Metformin Success Stories - Page 53

Artemis00037 · 01-18-2008, 11:51 AM

Hello,

For those of you who have lost weight, have you had to make many dietary changes or have you lost weight with little to no diet changes? I mean I know that it's better to go on a low sugar (no white flour, no fatty foods, no processed foods), but have you lost with the medicine alone?

Thanks!
Amber

sarahbara · 01-18-2008, 12:51 PM

I've lost 13lbs with no diet/exercise changes at all.

traceync · 01-18-2008, 03:29 PM

I've lost weight without really trying. Though being on met, if I eat a lot of sugary, high carb foods, I get sick. So that has helped me eat better, lol. Good luck to you all.

jandk · 01-19-2008, 10:03 PM

Should I take a test or not?

Hey everyone,
I have a question and I was looking to get some input on something. I'm on my second cycle of metformin and had a period from 1/3 to 1/9, however in the last week my body has been very weird. I was feeling great, then all of the sudden I started getting nauseous, just out of the blue. Now I spend probably 3/4 of the day feeling like i'm going to get sick. I also am not hungry at all. I've also started feeling really tired, sleeping 11 or 12 hours a day. I'm also walking around sweating and feeling hot all of the time. I have also been suffering from horrible constipation/diarrhea every day. My body temp has also gone up from an average of 96 degrees to around 97.5 for the last 6 days. I dont know if I should take a prego test or not, i'm actually kind of scared lol. Has anyone experienced these symptoms? If so what was the root cause? And any tips on how to lessen the symptoms would be great thanks,

Beckee · 01-20-2008, 05:27 PM

jandk. This sounds like Met sounds effects I have had. The 2nd time I went on it, I was absolutely EXHAUSTED and felt hot all the time, as well as the typical nausea and loss of appetite (not to mention the bathroom time). Anyway, maybe your Met is just really kicking in. Also, it REALLY helped me to go on Vitamin B12 daily. I actually started on it before I went on Met this third time, and I skipped the exhaustion altogether.

sarahbara · 01-21-2008, 12:57 PM

Beckee how's the pregnancy going? Are you having symptoms?

megissassy · 01-21-2008, 01:49 PM

This thread is awesome! I have an appointment with my Dr on the 30th to see about getting on Met and/or clomid, we have been ttc for over a year and nothing... it is depressiing but to hear all of these stories really helps me keep my head up!! Good luck to everyone!!

norwichkaren · 01-21-2008, 02:29 PM

Hey all, just thought I would update you.

Well, its been 3 very uncertain weeks, but I am finally upto my full dose of 1500ml a day and so far so good!

I have had 2 episodes of upset tummy and a few bouts of nausea, oh and that near fainting episode, but apart from that def inpovement to my eating habits.

Some days, I can go all day and hardly feel hungry at all, and others I am ravenous all day, but in the last few days I have definately eaten less.

I still get the shakes if I dont eat regulary enough but I no longer crave sugar or carbs and I put this all down to following the insulin resistance diet over the last week. Since I have been doing it, I limit all my meals to 30g of carbs, I have cut out all sugary foods, no sugar in my tea or on my cereal, no chocolate or cakes or pastries and no white bread at all and my stomach is the flattest its ever been and ive lost 7lb!

I am feeling a lot more energetic today and thats only after 6 hours sleep too, usually id be flaggin by now, but im wide awake still and not even that hungry and its coming up to my tea time too!

My family mentioned my skin has cleared up and ive got no spots anymore and my partner said my waist has got smaller (so I measured and its 2" smaller!) and my bum is flatter..

All in all, I am very happy and really glad I came across this site as I hadnt I would still be sitting here gaining weight and being hungry and shaky all day!

Keep smiling all of you and feel free to message me if you have any questions!

Karen xx

Merc · 01-23-2008, 12:02 AM

Thank you all for sharing with us all. I have had PCOS for over 10 years, and I'm sad to say I am just beginning..... Not that I didn't take it seriously because I have, but my Doctors, have totally made this a very negative experience for me. I am in the process of getting married this August and my Fiance and I would love to have children right away. After being prescribed Met for the hundredth time, I have decided to stick to the program. Your stories have helped me to realize that I can do this.... I can take on PCOS and beat it. I want to be a mother more then anything in life, and I feel very happy that I am not alone! Thank You!

Nikiep · 01-24-2008, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merc

Thank you all for sharing with us all. I have had PCOS for over 10 years, and I'm sad to say I am just beginning..... Not that I didn't take it seriously because I have, but my Doctors, have totally made this a very negative experience for me. I am in the process of getting married this August and my Fiance and I would love to have children right away. After being prescribed Met for the hundredth time, I have decided to stick to the program. Your stories have helped me to realize that I can do this.... I can take on PCOS and beat it. I want to be a mother more then anything in life, and I feel very happy that I am not alone! Thank You!

I am with you. It is not an easy task to really stick to the things that we need to do to beat PCO. It is frustrating and unfair at the least. I had a recent issue come about in my life that has made me say that I CAN BEAT THIS. If I can stick to a plan, a low carb diet and my Met, I can live a better life. I will be more active, more healthy and hopefully pregnant again. I wish you and all of our cysters luck in our struggles with PCO.
Nikiep

brittone2 · 01-25-2008, 03:50 PM

I wanted to share my success story, although a little late LOL. I was a member here back in 2003ish, while TTC my son. I can't recall my old info so I re-registered recently.

I'm a thinner sister, and struggled to get diagnosed because my initial bloodwork (not a full panel, but testosterone and dhea-s) came back in the higher end of normal. OB/GYN at the time insisted I was not a woman w/ PCOS despite a lengthy history of irregular periods, not ovulating, and enlarged ovaries.

