Metaformin again?

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saffron15

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I started metaformin last Thursday with one tablet and this Thursday two tablets. I haven't yet lumped them together but will consider as an option. Thanks for that advice. My bowel habits have never been regular but usually poo as a minimum 3 x a week. I was concerned that metaformin would give me the runs although I generally have cast iron guts. I passed four large softish stools Friday and the same Sunday. I spent most of Monday at the eye clinic - assessment for a cataract, so was pleased when I didn't poo. Now it's day five of no poo. Is it just cos the whole new diabetic is stressful or could the metaformin be a factor? I'm not sure I'm constipated to the extent I am not bloated and have no pain. However constipation is a very rare beast in my world. Should I just go off to the lovely fishmonger and to farm shop and buy plums and pop into the chemist tomorrow for a chat if ' no show' There is a public holiday here Monday.
 
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Metformin made me constipated.
Since stopping it I feel like I'm pushing out tree trunks.
 
Hehe writing the above was cathartic or a piece of rye bread cream cheese and tomato worked. I need to stop stressing.
I think I'd read so many people complaint they went more I thought going less would be a bonus. Having relieved myself I'm relieved! Still I am only half way to full dose.

Thank you for replying harbottle. I'm in awe of how quickly you got your numbers down even more so if you were suffering from constipation too.
 
saffron15 said:
Hehe writing the above was cathartic or a piece of rye bread cream cheese and tomato worked. I need to stop stressing.
I think I'd read so many people complaint they went more I thought going less would be a bonus. Having relieved myself I'm relieved! Still I am only half way to full dose.

Thank you for replying harbottle. I'm in awe of how quickly you got your numbers down even more so if you were suffering from constipation too.
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Sorry if this is too much information but I find diet makes a big difference. Pre going low carb I generally 'went' once a day, as soon as I went low carb it was more like 3 times a day. I was away last week and as a consequence was eating much higher carb and far less veg and I didn't 'go' for 3 days. I was getting quite worried. Back home on the usual low carb I'm back to my 3 times a day. It somehow seems opposite from what you might expect. No meds to influence it.
 
Everyone seems to be different!
I did not take Metformin while losing weight but still had awful constipation at times.
Are you well hydrated all the time, i.e. 2-3 litres of water/infusions per day?
Looking back I probably wasn't, but I have learnt my lesson now.
 
Leadinglights said:
Sorry if this is too much information but I find diet makes a big difference. Pre going low carb I generally 'went' once a day, as soon as I went low carb it was more like 3 times a day. I was away last week and as a consequence was eating much higher carb and far less veg and I didn't 'go' for 3 days. I was getting quite worried. Back home on the usual low carb I'm back to my 3 times a day. It somehow seems opposite from what you might expect. No meds to influence it.
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I was the opposite. On a high carb diet before diagnosis, I went several times a day and it was never particularly satisfying..... just a bit now and then. When I was initially diagnosed I was on Metformin and I started low carb but still went a couple of times a day and was loose, most likely due to the Metformin. Then when the Metformin stopped about 6 months later, but I remained low carb, I suffered constipation until I introduces a fibre supplement drink (psyllium and chia seeds in flavoured water) and then my bowel became the best it has been probably throughout my whole life, with one satisfying visit a day. I go through spells where I don't have my fibre drink for a few days and I find that, whilst I still go just once a day, they are not so well formed or easy to pass, so I do feel my fibre supplements are beneficial.
 
@rebrascora where did you buy the drink or do you make it yourself? When I have yoghurt and berries I add chia seeds.
I haven't been since last Friday! I've been to the chemist who said most people have the opposite effect. I've bought the Boots equivalent of sennapod and may take some tomorrow evening. Never taken anything before. He suggested I phone doctors if not gone by then but am due a blood test Wednesday which may be better. I will probably take a dose, smallest possible tomorrow evening. Hopefully I will go tonight.
 
@saffron15 I buy chia seeds and psyllium husk and just add a scoop of each to a glass of flavoured water, give it a good stir, wait a few minutes until the seeds start absorbing the water, give it another stir and drink it down and then rinse the glass with more water and drink that too, to ensure I get plenty of fluids with it. Both psyllium and chia seeds absorb water readily, so it is really important to have them with plenty of fluids, which is why I prefer a drink to sprinkling them on food, because if you don't have enough fluids with them they can get stuck and have the opposite effect of causing an impaction if you are unlucky. It is one of the reasons I don't like the capsules either.
I buy psyllium husk off ebay in bulk but I am sure you can get it at the likes of Holland and Barrett. I get my chia seeds at Lidl. You can buy Fibogel, which is sachets of flavoured psyllium husk/powder at most pharmacies and is often prescribed for older people to help keep them regular. You add the Fibogel sachets to a glass of water to make a drink and you could just add your chia seeds to that, but you will pay more for the Fibogel because it is a "!brand" and I am not sure I would like the flavours, whereas, when I buy the psyllium and chia seeds on their own, I can then choose the flavour of the drink I add them to. I believe one member here puts his chia seeds in his coffee!
I should add that I have a large half pint glass with mine in, so that I get plenty of fluids with them. .
 
PS. Hope you get things moving soon. I can't imagine even going 2 days without a movement. let alone longer. Must be awful!
 
