Has anyone ever had Lactic Acidosis with Metformin???

kcontreras · 10-02-2007, 03:12 PM

Hello ladies - I currently take 2,000 mg of Metformin ER daily. I have taken this medication for a year now and have been very happy with it, and have little to no side effects.

Well - yesterday morning I woke up to get ready for work and made me some breakfast (eggs & toast). I ate, took my pills, got ready and left for work. Well - by the time I had gotten to work, I felt really weak, cold and nauseated. I tried to work through each bout of nausea when finally it got to the point where I had to run to the bathroom and throw-up. (Sorry, tmi).

After throwing up, I felt better (like nothing was wrong) for about 15 minutes or so, but then the feeling came right back full force. Before noon, I had thrown up a total of 3 times and I still felt really weak and clamy.

The rest of the day I continued to experience the nausea and weakness. I felt SUPER tired. I ended up going home and sleeping from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. today!

The only problem is, today I woke up with nausea and this time, a MASSIVE headache, along with weakness. I couldn't eat this morning, so I took my Metformin ER like I usually do, but this time with a glass of milk.

Well - I've been at work all day so far and though I haven't thrown up, I still feel incredibly nauseated, SUPER weak, cold and my headache will not go away. This is weird for me because I never feel like this and I don't feel like I have the flu.

At first yesterday I thought maybe I had food poisoning - but then another thought led me to think about my Metformin and Lactic Acidosis.

Has anyone ever had this? Could it be possible that after a year of being on this medication I might have it? Any help is much appreciated!

CountryMom · 10-02-2007, 04:09 PM

Can you call and ask your doctor? Supposedly, it is VERY VERY Rare, like not even a possibility it's so rare ----- BUT, if you did - you would want immediate attention.

I was told by my doctor 1 in 13 million chance. I think he was exaggerating, but at any rate ---- I was so scared to take it, it sat in my bathroom for 2 weeks before I would finally take my 1st one.

Let me know how it goes and if you call you doctor - what they say.

((Hugs))

lovemychris · 10-02-2007, 04:21 PM

There is another thread around here which is about eggs and Metformin and how the ladies get sick when they eat eggs....but something tells me this is not the first time you've had eggs with the Met the past year.

I had to take myself off of Met because I had 3 s/e of LA (among other things). Now, I doubt seriously I had LA, but I was worried. I read that the FDA is going to remove the LA warning from Metformin because there isn't sufficient evidence that Met causes LA, it was just coincidental that the few ppl who came down with LA were also on Met. There is a lot of info on it out there.

If you are worried, you should go to the ER and have your blood checked. If you don't have good veins, they'll have to draw blood from your artery because they cannot use the elastic strap on your arm (this interferes with the amt of LA in the blood). The key to recovery is catching it early (and I believe the treatment is rather easy...dialysis while at the hospital, at worst).

I'll find the egg and Met thread and edit this comment to include the link.

Best wishes!

ETA: here's the link I was referring to: http://www.soulcysters.net/metformin-eggs-223290/

JosieFB · 10-02-2007, 04:39 PM

From what I've read of LA, it builds up slowly. You feel worse and worse as time goes on. You might want to google and get some info about it. Any chance you are pregnant? Those could be symptoms of pregnancy too.

girlieforGod · 10-02-2007, 05:22 PM

I just took my first pill today. I wish the doc wouldn't have told me any side effects and just had me check back in 3 days. I don't know if feelings I am having are just from what I know could happen or what is really happening. I took it in between my lunch so maybe I won't get sick. But I have worried about the LA too...could it happen from the first pill? Could it happen after a year? who knows! to me, something could be rare, but still possible! Call doctor I would say for sure!

Chelsae · 10-02-2007, 10:44 PM

Kari, are you pregnant???

erinid · 10-03-2007, 01:39 PM

I was going to say the same thing! Are you sure you aren't pregnant?

TechLady77 · 10-03-2007, 02:09 PM

I completely felt the same way one day on Met. I thought I had that too. Then it lasted so long that I thought it was an ulcer. It turned out I was pregnant. I didn't expect it to hurt that bad...

If you feel very ill for more than 48 hours, see a doctor. If nothing else they can rule it out and help reassure you.

kcontreras · 10-15-2007, 05:37 PM

Hello ladies - sorry it took me so long to reply! Thank you so much for all of the replies.

After reading my post - I realized I forgot to mention that AF came on October 1st. Except it was VERY light (so not sure if it constitutes an actual AF). Actually - it was almost non existant. Day two and three of "AF" got a little bit heavier (but still quite light). So light that I only needed a panty-liner. Then the bleeding just stopped.

After those few days, I started experiencing breast pain and tenderness (which I still have) and all of the symptoms I've mentioned above were still present (except I was no longer throwing up).

So it has been about two weeks since all of this started, and I'm still feeling in the dumps. I wake up every morning feeling queezy and it comes and goes throughout the day. I still feel weak and dizzy most days. There are even times when I'm driving that I feel "out of it".