I was eventually diagnosed by an RE after pushing *very* hard to get into one. Did clomid, and metformin, and clomid plus metformin together while low carbing for 2-3 months. We eventually moved to injectables, and I hyperstimmed on those and had a cancelled cycle (after no viable follies on clomid or metformin plus clomid). My 2nd cycle we did a low/slow protocol w/ gonal F, an IUI, plus continued my 1500mg of met (Not extended release). We got pg that cycle (my very first ovulation while TTC). DS was born in Feb 04.

We moved to a different state and have an endo locally at Duke Univ, Dr. Brown, that specializes in PCOS. I decided to visit to talk w/ her about going back on met. I also discussed my history and my interest in bumping up to a higher dose to see if it would bring on cycles. We were considering TTC in about a year, and had money put aside to do injectables/IUI or IVF. I thought since we weren't in a rush, we would see if doing met for a longer period of time did anything to help me regain my cycles before moving onto more aggressive means in about a year (DS was 2 at the time, and I thought we'd ttc again when he was about 3). The endo supported my decision, and we upped my dose to 2000 mg, this time doing extended release (which for me was much, much less nausea inducing!).

After about 3 months, I knew it was time to do a little prometrium to induce a cycle as I hadn't had a met period yet (and had a really bad bout of bleeding a few months prior while BFing DS and having a lot of endometrial buildup). I picked up my meds to induce a period, and was frustrated that met still hadn't done anything at a higher dose.

I told DH, I really *should* test, although I can honestly say, I did not have even the slightest inkling I *might* be pg. None at all. Faint positive. DH totally didn't believe it could be real, but having been a woman that went t hrough IF the first time around, I knew a positive was a positive, even if he was skeptical LOL. A day later, I had a negative test with the same test (FRER, using FMU, which I didn't use for the other tests). Was happy I got pg, but expected a m/c to begin in a few days. No bleeding, and then a reappearing positive a few days later. (not sure if that was a lost twin?) THen, low progesterone (9), and I pressed for supplementation although I know many docs don't support that. They would not have even tested my progesterone had I not strongly requested it. I did not expect DD to hang around...old lining, low progesterone, bleak picture. Well, she recently turned 1

I stayed on met throughout my pregnancy with her (went off after first tri with DS), and have remained on while BFing w/ my midwife's support (and their backup doc is supportive of this as well).

I share my story, because I don't *technically* test positive for IR, at least based on my 2 hour GTT from when I was ttc DS. I'm a thinner sister, weighing about 118lbs or so at 5'3"ish. But my body obviously greatly benefitted from a relatively high dose of metformin (2000mg of XR). I know many docs don't always put thin sisters on met, or aren't great at doing a higher dose. I'm convinced I needed that 2000mg dose to get things started.

I'm still nursing, and haven't had a PP period yet. I don't know what my cycles will be like on metformin as time goes on, because I got pg this time without a single "warning" period LOL. I'm not sure if met will eventually get me cycling regularly on my own as time goes on.

Met was a miracle drug for me, without a doubt. Conceiving a "surprise" pgcy is something I never, ever anticipated in a million years.

I'm now trying to get back on the lower carb bandwagon. I always eat whole grain/low glycemic for the most part, but I know for my long term health, I will benefit from going back to low carb.

Sorry to ramble on, but I know how those stories of hope helped me so very much when I thought I might not ever have biological children. I couldn't even get a dominant follicle on any dose of clomid. Met was a miracle for me, and I'm so thankful to have had a doctor that was willing to go with the 2000mg dose.

katenc · 01-25-2008, 06:57 PM

I've got Dr. Brown. She's really great. So wonderful to live near such great resources

brittone2 · 01-26-2008, 11:14 AM

small world

I've only seen Dr. Brown once, but it was refreshing to see a doctor so very familiar w/ Metformin's benefits, even on those of us that many doctors don't think need a large-ish dose of met.

Lezasc20 · 01-27-2008, 06:54 AM

I just started met a few days ago. I got my period out of the blue today while at work. Dont know if its from the met or from the dosage of provera that ended over a week ago. We'll see how met does for me.

only4some1special · 01-27-2008, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jandk

Should I take a test or not?

Hey everyone,
I have a question and I was looking to get some input on something. I'm on my second cycle of metformin and had a period from 1/3 to 1/9, however in the last week my body has been very weird. I was feeling great, then all of the sudden I started getting nauseous, just out of the blue. Now I spend probably 3/4 of the day feeling like i'm going to get sick. I also am not hungry at all. I've also started feeling really tired, sleeping 11 or 12 hours a day. I'm also walking around sweating and feeling hot all of the time. I have also been suffering from horrible constipation/diarrhea every day. My body temp has also gone up from an average of 96 degrees to around 97.5 for the last 6 days. I dont know if I should take a prego test or not, i'm actually kind of scared lol. Has anyone experienced these symptoms? If so what was the root cause? And any tips on how to lessen the symptoms would be great thanks,

seems like ur met symptoms r kicking in. everyones body type is different. for some its acts as soon as they take met. for some 1 by 1 symptoms cick in, and for some they get no symptoms at all.

all wat u r discribing i had em too ( the only thing i did not experience was warm body temp) and these symptoms came in 1 by 1. nausea and vomatting was the first and that happened 1 week after medication.. i thought i was preg but then came to know that they r symptoms... wen vomating went away then dihrea kicked in after 2 or 3 months .... on n of i was sick for 6 months ... oh ya, i also had bad heartburn and acidity and that also made me vomit n made lots of bathroom trips in middle of night. this was in the 5-6th month of my medication. now its my 7th month of medication and i m fine now, but was sick for almost 6 months... just hang in there n stick to ur medication. ur body will become use to it. oh ya, and also for u to be on safe side u can take HPT

good luck