Please help, I have a question

coffeequeen · 08-28-2007, 08:23 PM

What other alternative to glucophage/metformin is there? Is there something that I can print out to take to my DR? I went to see my primary today and she wants me to talk to my dr that is dealing with my insulin resistance to put me on something else other than met. She seems to think that the Met is not doing the job.

I asked her if she could and she said that she felt better letting the other dr since they have more knowlege treating insulin resistance.

Thank you

flyfisher · 08-28-2007, 10:56 PM

What dose of Met are you on? How long have you been on that dosage? If you are on a low dose, maybe you need to be on a higher dose. I am on 2000mg and have been on that for two years now. My doc added Januvia earlier this year, but took me off of it because it wasn't doing anything for my blood sugar. I am type 2. I am now on 2000mg of metformin and 5mcg byetta. I started byetta a few weeks ago. I go back in September to see my endo and he will bump me up to the 10mcg then.

Saille · 08-29-2007, 01:50 PM

Ditto.
Met takes a good month to reach full strength in your system.....so it's going to be a month or more before you really see any results.
Also, the dosage could be increased depending on how much you're on.

There is one thing that works better than metformin and does the same thing....but we all know it......diet and excercise. Low carbing it and getting a walk in every day will do more than metformin for lowering IR. Or combined with the met it will work that much better.

I googled the met and IR and got this:

Quote:

Medications: Metformin (Glucophage) is a medication that is used for treating diabetes. It has two mechanisms of action that help to control blood glucose levels. It prevents the liver from releasing glucose into the blood, and it increases the sensitivity of muscle and fat cells to insulin so that they remove more glucose from the blood. Because of these actions, metformin reduces blood insulin levels. The DPP studied the effects of metformin in addition to diet and exercise on the prevention of diabetes in insulin resistance. Metformin reduced the development of diabetes by 31%. (Note, however, that the benefit was not as great as with diet and exercise!) Metformin is a reasonably safe medication when used in the right population. Although there are gastrointestinal side effects with metformin, it usually is well-tolerated.
Another study, the STOP NIDDM (Study to Prevent Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus) trial, studied individuals with insulin resistance by treating them with a medication called acarbose (Precose). Acarbose works in the intestines to slow the absorption of sugars, and this effect would reduce the need for insulin after meals. The study found that acarbose reduced the development of diabetes by 25%.
Other medications in a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones, e.g., pioglitazone (Actos), rosiglitazone (Avandia), also increase sensitivity to insulin. At this time, however, these medications are not routinely used, in part because of liver toxicity that requires monitoring of blood liver tests.