I guess I just feel all out of sorts and it doesn't feel like low blood sugar. (I've been there, and it feels a little different).

My husband keeps telling me that I'm pregnant, but I took a test on October 3rd when AF went away and it was a BFN. I haven't taken one since then. That was 12 days ago. Could it have been too soon to test?

I called around today to schedule a doctor appointment (lord knows I hate going to the doctor) and everything is for 2+ weeks down the road. I'm thinking of going to an urgent care, but I just don't think there's anything they can really do for me....grrrrr...lol.

Any-hoo - thanks ladies for the replies! As always - they are greatly appreciated!!!

- Kari

kcontreras · 10-15-2007, 06:16 PM

1 more thing...

Last week my face starting breaking out terribly! I'm known for having very clear skin (of course I have my few days here and there) but this is outrageous! My skin and my normally healthy hair feel SUPER oily.

Maybe my hormones are completely outta whack! LOL

Kris07035 · 10-16-2007, 11:51 AM

You sure you're not pregnant?

There's another thread out there called "Meds after Lactic Acidosis" that you might be interested in reading Meds after Lactic Acidosis??

That cyster actually did have LA. But they describe it as a slow progression. I don't think that you just "feel" it one day.

kcontreras · 10-16-2007, 02:21 PM

Thanks so much for the reply Kris. I went home last night and took a HPT and it came back negative (I kinda suspected that though).

Thanks so much for the link to "Meds after Lactic Acidosis"!

CraftyCyster's situation seems odly like mine, so now it makes me wonder. When I started met I felt great, lost about 35 lbs total (and kept it off) and I thought this is/was my miracle medicine. Now I'm starting to think twice.

I was never nervous about getting lactic acidosis. I did the research when I first started taking Met and realized that it was VERY rare, so I just never gave it a second thought until I started feeling the way I feel now.

And now that I really start thinking back to me feeling ill, I probably started feeling this way in the middle of September, but I just assumed that it was a combo of stress and just being burned out with everything in my sometimes hectic life.

But this ill feeling has just gotten worse and worse. (Granted, some days are better than others). It still boils down to me feeling nauseated all the time, light headed, dizzy, extremely tired, cold/clamy hands & feet, the skin on my face feels hot to the touch, and the thought of food makes me feel even worse. I'm a girl who likes to eat and even my favorite foods sound absolutely horrible to me. Even thinking of certain foods make me sick. This feeling has progressively gotten worse starting around October 1st or so. But it's weird because I don't feel "sick" like I have a cold or the flu.

Yesterday I called my doctor but they were unable to squeeze me in. I called around to some other places, and they too had long waits. I suppose I could just go to the emergency room - but a part of me feels like an idiot going there when there's a good chance this is not LA. (I'm good for trying to self-diagnose myself...LOL).

Anyhoo - I really appreciate the reply. If I don't start to feeling better soon, I will definitely make a trip to the ER.

All of you ladies are wonderful!
- Kari

ElaNC · 10-16-2007, 07:12 PM

kcontreras wow I'm sorry about what you've been going through. I can't imagine having all those symptoms plus the vomiting! I hope you find out ASAP what's going on.

I myself have not taken any Met since Saturday (I've only taken 2 500 mg pills, starting last Friday) and everyday I feel worse. I have these horrible spells of dizziness, headaches, fatigue, and a tingling sensation throughout my body. When I eat it gets better but soon after it comes back worse than ever. Now I'm scared it is LA - but from what I am gathering it wouldn't happen just from taking 2 pills right?

It is times like this I get really, really down about PCOS.

AngelD · 10-17-2007, 03:43 AM

I really don't think it's LA. It doesn't sound like exactly the same symptoms I've read. It sounds more to me like you have a lingering virus in your digestive system or maybe some type of bacterial/parasitic infection. I would definitely see your doctor as soon as possible and have it checked out. There is a kind of infection that affects the digestive system called H-Pylori that has effects that sound similar to your symptoms. I had a great aunt that had it and my dad also, but not as severely. My aunt was so sick that she lost so much weight she looked anorexic and she was in the hospital. H-Pylori is a bacteria that exists naturally in the stomach but sometimes for some reason it grows out of control and can leach out into the rest of your system and cause nausea and other problems.

There's a whole host of things that could be causing your symptoms, but I highly doubt that it is LA or has anything at all to do with metformin, especially since you've been on it for a year before this all started. So at least on that front as far as LA/metformin goes, I think you can relax.

Also, your skin breaking out could be a side effect if you have an infection in your system and your body is overwhelmed fighting it. Break outs are not always caused by hormones per se, but can also be caused by stress (which I'm sure you're experiencing from being sick and worrying), environmental pollutants, and infections in other systems of the body.

drama queen · 10-19-2007, 02:31 PM

Any new update? How did things endup for you?