post your tips on dealing with gluc/met side effects

**kok1922** · 07-07-2003 04:27 PM

Hi
I have had very few side effects (now up to 1500 daily) but I do have to tell say that I sweated like a pig the first two weeks (500 daily) and I don't know why. I have gone back to my normal self now - I still sweat alot but that was terrible!

Kelly

**Maddy** · 07-10-2003 06:40 AM

Hello!

I had been taking 500mg for a few weeks and upped it to 2 x 500mg. I certainly felt the side effects this morning! I had great difficulty getting out of bed (slept through my alarm and woke at 7.30 instead of 6.00 so my morning exercise did not get done) and I have that "morning sickness" feeling. yeuch! But now I have read through these posts I realise I took my pill with dinner last night which was a cold meat SALAD.

And what I thought was wind (okay tmi here) was NOT!!!!! That is something I will have to watch out for!

So it seems I am having the usual side effects; tiredness, a little spaciness; bloating and diarhhoea, nausea. Lovely! But it has helped to read through this and pick up a few tips!

I love salad though, and it is low carb. I am a little worried that I may end up having to eat more carbs to outweigh the nausea which would then cancel out the benefits.

I am hoping that taking Saw Palmetto which balance out the loss of libido side effect. As Saw Palmetto has the opposite effect on me. did anyone else have this side effect?

**AngieNC35** · 07-10-2003 10:15 AM

Do women take Saw Palmetto also ? My husband was taking it to help with his sperm potency before we found out about the PCOS . Any information gladly accepted.
And for those we are praying for my daughter , she is still missing has not called or been seen in 4 days now . Thanks for your prayers and please keep her in them.
For myself, my surgery is tommorrow for the fibroid removal , I am having an abdominal myomectomy and will be in the hospital for 3 days and home for 3 to 6 weeks. Thanks for all your prayers and please keep me and the rest of my family in them.

Thanks and God Bless
Angie

**christyz** · 07-10-2003 12:31 PM

Maddy: I just noticed at the bottom of your posts that you are taking Ginko Biloba.

I read this info in an article on met interactions:

In a preliminary trial, administration of Ginkgo biloba extract (120 mg per day) for three months to patients...who were taking oral anti-diabetes medication resulted in a significant worsening of glucose tolerance. Ginkgo did not impair glucose tolerance in individuals whose diabetes was controlled by diet. Individuals taking oral anti-diabetes medication should consult a doctor before taking Ginkgo biloba.

(http://www.bioenergynutrients.com/He...formin.htm?xs=)

Hope it helps!

**Maddy** · 07-10-2003 12:58 PM

Thank you for that! Looks like I shall have to stop taking the gingko.

BTW it also says in that link that taking Met with food can impair its absorption. I gather from this board that most people take it with food because it helps against the nausea. Now I'm wondering if I should try it on it's own??

**christyz** · 07-10-2003 01:11 PM

My Dr said women who get side effects unless they take the drug with food, need to continue to do so. He says if diarrhea hinders the drug getting into your system, that it's better to take it with food and risk say 10% less absorption than take it without food and get 95% less becuase it goes right through you. Some is better than none, right?

IF you can take it either way, go ahead and try on it's own. But my own experience is I'd rather risk slightly less absorption and get some into my system.

**Pale Pink Aura** · 07-10-2003 11:57 PM

Personally, I found the gastrointestinal side effects only lasted for 2 - 3 weeks (ONLY), so I'd take it with food until you calm down, then once you are better try it with food :-)

BTW I've previously posted on here about constant bleeding and wondered if anyone else had had that problem with metformin. I had my period CONSTANTLY for the first six months of this year (I'd started metformin at the end of last year). I'd tried progesterone and the pill to try and stop my period, but I recently thought perhaps it was too much of a coincidence that it started after I took the metformin so I stopped the metformin completely and guess what - my period FINALLY stopped... So watch out for that side effect. It's a pretty bad one - I ended up anaemic and really sick. It's not mentioned anywhere in the literature, but heh - it happened to me...

**lady_livi** · 08-02-2003 02:59 AM

Hello all:

I've recently started met XR, a 750mg pill, that was to be upped gradually to 2250mg. But when finally I got up to the prescribed dosage, after a few days, I broke out in hives. Is this normal? I'm scratching so much, I'm afraind I'm going to break the skin. My mom told me to step down on the dosage, which I did, and I'll call my doctor on Monday, but I'm the type who'll worry like no other the weekend through. Thanks for the help,

livi.

