PCOS Message Board - View Single Post

lbeu12 · 12-29-2006, 05:58 PM

Just wanted to share with everyone about my success with Met since I know how important it is to hear the good side of things with all the scary mentions of side effects etc.

I was diagnosed with PCOS with IR in August 2006 by my family doctor after many frusterating visits with previous doctors who just told me to take BCP and that being irregular was normal. Now I realize that not everyone's AF comes every 28 days, but 9 months between AFs is not normal, I don't care what doctor tells me it is. So finally, this doctor knew something about PCOS, and saw that I had all the classic symptoms. So she did some blood work and referred me to a specialist - and endocrinologist here in Denver, CO. (Dr. Rees-Jones is so wonderful!). I couldn't get in to see him until early October, but when I did, he did some blood tests and prescribed Metformin. I worked up to 3 of the 500 mg tablets each day of Metformin for a few months and saw positive changes (like no low blood sugar episodes that I used to have all the time, and I stopped gaining weight, which is wonderful even though I haven't lost that much yet). When I went back in December for my two-month checkup my doctor changed my prescription to Avandamet (which has metformin and something else in it). I now take one pill with 1000 mg of Met and 2mg of the other stuff twice each day, so 2000 mg of Met daily. I hadn't had a period since March, but I noticed last week that I had sore nipples, and wondered if I was going to get my AF, and just as I suspected, I got AF today (Dec 29)...my first one on my own (without BCP) in YEARS! So, I am positive that the Metformin is working for me.

I hope you will all eventually have the successes that I am now seeing. I am going to get my working out/exercising program going so that I can start seeing real results with my weight, but at least my body is starting to get back to "normal". If you are reading this and haven't taken Met yet, don't be too scared about the side effects. If you take the pill with food (after you've eaten some, but before you are finished) the effects are minimal. The only times it has been really bad - and by that I mean feeling crampy and having diarrhea, it is because I ate too many carbs in one sitting and not enough protein or fat with it. Otherwise, some days I don't notice at all, and other times my stomach just feels a little weird or achy, but nothing too terrible. I think the Met works best if you take it before you eat instead of while you eat, but work up to that after you know how you feel with the Met in general. If I know I have an important meeting or something I don't want to take a chance of feeling bad during, I'll take my pill during my meal, and make sure to eat balanced protein, fat, and carbs to keep things in check. Otherwise, I try to take it before I eat to get the most benefit from it.

Well, I hope that my first, simple success encourages those of you that needed it, that Metformin is totally worth the sometimes less than fun side effects. Hopefully I don't have to take it the rest of my life - as I'd like to exercise and lose weight so that I can regulate my body from then on, but for now, I'll gladly take the Met!

Good luck!