New2ThisType2
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 55
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
If I knew then, what I know today, in your position, I would be inclined to ask your general practitioner for a referral to a Nephrologist and have them test your kidney function. I would not leave it up to your family doctor to take care of.
Don't think anyone short of a Nephrologist ( or other equivalent specialist) should advise you to stop taking Metformin for everyone's situation is different than the next. One person might be better off without it and in a range that enables them to keep their BS levels low naturally, whilst another might not be.
But I would certainly have further testing.
Kidney issues can be as simple as having had a history of Kidney stones.
I myself had a kidney stone that somehow got stuck in the tube below my bladder. I became very ill with what i thought were flu symptoms. Unfortunately I lost one kidney entirely and almost the second BUT I must say that it wasn't just Metformin and BS pills that created this issue. I was given a 3rd pill for something else, that was known to be hard on Kidneys for 3 months which ended as this fiasco with my kidneys took place.
I asked that specialist 4x IF i could handle it having had stones in the past but again, my gut instincts were correct, my doctor wrong and the damage done before i knew what happened. But all the pills contributed to the loss but the Nephrologists were mostly concerned with the Metformin and a BP pill.
Unfortunately as i discovered, Kidney disease is often silent and without pain. So dont read into this and assume that you need to go off of Metformin for everyone is different but do yourself a favour and GET TESTED fully with a proper kidney specialist. My own family doctor who I thought was great, turned out to be absolutely useless when I really needed her.
Edit: Indeed it's only now with hindsight am I able to see where the signs of Kidney disease first started. I had been complaining of a sudden loss of energy about 4 years ago. Had every test imaginable, apparently but one for kidney function so no cause was found, until too late and i was advised to take Vitamin B. I was also charged $50 for a test to see if i needed Vitamin D. LOL Sighs, I could write a book on the f**k ups that followed but suffice to say, all I would have needed was a Nephrologist so I personally believe anyone put on Metformin being a diabetic should have their kidney functions tested beforehand.
I should add that in my particular case, 1 month before rushed to emergency with undiagnosed kidney failure, I had stopped taking Metformin just because i could not keep anything down. When I started to feel better a couple of weeks later, I didnt bother to restart. When I was in emergency and for months afterwards, I wasn't even in the diabetic stage, naturally.
My numbers went a bit higher in January-March as i was fighting 4 infections I had gained as I had to have a temporary catheter whilst they tried to locate the kidney stone that they seemed to have lost.
Those led to infections, each fought with antibiotics, at which point my numbers raised, but came down again naturally afterwards.
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