**christyz** · 08-02-2003 12:14 PM

Hives are not a side effect, they are an allergic reaction to something. I am wondering if the breakout was coincidental (because if you were allergic to the binders or fillers in the drug, you would have seen a break out right off the bat). Could you have eaten or encountered something that you were allergic to around the time of your dosage increase and thought it was the met? Maybe it is the drug, but it seems odd that you didn't break out right away.

You are right to right to step down the dose in the meantime, and you do need to talk to your Dr ASAP. Hope he can shed some light on this. Good Luck!

**amora** · 08-02-2003 01:22 PM

My doc increased my dosage from 1000 to 2000 this past week. I decided to do what I did in the beginning at my doc's suggestion - take 500 in the morning and then 1000 at night... just to get my body used to it. But it was still horrible!! I was sooo sick. So, after reading this thread, I started taking my doses spread throughout the day. So, right now I'm taking 500 mg three times a day (with meals). So far, it has been MUCH better. I also cut out a lot of carbs. I started eating eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. Hopefully my body will fully adjust and I'll be able to increase my dosage all the way to 2000 mg soon.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. And thanks Christy for being such a big help!

BTW, Jennasmum: The same thing happened to me. Two weeks after I started 1000 mg of met, I got my period and it didn't stop for a whole month! The only way I got it to stop was by going on Yasmin (the pill). I hope to get off of that in about 6 months or so, but I want to give the met a chance to start working the way it is supposed to, first.

**lady_livi** · 08-02-2003 02:45 PM

Christyz:

Thank you soo much for the information, you got me to thinking about what other things I just recently started taking. And of course, I will be talking to my doctor just as soon as the clinic opens up.

livi.

**Lodema** · 08-05-2003 08:19 PM

I also put this as a main post, but thought I may get some similar stories here ..

Hi there. I haven't been on here in awhile .. Have missed it!!

I'll try to make this short lol

My name is Lodema, I'm 30. Been having problems with my period since about 1995. I had a MC in 95 and 96. Had our son in 97 and then had another MC in 2000. I don't have periods on my own (use provera) and don't use anything for BC and still no PG. My dr. did some tests for PCOS and even tho they came back negative..he still believes I have it. I'm about 60 pds overweight.

I started out on Glucophage 500 1x a day for a week then went up to 2x's a day. Had MAJOR cramps, diarrhea and back pain. So I went off of it for about a month. Dr. started me back up on only half a pill every day. Started out with really bad cramps for about two days and then was ok. But w/in the last month I've awaken in the middle of the night twice with VERY PAINFUL Leg Pain!!

It feels like my right leg from my thigh down to my knee is dead! It hurts soo bad like a burning sensation and electricity shooting through it! Very Scary!!

I made an appt for next Monday (this is Tuesday)
I did a little research on my own and found something called
Diabetic Neuropathy.
Even tho I don't have Diabetes, I'm taking pills to control Glucose levels right? It says that Glucose Control is the MAJOR reason for this!! Also I've read that messing w/Glucose levels can cause nerve damage. I'm thinking this is related and was hoping for your opinions as well.. Thanks soo much!!

This leg pain did happen to me at the end of my PG w/my son and I was Gestational Diabetic. Been tested several times over the years since and don't have Diabetes.

Hope to hear from you all soon.. thanks

**jewels12345** · 08-14-2003 12:21 AM

Hi,

I just started on Metformin a few days ago. My doctor started me on 500mg 3x a day right away and I am definately not feeling so great. It seems that I have every side effect in the book. Should I step down my dose for now, or just wait it out? I'm hoping the side effects will calm down, but for now I'm miserable. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Julie

**Pale Pink Aura** · 08-14-2003 12:27 AM

Hi Julie - if I were you, I'd definitely wean up to that dose. It can take a while to get up to the correct doseage, but just think of what that's going to be doing to your body... Try halving it and seeing how you go. Once the symptoms subside, up it a little more.

**christyz** · 08-14-2003 11:19 AM

Julie: Dosing in increments helps a lot, as jenna's suggested...but talk to yourDR anytime you are fiddling with your dose. He may have some other suggestions for you too.

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Thread: post your tips on dealing with gluc/met side effects

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