Generic Side Effects?

Psychopomp · 11-02-2006, 06:12 PM

I was wondering if any of you noticed side effects that are specific to the generic Metformin. I know a woman who is on Glucophage for Type II diabetes, not PCOS, and she swears that she cannot take Metformin. It does horrible things to her. She told me about the problems she is having because I have been having problems, too.
I was started out on 500mgs of Met a day, but I still wasn't getting my period. My endocrinologist increased my dose to 2x a day, bringing my daily dose up to 1,000mgs. Since then, I have had stomach problems practically every day. If I miss a dose, I become a complete basket case. Really, really depressed. Sometimes suicidally. So I try never to miss a dose. Lately, though, I find that when I take the Met I get a headache right after that I just can't shake and a weird out of it feeling.
I've been taking GNC's Ultra Mega Women's vitamins because I know that Met keeps you from absorbing certain vitamins and that can cause nausea. I definitely feel the difference if I ever forget to take my vitamins with the dose. But I still feel kind of awful. I'm going to see my endocrinologist on Monday, and I was just wondering if I should ask him about switching me to Glucophage, whether it really does make a difference to use the brand name instead of generic. Just curious about any thoughts you guys might have about this.

Thanks.

Nikki76 · 11-05-2006, 12:51 AM

There are many different generic brands. For some reason, my pharmacy got a different generic supplier at one time, and it made me more sick to my stomach than the original generic I was on. Luckily, they went back to the original generic. I've never taken brand name Glucophage.

bigbaby24 · 11-05-2006, 01:39 AM

Im on metformin, the generic for glucophage. The only side effects is diarrhea (sorry if TMI) ,I noticed it when I first started taking the pill and when I got off the pill for a while and then started back.Even sometimes when I ate something high in carbs or sweet , I would get an upset stomach.Just make sure you take the pill with food or milk. Maybe the generic pill could make you feel the symptoms that you are having,but my symptoms were minimal. Hope things get better for you.

Move2Lose · 11-06-2006, 04:04 AM

I havn't tried Glucophage but have tried two different generics, Glucohexal ow and I can't remember the other name.

Despite Doctors and pharmacists insisting that the generics are exactly the same, I know from my own experience, as well as several other people with other drugs that the effectiveness/side effects can differ from one brand to another, despite what the 'experts' might claim.

I would see if you can get glucophage and see if that helps (just guessing but maybe you are allergic to a binding ingredient or something?). The other thing with Met that I have heard is that some women actually do better side effects wise when they increase your dose so that might be something else to discuss with your Doctor.