First of all, thank you to all of the wonderful women and physicians who have posted information on this site...and thank you to the site administrators for providing such wonderful information to a population of women who have a difficult time explaining what is going on and finding reliable information.
NOW-on to the purpose of this post. I was diagnosed with PCOS last October. Treatment for my issue of only having 1 or 2 cycles a year that would last for months was to just take the pill. After a while I realized how silly this was and I stopped taking the pill and finally found a doctor who looked at all of my symptoms and diagnosed me.
Having said all of this, I have been on Metformin since October (2,000 mg a day) and recently pieced together that since then, I have experience bowel issues (I eliminated white flour, white rice, and juice from my diet as the doctor instructed me), stomach problems, lightheadedness, headaches, and other side affects. However, the Metformin has worked to solve my cycle problem. I am going to call my doctor tomorrow and was wondering if anyone has used any other medications successfully for treatment? Has anyone ever experienced side effects so much that they had to discontinue use? Does anyone take a lower does of Metformin and still experience successful treatment of PCOS?
This is really just a "me too" post. But perhaps the extra traffic will keep this issue at the top until someone who knows something can see it!
I was prescribed Metformin and can't take it at all--I took 1/4 of the prescribed lowest dosage and an hour later had my head in the toilet vomiting violently. Thinking it might have been a coincidence, I waited a week and tried it again--same reaction. Then I did it again a week later (I guess I'm a masochist!), same thing.
My doctor tells me there is no other possible treatment and put me on BCP to attempt to control the hair growth, which is only a minor concern. I am more concerned with being pre-diabetic. I really would rather not be on the pill--although I'm not really trying to get pregnant, I wouldn't be unhappy if by some hormonal miracle I did.
If anyone knows of a successful, medically approved alternative to Metformin, I'd love to know about it.
I am going to call my doctor tomorrow and was wondering if anyone has used any other medications successfully for treatment?
Successful treatment of 'what'? The symptoms you're trying to treat will determine the types of medications to explore (with diet & exercise being at the foundation of any program.)
im supposed to start my 850mg Metformin this week,but wanted to wait until i got my bloodwork results back which i will find out about this afternoon...i was just having a quick read-up on Metformin & there are sooo many natural herbs etc that do the same thing as Metformin.Doctors are always so quick to prescribe the same ol same ol medicine just coz the text book says so...im making an appointment with a Naturopath next week & im thinking the natural route is the safest way to go.They also apparently have a higher success rate
I am interested in the natural path for PCOS treatment but would want to meet with a doctor for it, and unfortunately I cannot afford that right now, but certainly in the future that is the route I would like to go.
My doctor said that carbs of any kind can irritate the digestive system and to just really watch what I eat. She also recommended I decrease my dosage so I am going to work on that. I have adopted (months ago) a vegetarian lifestyle so whole grains and carbs became a staple of my diet; I am adjusting to eat more protein and less carbs and I exercise daily so hopefully all of this together will help until I can get myself on a natural treatment.
Again, thank you very much! These boards have been so helpful and it is so comforting to know that I am not alone in this journey. For 10 years I felt alone because no one knew what I was talking about when I would describe my symptoms-but now I see there are so many of us!
Metformin Alternatives 
