diarrhea and other GI problems in half of people who take it will result in weight loss - due to fluids alone And of course the resulting hesitation in eating!

That vid has been around a while, and since then there have been a few new 'revelatory' new 'findings' about how Metformin is 'protective' for the heart, and so on.

Personally, i think those new findings may simply be because Met is an old drug, and the drug companies see their patent running out, and want to find a new use for it.

Having said that, until recently i would have grabbed a chance to take Met for the insulin resistance benefits. Not now though. I have found that by lowering my carbs even lower, my insulin resistance has improved dramatically. Why take a drug when the solution is so simple and easy?

ME_Valentijn said:

I have some serious questions regarding the supposed weight loss resulting from Metformin use.

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Me too, despite having some very awful problems, weight loss was not a benefit of taking Metformin, for me.

DavidGrahamJones said:

Me too, despite having some very awful problems, weight loss was not a benefit of taking Metformin, for me.

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It gave me fairly intensive diarrhea while I was still constantly hyperglycemic (13-18) and producing moderate ketones in my urine. It pushed me to the point where I could barely stay awake and upright in the GP's waiting room. It culminated in a peak of 18.5 in the GP's office, and a "large" ketone result 8 hours after that.

Giving people meds which might cause or exacerbate dehydration, while otherwise untreated for hyperglycemia, seems like a rather bad idea. Yet it's the default recommendation for all new patients presumed to have Type 2.

I only watched the first 5 minutes and then switched it off as it doesnt interest me in the slightest.

The line in the videos "about" introduction was too misleading to have been of any benifit.

"Metformin is considered the gold standard medication for type 2 diabetes and for many years I said as much." No it isnt, it is the first line medication prescribed to all T2 diabetics because it is CHEAP, it isnt and never has been "the gold standard diabetic drug".

So for me this was just another self promoting youtube video, his music parodies prove that as well, thats my opinion.

I have been posting here for about 8 years and have said over and over again that metformin will only drop BG levels by a max of between 1 and 2 points on the mmol/L scale but it does have its benefits.

ME_Valentijn said:

Giving people meds which might cause or exacerbate dehydration, while otherwise untreated for hyperglycemia, seems like a rather bad idea. Yet it's the default recommendation for all new patients presumed to have Type 2.

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The only good thing for me was that initially my BG did come down, for approximately 4 years, but the GP insisted that I continued eating carbs.

Eventually my stomach problems, which my GP said was IBS (I knew it was the Metformin) got so bad I told him that I was stopping because I couldn't tolerate it. Being prescribed Rosiglitazone was an even bigger disaster as it led to huge weight gain (without increased appetite) and a failing liver. Then several years of Gliclazide and Januvia.

I'm back on Metformin only and I do wonder what would happen if I stopped all together, I think my much lower carb intake means I don't have the same problems as before, so It's now tolerable. It would be nice if it was good for other things, but who knows. I'm just a sad old cynic these days LOL

Brunneria said:

Personally, i think those new findings may simply be because Met is an old drug, and the drug companies see their patent running out, and want to find a new use for it.

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Spot on. New use, new patent.

Just out of interest, I'm told by my in-house patent attorney (HID) that if a new use is found, let's say Metformin is good for preventing heart attacks, a new patent is obtained, then you can get the situation where the same drug can have two different uses, packaging and prices. I have been told that this applies to diclofenac, used for epilepsy and inflammation.

Good grief! So six months of trotting between toilets has made about 0.3% difference to my Hb1ac!

Interesting talk though