Help! How to decide whether to go back on Met?!!

jboesky · 05-05-2008, 09:57 AM

Help?! I took my teen age daughter (confirmed PCOS, many symptoms) to a new endo for a 2nd opinion about her meds. She was originally placed on 1500 mg of met by her first endo, who said he assumes everyone with PCOS benefits from it. The 2nd endo had my daughter go off of the Met (1500 mg daily) for several weeks so the lab could check insulin levels and glucose levels, and did a fasting glucose and 2 hour glucose tolerance test. the doctor said all sugar levels were normal -- she sees no reason for my daughter to go back on the Met. My daughter takes a low-dose BCP and Spiro (100 mg daily started last fall, which helped step terrible hair loss), but in the month she has been off of the Met, her hair is starting to fall out again, her moods swings are terrible, and she's gained 3 pounds. (She is about 10-15 pounds overweight -- nothing drastic, but she cannot take weight off even with a really careful diet and exercise)

How do we know whether going off the Met has any part in this?
The doctors say it's up to us whether to go back on the Met, but they see no value in it for her with her normal sugar/insulin levels.

Any advice? Thoughts? Help!!!
-- the worried mom

SunsetMuse · 05-05-2008, 02:32 PM

Well, I know the met helped me with my hair falling out, my hair is actually thicker now, It's also helped mood swings but only a lil. Met keeps my appetite better and helps me lose weight but I am IR. Have you told the dr what has happened since she's been of the met? Maybe a low dose would help with hair and other sypmtoms. Did she have bad side effects with the met? If she does I would talk about either a lower dose or a different medicine to control s/e, if she didn't then maybe talk to the dr about starting it back up. HTH. Good Luck.

Novgirl · 05-05-2008, 02:41 PM

JB - it's my understanding that although Met was originally developed to treat Diabetics and only insulin related issues it has been found to be effective for several other things in women w/ PCOS... here is some info I found:

LOWERING OF INSULIN, TESTOSTERONE, AND GLUCOSE LEVELS. Quite a number of studies indicate Glucophage reduces insulin, testosterone and glucose levels -- which reduces acne, hirsutism, abdominal obesity, amenorrhea and other symptoms. In one study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University, 24 obese PCOS women were given metformin or placebo. The 11 women who received the metformin experienced a reduction in insulin levels, which slowed the activity of an enzyme in the ovaries that stimulates excess production of testosterone. As a result, testosterone levels also dropped.(3)

Glucophage appears to do the same for non-obese PCOS women, according to a study from the University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland. Thirty nine PCOS women were given Glucophage for 12 weeks. They had improvements in insulin, testosterone, hirsutism and acne. (4)

RESTORATION OF NORMAL MENSTRUAL CYCLE. A number of studies have shown that menstruation can be restored in many women with PCOS. For example, in a study at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, 43 women who were not having periods took Glucophage, and 39 of them resumed normal menses.(6) In another study at Jewish Hospital, 11 teenage girls with PCOS were put on metformin and a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. Ten of the 11 girls resumed regular periods.(7)

This is where I got it: http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/gl...rmin-pcos.html

Perhaps your daughters Dr. has her on the MET to combat the Testosterone (which is causing the hair loss) and not so much to deal with an Insulin issue (which she doesn't have)...?

Hope all works out - I was a teenager w/ PCOS and it was so hard. She is SO LUCKY to have a mom who is so involved and informed.