@rebrascora. Thanks for the reply. I was stressed from my initial diagnosis then pleased I didn't have the runs but now it is weird. I bought some chia seeds on impulse from M and S a month ago. I only used them about a week ago and it was more a sprinkle. I was concerned about not enough fibre. At breakfast I take a dose of metaformin so glug lots of water with it. In last week I've had carrot, swede mushrooms cannelloni beans, runner beans plums raspberries blueberries kale so I thought sufficient roughage and a few slices of robust rye bread.
When you say a scoop do you mean an icecream scoop or much bigger? That seems an awful lot. I don't want to be posting about the runs.
I've never been constipated and in fact feel fine. Equally when I started the post I'd never gone 5 whole days with no movement.
 
saffron15 said:
When you say a scoop do you mean an icecream scoop or much bigger?
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Gosh no!! Nothing that big! Just been and measured my little scoop and it equivalent to a level tablespoon, so I have a level tablespoon of each in a half pint glass of flavoured water.

I don't think it would cause the runs if you had too much because it doesn't work like that, it just bulks out and softens your stools. As I said, it isn't a laxative as such, so it doesn't cause that cramping action or anything, it just forms a bulk of soft gel material that passes through your gut taking everything with it
 
I'm pleased it is a smaller volume than I thought. I spent the afternoon weeding and grass cutting.
The good news is I went at 7.30pm as I was about to eat. I wasn't hungry as I've eaten a lot of plums. Surprisingly it was all moist and easily passable. I've since had part of a hot smoked mackerel fillet and some yoghurt.
I hadn't lost any weight this week have been losing more or less a kilo ( of course I'm not fading away) so hope I will be lighter tomorrow. Gone from bmi obese to bmi overweight.
I should have done something years ago. I hadn't really cottoned on to low carb. I still remember the F Plan diet which was thought of as healthy way to diet while feeling full.
@rebrascora thank you for your encouragement. I hope I will not need to post any more on this subject.
 
@saffron15 Delighted to hear that you have had success. Big relief I imagine! The chia seeds you had may well have been a factor in that.
You are doing really well with the weight loss and hopefully once you can get into a regular regime with your bowel, that weight loss will continue.
I am sure this discussion will be useful to others suffering similar problems but perhaps being reluctant to broach the subject themselves, so well done for bringing it up and discussing it so candidly.
 
Well I have still lost weight according to the scales - a kilo so looks like losing the pooh has made me lighter. Fingers and toes crossed for next week as I go to four tablets on Thursday and who knows what extras will be prescribed the following week. I was taking two at breakfast and one in evening though prescription said other way round because there were occasions when I didn't want to eat much in the evening. This is where the forum is so helpful eg suggestion I could take them all together, I might still do that (fortunately they are slow release)
 
I was put on slow release metformin when I agreed to start it, because I have IBS so was worried about loose stools from metformin. I do have a history of both constipation and diarrhoea from the IBS. I think the metformin has slightly increased the tendency towards constipation, and I do need to make sure I get enough fibre (though I don't take any particular fibre supplement, just try to have lots of vegetables or salad, and when I have bread which isn't every day I try to go for high fibre breads)
 
I am eating a lot of veg and if I have bread at the moment I'm eating robust rye im also having nuts and seeds eg chia and toasted pumpkin. Hopefully I will be OK when I up it next week. I've never been constipated before. I was more concerned I would have the runs. As I didn't feel unwell I can face another blip.
 
I have been feeling increasingly sleepy over the last ten days. I am not exercising sufficiently so it cannot be that. Increasingly I haven't wanted to eat in the evening and feel sleepy. I don't sleep well but seem to be OK with 5 to 6 hours. Last week I slept for 10 hours waking twice briefly and going to loo, probably unnecessarily as I peed very little. This was the day I got my shingles jab. Last night I did have supper of plaice tomatoes and sprouting broccoli. Is the sleepiness a good sign of my blood sugar stabilising or is it the effect of my body acclimatising to metaformin? I will be gardening tomorrow and hope to go swimming later in the week.
I'm just wanting to be forewarned as I will be taking the maximum dose of metaformin from Thursday.

I also realise from some of the threads here that I have next to nothing to stress about!
 
For me, better sleep at night is achieved when my BG levels are lower and more stable, ideally around 4-6 mmols. If my levels are 8 or above I sleep less soundly and I often feel hot and uncomfortable.
Feeling sleepy during the day is usually high BG levels, but I did go through a spell when I was not long diagnosed where I felt really fatigued and even washing my hair or holding my phone up to my face to talk to someone was hard work, so it may be an interim stage that you go through.
 
I went out for a walk pm and am more awake now. I am probably now getting better sleep but I don't know if it is my blood sugar reducing or the metaformin. Some evenings I have become sleepy and it seems to be with increased metaformin. I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself to eat in the evening. I shifted my second pill to am. I have a well developed hunger gene but metaformin seems to have wounded it.
Next week I will be discussing the latest test with a health care professional ( blood test tomorrow)
When I saw DN on 13th she wanted to start metaformin immediately but said he had written down " SGLT2 inhibitor" she phoned to say start metaformin but no doubt I will be prescribed more next week. I've never met my doctor. My original Doctor retired five years ago.
Hope I continue to improve. No motion since Friday but I can live with that.
 
Hi @saffron15 are you taking your metformin before your evening meal? I've been told to take my slow release metformin after my evening meal. (When it was increased to 2 tablets she did say I could take one in the morning but I prefer to take both in the evening as I think I'm less likely to forget that way). If you're taking it before evening meal then not being hungry for evening meal, it might be worth trialling taking it after you've eaten in the evening and see if that improves your appetite
 
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