Got Milk?

Ms_Peaches_01 · 07-09-2003, 01:59 AM

Has anybody taken Met with milk only and no food? I'm not always hungry enough to eat when it's time to take my met, and was just wondering if anyone fared well by just taking it with milk.

Juliekaboolie · 07-09-2003, 02:18 AM

Yes, I have several times. It hasn't been a problem for me especially since I take it at night after dinner. HTH!

Ms_Peaches_01 · 07-09-2003, 08:51 AM

Hi Julie..

Are you taking it during the daytime with lunch and breakfast with milk only, then in the evening with a meal? I usually gulp all my meds down with dinner to sleep through the side effects.

Juliekaboolie · 07-09-2003, 11:09 AM

No... since I'm on Glucophage XR, I just take it once after dinner. I've had no side effects with it at all but that could just be because I am on such a low dose. Usually, dinner sticks around in my system so if I forget to take it until before bedtime and take it with a glass of milk, it still doesn't make me feel icky. I HTH!!

christyz · 07-09-2003, 01:53 PM

Welcome Ms P (love your picture)!

If taking Met with Milk works for you, go for it. Some ladies still get tummy rumblings without food, but if it works without side effects, more power to you!

I also suggest taking Met with an earlier meal than supper. Met's purpose is to regulate your insulin, and if you take it at night, you take it when your insulin fluctuates the least. It will be more effective if you take it with your daytime meals, because that is when your insulin will be spiking. And believe me...if you are going to have side effects, not even the hardest sleeper can sleep through diarrehea. LOL

Spreading it out (unless you are on XR) will make you less likely to have side effects than taking it all at once.

~All the best!~

andrena · 07-09-2003, 02:17 PM

I take my met twice a day - 1000mg am and 1000mg pm. In the am I take it with milk alone - I am too full after the milk to eat anything else for breakfast. I have never had a problem as far as side effects with just milk alone. I may eat some low fat yogurt a few hours later - but only because I'm hungry, not because of side effects.

In the pm I take my met with my dinner (around 5-5:30pm). Again, no side effects. I used to have terrible heartburn from the met. Once I started taking it with milk, the heartburn went away.

I did try it once with just yogurt (we were out of milk) - not good! I ended up throwing up about an hour later. Milk is my met saviour!

leigh656 · 07-09-2003, 08:06 PM

I read this thread with interest.

Can anyone tell me if this is healthy or whether I should be making more of an effort to get up earlier and get brekkie, lunch and tea into my day.

I take 500mg 2 x a day and take the first one after my breakfast (which is actually at lunchtime because I get up so late - around 12pm, due to insomnia and late to bed = late to get up....) I take the second tablet before my tea (main meal) in the evening.

Would I be better served to get up earlier and take Met with brekkie, say at 9am and then again, say at 6pm - teatime?

Right now I take the first one at 12pm and the second one at around 6pm.

I can't see it'd make much difference as the time apart is similar but I am not eating 3 meals a day, only 2 with grazing inbetween.

Milk may be the answer though - I guess I could wake up earlier, take Met with milk and then go back to bed and get up later as usual and then take the second one as usual at teatime.

I just wanted to know if taking them at specific intervals made any difference with regards to Met's effectivness and the way it works? Also, whether how much you eat during the day makes that much of a difference to how it works?

christyz · 07-09-2003, 08:47 PM

It doesn't matter when you take it as long as it coincides with your main meals in the day. That is because this is when your insulin needs regulating most...after you eat. If your meals span 12 noon to 12 midnight, work the pills in when you eat during that time.

Met does not enter the sytem for 2 hours. It peaks 2 hours after that and is out of the system about 2 hours after that. (except when you take it before sleeping...Met tends to last longer when you aren't eating becuase your insulin is fluctuating less). So ideally you need to take it 4 hours or so apart.

So on your current schedule take your first one at noon...2nd one at 4 or 5 pm...and 3rd at 10 or 11 PM or so.

Hope it helps!

Ms_Peaches_01 · 07-09-2003, 10:26 PM

Thanks Christy.. that's pretty much what my doctor said too. You should really take the highest dosage with your biggest meal. For ex., if you're taking 1500 mgs a day, take 2 500mg pills with your biggest meal and the other one with the smallest meal. I'm not IR, but he wants me to use Met to regulate my periods and lose weight.

I took my Met with milk only tonight, so far I haven't gotten sick, just a little rumbling in the tummy. It's just so frustrating when a doctor tells you to lose weight then he puts you on birth control pills and makes you eat a big meal with Met before you go to bed.

I haven't had much of an appetite lately anyway.

christyz · 07-09-2003, 10:42 PM

Actually, I said the opposite.

I indicated that your dose needed to be spread out more over the whole day to regulate your insulin evenly when you eat and not just at one meal. Plus people tend to have more side effects when they double up their dose like that at one meal.

But if your Dr has given you specific instructions to have it with dinner, then more power to ya'!

Good Luck!

Ms_Peaches_01 · 07-10-2003, 08:39 AM

I suppose everyone's body chemistry is different and doctors tailor dosages to individual patients' needs.

leigh656 · 07-10-2003, 07:45 PM

Thanks for your help Christy

Ms_Peaches_01 · 07-10-2003, 11:12 PM

Has anybody ever taken Met with yogurt only? I find that yogurt and cottage cheese help met to go down more smoothly.

christyz · 07-10-2003, 11:49 PM

I take my morning dose with cottage cheese. It works like a charm, and the protein helps keep the stomach from feeling icky.

shorty1kanobi · 07-11-2003, 12:45 PM

I have a question...my doc has me taking 500 mg with lunch and 500 mg with dinner. I think that explains the fact that I no longer get massive headaches after lunch and after dinner, but after breakfast is another story. I'm wondering if I need to either be taking a 500 mg pill at breakfast in addition to my pills at lunch and dinner, or if I need to just take one pill at breakfast and one at dinner?

In the mornings I'm SO lethargic...no energy at all it seems.