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Bloating

M

MickDuke

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all , i was diagnosed with type 2 a few months ago , i was put on metformin one a day the bloat i had more over when i had eaten was painful, my stomach was tight and i thought i was going to pop, i went to see a GP two weeks ago after a HbA1c test revealed a higher reading, i informed the GP about the bloat she switched me to slow release 500mg two a day , the bloating is not as bad but is still there, i phoned the practice nurse who advised i drop down to one a day whilst keep a check with my testing kit, the results of the test are good nothing over 8 and 6.4 in the morning before food, but this bloat is getting me down it feels tight in my kidney area , im seeing a GP in the morning, i wonder if anyone else has suffered this bloat on slow release Metformin ?. thanks for any replies in advance .

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MickDuke said:
Hi all , i was diagnosed with type 2 a few months ago , i was put on metformin one a day the bloat i had more over when i had eaten was painful, my stomach was tight and i thought i was going to pop, i went to see a GP two weeks ago after a HbA1c test revealed a higher reading, i informed the GP about the bloat she switched me to slow release 500mg two a day , the bloating is not as bad but is still there, i phoned the practice nurse who advised i drop down to one a day whilst keep a check with my testing kit, the results of the test are good nothing over 8 and 6.4 in the morning before food, but this bloat is getting me down it feels tight in my kidney area , im seeing a GP in the morning, i wonder if anyone else has suffered this bloat on slow release Metformin ?. thanks for any replies in advance .

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For some people it is a common side effect. It can be helped by taking the pills mid meal. The medication can upset your gut bacterial flora and having probiotic yoghurt can help rebalance it.
The bloating can be worse if you are still eating quite high carb meals so that may be something to review.
 
As good as Metformin is, it does have a number of well-reported side effects, including bloating (I was only on it for about a month whilst my type 1 diagnosis was confirmed - and it wasn't too nice to my stomach, and that was the slow release one too) - hopefully someone with more experience of it will come along to provide more advice
 
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I am on SR metformin. I started not being able to pooh for 8 days. However when I reached 4 a day I had some diarrhea. I was reduced to two because they wanted to start me on SGLT2. I've not had any other problems. I was warned it can take a while to adjust. However there are other alternatives if it doesn't agree with you.
 
I had a few side effects to begin with, including bloating. I take slow release metformin titrsted up to 2000mg per day. The side effects reduced a lot after a few day's but reoccurred each time the dosage increased. Been on maximum dose for several months now and rarely get any gastrointestinal upset. I have also reduced carbs and regularly eat probiotic yoghurt and fermented veg such as sauerkraut.
I hope that your side effects are temporary but if not there are alternative options. Speak to your doctor or diabetes nurse.
 
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