Hello from a T2 Newbie

[daryeljames]

Hello everyone!
Im 33, male and shall we politely say, larger than average... (111kg)
I attended a medical assesment for a new job back in March 19 and was asked to have a blood test, it came back and was told I was type 2.
I was a bit surprised because aside from being large, I was, I felt, symptomless.
Was asked to take metformin, 1 pill a day with food, rising to 1 pill three times a day with food.
I did this slowly over a period of weeks.

I noticed two things which I want to know if others experienced and what you did/how you handled it.
1. Taking just two tablets, I went from being fairly active (running around after a toddler all day or otherwise landscaping etc and sleeping for roughly 7 hours a night) to completely exhausted (struggled to stay awake/dozz off readily and sleeping at least 12 hours in 24)
2. From the first tablet and each time I increased the dose I got a few days of what I am going to call metformin poo (one time description: vibrant yellow diahrea, without warning). I was told this was normal and would pass. Well I was fine with the first pill, fine with the second, but by the third pill I had sever stomach cramps perminantly and metformin poo around the clock.

My wife suggested I give the pills a three day break, then try again, if the problem persists this time tell a GP.
My dilema is when I stopped, by the third day I got ALL my old energy back and the cramps vanished. I am reluctant to go back into what I can best describe as a living coma.

What do you think?

 

[Drummer]

Have you been changing your diet to reduce your blood glucose levels? That is what I did - I felt so dreadful taking tablets that I threw them away and trusted to low carb eating. It seems to have worked very well.
You can get a glucose meter mail order - one which has cheap testing strips is a good idea, so you can afford to get a good idea of how your diet affects you and head for normal readings.

 

[belugalad]

Hello everyone!
Im 33, male and shall we politely say, larger than average... (111kg)
I attended a medical assesment for a new job back in March 19 and was asked to have a blood test, it came back and was told I was type 2.
I was a bit surprised because aside from being large, I was, I felt, symptomless.
Was asked to take metformin, 1 pill a day with food, rising to 1 pill three times a day with food.
I did this slowly over a period of weeks.

I noticed two things which I want to know if others experienced and what you did/how you handled it.
1. Taking just two tablets, I went from being fairly active (running around after a toddler all day or otherwise landscaping etc and sleeping for roughly 7 hours a night) to completely exhausted (struggled to stay awake/dozz off readily and sleeping at least 12 hours in 24)
2. From the first tablet and each time I increased the dose I got a few days of what I am going to call metformin poo (one time description: vibrant yellow diahrea, without warning). I was told this was normal and would pass. Well I was fine with the first pill, fine with the second, but by the third pill I had sever stomach cramps perminantly and metformin poo around the clock.

My wife suggested I give the pills a three day break, then try again, if the problem persists this time tell a GP.
My dilema is when I stopped, by the third day I got ALL my old energy back and the cramps vanished. I am reluctant to go back into what I can best describe as a living coma.

What do you think?

I have been fine on Metformin but suspect that's because I have stripped out most of the carbs from my diet as I believe it works by excreting the sugar out of your system sometimes via explosion when you go to the toilet at least that's my understanding anyway.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I have been fine on Metformin but suspect that's because I have stripped out most of the carbs from my diet as I believe it works by excreting the sugar out of your system sometimes via explosion when you go to the toilet at least that's my understanding anyway.

No, that's more like some other kinds of T2D meds. Metformin works by decreasing insulin resistance and reducing glucose production. The explosive effects are just for show 🙂

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum. 🙂

I've never been given any drugs or anything really, I think I'm under the radar for the time being...I have a nasty feeling that might change soon. I don't fancy Metformin now after reading about you!

 

[CathyB]

I was quite lucky with the metformin, no real tummy trouble other than wind in the early days but I also immediately went low carb I’d go back to your doc to talk it over, might be an alternative you could try?

 

[TM1953USA]

Hello everyone!
Im 33, male and shall we politely say, larger than average... (111kg)
I attended a medical assesment for a new job back in March 19 and was asked to have a blood test, it came back and was told I was type 2.
I was a bit surprised because aside from being large, I was, I felt, symptomless.
Was asked to take metformin, 1 pill a day with food, rising to 1 pill three times a day with food.
I did this slowly over a period of weeks.

I noticed two things which I want to know if others experienced and what you did/how you handled it.
1. Taking just two tablets, I went from being fairly active (running around after a toddler all day or otherwise landscaping etc and sleeping for roughly 7 hours a night) to completely exhausted (struggled to stay awake/dozz off readily and sleeping at least 12 hours in 24)
2. From the first tablet and each time I increased the dose I got a few days of what I am going to call metformin poo (one time description: vibrant yellow diahrea, without warning). I was told this was normal and would pass. Well I was fine with the first pill, fine with the second, but by the third pill I had sever stomach cramps perminantly and metformin poo around the clock.

My wife suggested I give the pills a three day break, then try again, if the problem persists this time tell a GP.
My dilema is when I stopped, by the third day I got ALL my old energy back and the cramps vanished. I am reluctant to go back into what I can best describe as a living coma.

What do you think?

I had similar side effects even on the extended release metformin. My doctor told me to stop taking the metformin for a week. I stopped for two and a half weeks out of fear over the side effects. However when I did start the pills again, the side effects were gone. One week off the pills would have probably been enough. I was diagnosed in May of this year.

 

[daryeljames]

Thank you all for your responses, since posting I have been trying to research metformin but the how it works (not the what it does) seems a small mystery and doesnt appear all the effects are known.

I had similar side effects even on the extended release metformin. My doctor told me to stop taking the metformin for a week. I stopped for two and a half weeks out of fear over the side effects. However when I did start the pills again, the side effects were gone. One week off the pills would have probably been enough. I was diagnosed in May of this year.

We assumed the gut troubles were from standard release doing its thing over a shortened time, so its really good to know (from my perspective) that slow release is not a holy grail.
I admit, I am only one week into one tablet (the second time around) so its too early to tell if I will be better this time around.

 

[TM1953USA]

It was not a holy grail for me anyway as far as initial side effects. However now I am tolerating it well and seem to be getting good results from blood glucose testing. Hopefully you will have similar results.

 

[Nomad722]

Hello everyone!
Im 33, male and shall we politely say, larger than average... (111kg)
I attended a medical assesment for a new job back in March 19 and was asked to have a blood test, it came back and was told I was type 2.
I was a bit surprised because aside from being large, I was, I felt, symptomless.
Was asked to take metformin, 1 pill a day with food, rising to 1 pill three times a day with food.
I did this slowly over a period of weeks.

I noticed two things which I want to know if others experienced and what you did/how you handled it.
1. Taking just two tablets, I went from being fairly active (running around after a toddler all day or otherwise landscaping etc and sleeping for roughly 7 hours a night) to completely exhausted (struggled to stay awake/dozz off readily and sleeping at least 12 hours in 24)
2. From the first tablet and each time I increased the dose I got a few days of what I am going to call metformin poo (one time description: vibrant yellow diahrea, without warning). I was told this was normal and would pass. Well I was fine with the first pill, fine with the second, but by the third pill I had sever stomach cramps perminantly and metformin poo around the clock.

My wife suggested I give the pills a three day break, then try again, if the problem persists this time tell a GP.
My dilema is when I stopped, by the third day I got ALL my old energy back and the cramps vanished. I am reluctant to go back into what I can best describe as a living coma.

What do you think?

Welcome to the forum daryeljames, sorry you have to take so much medicine. People here are very friendly and helpful and most likely you will find people worst off than yourself.