Scary episode re: alcohol & Met

LaRue · 09-22-2003, 08:28 PM

I've been on 1000 mg Met for a month now. I missed a dose on Friday night and decided to have half a glass of beer with dinner. This was my first alcoholic drink in 6 weeks and I didn't have any problems.

Saturday I skipped my doses of Met, not deliberately, but decided to drink a little more just the same because I hadn't had a problem the night before. The side effects were horrific. I became incoherent, blacked out, vomited repeatedly and had severe diarhea. Unfortunately this happened at a friend's dinner party. Very frightening and embarrassing. It was like the alcohol just took over. I've never had a problem with wine, or any alcohol, but this was crazy. It was like I couldn't stop myself.

My friends didn't know what to think. They told me that one minute I was fine and the next I could hardly speak or walk. My husband had left the dinner party early and was really scared when I told him about what happened. He was angry with me, too, for taking such a chance with my health by mixing alcohol and Met.

I am really mortified by this but feel lucky that nothing worse happened to me.

Scorpio Rising · 09-22-2003, 09:10 PM

Thanks for sharing your story! Despite your feelings of embarrasment you've done a great service by letting us know what happened. I don't drink often but now and then when I go away on week-ends I like a Guinness or two. I haven't tried drinking since I starting taking Met several weeks ago and now I'm making sure I stay away from it. Anyway, thanks again and I'm glad to hear you are o.k.

Take care-
Heather

christyz · 09-22-2003, 10:13 PM

LaRue: I really appreciate your sharing your story. So often we get told these blanket statements like "Don't drink on Met" and it's frustrating becuase we don't know WHY we're told this.

Your poor body...How frightening for you! It sounds to me like you had three things working together...unregulated hormones (from going off the met for a short time), a body that can't regulate sugars because it's processing alcohol (our bodies process alcohol as soon as we drink it) and perhaps low blood sugar. The vomiting and dizziness can be often mistaken for drunkness, because they are the same symtoms. If you drink alcohol faster than your liver can break it down, the excess alcohol moves through your bloodstream to other parts of your body. Brain cells are easy targets, and so that's why it's so easy to get a buzz from alcohol when insulin is a factor. I remember one night taking 3 *sips* of Smirnoff Triple black and feeling 'buzzed'...pretty scary how intolerant our bodies become to sugar when our insulin is managed by Met.

I am so sorry you had to learn such a scary lesson. I'm just relieved that you are ok, and that nothing serious happened. This is a good reminder to all of us that this drug we are taking is serious, and needs to be handled with care. Take care of yourself, ok?

krissy14850 · 09-24-2003, 01:19 AM

My name is Kristen,23, diadnosed jan 2003. was on metformin 500 3x a day. Since I am 23 and like most 23 year olds I like to go out. Don't get me wrong I go out once a month, but I do have a few drinks.

I found that while on metformin I would get terrible muscle cramps if I drank. I would wake up screaming in the middle of the night from the cramps in my calfs of my legs.

I am currently off metformin I found it very hard to take because I would have to take it 3x a day with meals. It is very hard for me to sit down and eat 3x's a day.

My cysts were gone after 6mons of being on met. so my doctor took me off it for 3 mons. and ordered another sonogram to see if the cysts are still gone. I AM MISSING THE MET!

I am bloating and feel like I'm gaining weight by the day. I had lost 19 lbs in the 6 mons I was on it. I feel very gloomy and cry all the time. and worst of all my cramps are unbareable when I get my period.
I am scheduled for my next sonogram end of OCT, but don't know if I can wait that long to be off it!