I want Metformin!!!

DanaLee · 03-26-2003, 04:38 PM

Hi ladies. I have PCOS and recently inquired about getting a RX for Met. My RE said NO, that she does not perscribe it for non-IR patients. I don't O on my own nor with 100 mgs of Clomid and my cycles are very irregular.

Can anyone tell me what tests I have to have done prior to going on the Met? I think they have something to do with the liver/kidneys. Are these blood tests that will show something?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

TC-
DanaLee

christyz · 04-04-2003, 02:44 PM

Ask her to test your FREE ANDROGEN INDEX and TESTOSTERONE too.

THE FAI in particular was what put me on the met, because met lowers this (as well as insulin). Normal is up to 8.5 and I was a 21.
If your FAI and testosterone are high, you know you have too much male hormone and it's time to look at a met. If your doctor won't perscribe it, find another that will.

Good luck!

waiting for first · 04-04-2003, 05:39 PM

My situation is almost identical to yours...I am a thin cyster who hasn't O'd or gotten AF on her own since stopping bcp in sept 02. I got my GTT w/ insulin levels under my first RE's care, and it came back normal (even a little lower than normal on two of the reads). He doesn't generally believe in Rx'ing met if you don't technically test + for IR. I wasn't responding to clomid at 50 mg 3-7, 100 mg 4-8 or 100 mg 3-10. I started reading up and found a few of the studies saying that Met helps a lot of women O even if they aren't technically IR. I was determined to at least get to try it!
I got a 2nd opinion w/ a different RE. He agreed it might help, as long as I understood it wasn't a "cure all" for all PCOS'ers. I take 1500 mg a day and have barely had any s/e. It must have been meant to be, because I have ended up liking this new RE much better. He knows that I want to be aggressive, and he listens to my feelings (i.e. he gave me the choice of another round of clomid at 150 mg or moving onto gonal-F, I opted for the gonal-F!). I went back to the "orginal" RE one more time after getting the 2nd doc to RX and asked him what he thought about letting me try it. He grudgingly agreed at that time to RX it, but by then I decided I would just be better off switching docs. I've been happy that I did.
My new REs partner is a woman RE, and she's wonderful. SHe did one of my USs recently and we started talking about met. I told her the reason I came to their practice was that my 1st RE wouldn't let me try gluc/met. She said, at this point she no longer even gives most of her patients a GTT w/ insulin, she RX's the met if they have pcos. She believes the studies saying it helps lots of non-IR women (she subscribes to the theory that we are probablyl all IR to some degree regardless of what the tests say). The new RE and his partner are in a practice located in a major ivy league university hospital system, and I think they are just more up to date w/ current thinking.
IF you feel strongly about it, get another opinion. You might be able to get a phone consult to see if they ever RX gluc/met for non-IR women before you even go in for an actual visit...
There are a lot of differing opinions out there, but there are docs who will Rx it for you...you just have to be aggressive and find them.

Beth