Hey all-- I don't know if this will work w/your diets, but I found that taking metformin with a glass of milk (or carb countdown, whatever) helps get rid of nausea, etc. My endo said it's something about the protein in the milk helping your system absorb the drug without the painful cramps, diarrhea, etc. Good luck!

Hi
im type 2 diabetic on metformin and low carbing, one thing i got, and many other people get, is a feeling of low blood sugar when your body isnt used to normal levels, i found this passed in a few weeks, now my blood sugar (more through LC than metformin) is averaging out at non diabetic levels.

Has anyone found their Metformin reaction seeming to taper off? I am not sure if it's still working or not.. mainly because I'm not having severe reactions even if I eat junk food! is this a good sign or a bad sign? It used to be if I ate too much sugar/starch, I would have a very upset stomach. Now I have no ill effects. Does this mean I need to up my dosage? I take 1,000 mg 2x a day.

HI all, I have been in and out of the boards here for a while but haven't signed on recently in months. Like many of you my periods became unbelievably long and heavy about 18 months ago. I went to the doc at that time but nothing wacky showed up in the hormone panel. An ultrasound showed a golfball sized cyst on one ovary that the doc has been watching since then. I have put on about 30 pounds since and a more recent hormone panel showed that pcos is likely. I was prescribed met originally at 2000 mg a day but it made me sick, much of the same symptoms you all have described. I stopped taking all of my meds (long story) for a few months and am now building both my thyriod meds and met back up to theraputic levels. I am also looking for a right diet to drop the extra weight. I hate how I look right now and really need to get this all under control to be healthy.

Week on glucophage and well diarrhea all day. It's the extended kind. Is this going to go away? It's really a bother to me. It's not horrible but still. I am a pretty busy person and public bathrooms gross me out. I really want to stay on this medication.

It went away for me after a few weeks.

My doctor recently Rx me to begin both Glucophage and a restrictive LC diet. I have been shedding almost 1lb/day. I have Insuline Resistant PCOS and Hypothyroidism. The diet and Rx combo are something that their office suggests to all PCOS patients and they have a great success rate with both weight loss and pregnancy achievement. The LC diet is similar to Atkins Induction and maintenance is similar to SBD. Right now I can only eat meat, fats, oils, nuts, heavy cream, and non-starchy veggies. They advise one cheat meal per week. Also, I have zero side effects from the RX because of the LC diet (the only time I feel sick is when I cheat). I don't remember what my dose is but I take three large XR pills with dinner.

Just thought I would offer my experience. When you increase your dosage, add 500mg at a time. Just 500mg per day. Do that for a week or two till your body adjusts to the medication. If you increase your dosage slowly, giving your body time, you will have very few side effects.

In the beginning, carbs helped me also. But stay away from greasy foods and really high carb loads like pasta. It made me sick, and I read it does that to others also.

When I get nauseous or have diarrhea, I jot down what I ate that day. There are certain foods that trigger more side effects for me.

Also, back down on the dosage a bit and see if it settles. Or cut the 500mg pill in half and to that for a week – then take the other 250mg.

It is still working. Your body is in sinc with it now so you are not being punished for eating the wrong things any more.

I would not double this medication without going to your doctor first. Or at least buy a blood sugar meter and see what your BG level is at as up the dosage.

The goal with Met is to balance your blood sugars (BG). Your sugars should be in the 80-100 range. If they stay there, insulin isn't pumped. If you have high blood sugar, then the insulin keeps getting pumped out. Because your cells are no longer listening to the Insulin (and opening up and taking the sugar out of your blood), the sugar in your blood ends up getting stored as fat instead of being used as fuel by the body.

Ever have that dizzy feeling? You get a little sweaty? The shakes/jitters? This is your blood sugars dropping too low. When this happens, your liver grabs stored sugar and turns it back out into your blood stream (to be used by your body for fuel). When this happens, your pancreas secretes more insulin... see the cycle here?

Keep your blood sugars stable, within the 80-100 range, and your body will stop pumping out tons of insulin (which causes the sugar in your blood to be store as fat) and you will lose weight a lot easier.

Eat low carb, try to eat every 2-3 hours, and keep the insulin smoothed out. The better you do this, the better you will feel physically and the easier the weight loss will be.

Actually, eating every 2-3 hours is a bad idea. Every time you eat carbs or protein, insulin is released. The more times you eat, the more is released, the idea is to decrease the amount of insulin being released throughout the day.

I try to do intermittent fasting - I eat 1-2 low carb, high fat meals a day over a 5-6 hour period.

Eating protein does not create a blood sugar spike; therefore, there is no insulin spike. Eating a little protein every 2-3 hours will keep your blood sugar stable/low, therefore very little insulin is released.

I know that I can't eat once a day any more. I used to do that when I was in my 30's, but now it causes my blood sugars to drop. If your blood sugars drop, the liver is going to convert stored sugar back into BG and put it back into your blood stream. The BG increase causes the Panc. to put out insulin, and because you are insulin resistant, your cells won't open up to take the BG so more insulin gets pumped out - and eventually the BG gets stored as fat instead of used as fuel.

Not eating through out the day causes me to have a viscous cycle of blood sugar drops and the release of too much insulin due to being insulin resistant.

If my logic/facts are wrong, please educate me

Protein does cause insulin release - not as much as bread or sugar, but it does cause some - the insulin is released initially in response to the food, then as your food is absorbed in response to your blood sugar levels - you still get an initial insulin release, even if eating protein.

Glucagon and insulin work all day long to control blood sugar levels regardless of whether we're eating or not - this is natural. But the more often you eat, the more insulin is released. Insulin release can be blunted somewhat by the addtion of fat to meals.

Let me give you a personal example. I'm very insulin resistant. When I first started low carbing, I would eat 3 meals and a couple of low carb snacks a day, my carbs were below 20g a day, spread out over the day. First thing in the morning my fasting blood sugar would be slightly on the high side, then every time I ate it would fall - yes not increase at all, but fall, because insulin was being released - too much because I'm insulin resistant - but I was eating next to no carbs. By the end of the day I was hypoglycaemic, and during the night my body would release additional glucose into my blood stream to compensate.

Eating 1-2 meals a day in a short space of time keeps my blood sugar stable all day long (also now I'm on metformin which helps too), less insulin is being released into my system.

This works for me and tallies with what I've read - we need to eat like predators, not prey, and shouldn't be grazing like cattle.

What works for a normal healthy metabolism is not the same as what works for the severely insulin resistant. Every insulin release we have is much larger than that of a healthy person because our cells don't 'listen' to the insulin and our body knows that. In my opinion, its best to prevent as much excess insulin release as possible.

But you do whatever you want to Its your body.

Lee

I could see where this would happen.

I am the opposite. I launch my day being hypoglycaemic. If I don't stomp on it first thing, I feel like I'm chasing it all day long. It has gotten worse since I started Met. I rarely had a BG drop unless I overloaded on carbs. Now, I get them regularly if I don't watch it.

Thanks for the info on this. I will do some more reading on eating patterns to stabilize my BG.

Yes, 16 years ago, I was like this, used to get severe hypoglycaemia after every meal - as low as 1.9 (34.2) - its the initial stages of insulin resistance. My GP told me to eat more often and more carbs to counteract it - and I put on tons and tons of weight.

I've had it so long now with no treatment until recently that I'm close to being pre diabetic - the insulin resistance is so severe it can't control blood sugars any more.

Hopefully you've got treatment early enough.

Lee