Struggling with metformin

[Lilysun]

Hi all,
So after a hba1c number of 97 a few weeks ago, I seriously got down to the business of Keto/low carb and focusing on my health. I started seeing great results after a week or so and numbers came right the way down (without medication).
Here’s the issue - because my number was so high, the pharmacist I spoke to said I needed to be on 500mg metformin, two of them twice a day. I’ve always been resistant to medication but understood that with such high numbers it was in my interest to take the metformin at least until I gained some more control. I started slowly on metformin as advised, but I can never get up to the full dose. I had such awful gastric side effects and after some weeks had the worst diarrhoea and stomach pain of my life. I ate next to nothing for almost a week because I couldn’t even think about food. I don’t know if it was food poisoning or a reaction to the metformin. I stopped taking it for a few days, but started again soon after I recovered because I was at a social weekend where the carbs were slowly creeping back in. I had another bout of awful food poisoning type symptoms and after this just vowed not to take any more. I’ve been trying to get in touch with my GP for advice but I can only ever get through to a nurse at the moment and they just say I definitely need to keep taking the metformin (I feel since my diagnosis that healthcare professionals in general have been quite dismissive but that’s another story for another post!).

Do I just stick with it? I know metformin has lots of additional benefits and I’m still unsure whether I was ill so badly twice because of food poisoning or the metformin. At the moment I’m taking it very erratically, when I feel I need to, rather than regularly which isn’t ideal. Just feeling a bit lost with it all and struggling to access advice

 

[lessci]

Ask for the slow release version if you want to continue to try taking them, but it's your choice what you put in your body at the end of the day. I know that some people can't tolerate them at all and either have to use a different medication, or are totally diet controlled and extremely strict with their carbs

 

[daffy1]

I was on metformin for 10 years then suddenly the most dreadful diorhea. So bad I was scared to go out of the house. I was taken off it and put on insulin but my sugars went berserk. After 6 months of uncontrollable BG I saw a doctor and she put me back on metformin but slow release this time . I was really scared of what would happen but so far I seem ok with them . I’m now on 2000 mg SR , gliclazide and insulin and the sugars are coming down. Check with your DN if you can change to SR metformin as gastric problems are well known with this med

 

[Deleted member 475901]

My mother, who never succeeded in managing her diet, had awful side effects from Metformin. I just went low carb immediately rather than try it.
I tested before and 2 hours after every meal at first until my blood sugar was low enough, then just tested once a week or if I ate a new food. I've slowly increased my carb a little since getting into remission but I still carb count.