Metformin Increase

[metalguru25]

Hi, I've type 2 diabetes and everything was fine whilst taking two 500mg tablets a day, then my med was changed to one 1000mg tablet and my blood sugar has risen sharply ? Any advice as to why or has this happened too any one else

 

[Caroline]

The only thing I can think of is maybe you are better with two 500mg doses taken at different times rather than one 1000mg dose. It might ay to have a chat to doctor or nurse and tell them what has happened and se if you can go back or have slow release metformin.

 

[Northerner]

Hi Metalguru (is it you, yeah, yeah, yeah 😉), welcome to the forum 🙂 I don't take metformin so I'm afraid I have no answers. How long have you been taking the one tablet and why did you change from two a day? Perhaps it has something to do with the time of day you are taking it and the potency of the medication at that time - did your doctor give you any advice regarding this?

 

[metalguru25]

It's me yeah yeah yeah ha ha. I was just told my dosage would change to the one tablet, given no reason. The nurse just said straight away "oh i'll increase it to 2000mg" when I got a higher result (6.5). Her bedside manner does leave a lot to be desired ! So I'm not sure if I should take it morning or evening

 

[Mark T]

Welcome to the forum metalguru25 🙂

In theory, once Metformin has been in your system for long enough (a couple of months) then changing the timing of the dose should have no impact.

I asked the question of my DSN a while back to whether I should move my evening metformin from 6pm to 8pm in order to try reducing my morning readings and the answer I got back was "you can try, but it will most likely make no difference".

Although I was also told that it was better to balance the dose through out the day if possible.

 

[itsallgood]

Good answer MarkT, though it will also depend on whether you're on the slow release version. I take 1000mg of SR metformin twice a day (two 500mg tabs at a time). I've missed a dose a couple of times and thought my readings would shoot up but there was no difference.

Perhaps I'm taking placebos😡

 

[Vicsetter]

When I used to take Metformin it seemed to have an effect for about 3 days. You are recommended to take it with or before meals so as to reduce the gastrointestinal side effects. I assume that the 1000mg tablets are cheaper than 2 x 500mg tablets and your PCT is reducing costs. Of course it could be a plan to get you on 2 x 1000mg tablets gradually, but it does sound as if your nurse isn't that clever!