Metformin - Is it slow to start working?

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Kevin Marx

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Diagnosed T2 on 6 Dec and taking 2 x 500 daily for 3 days. So far no effect on bs. If anything it has risen a little.

Does this medicine take a while to kick in?

If anyone can share their experience I'd be really grateful.

Thanks, Kevin
 
Hi, it took a couple of weeks for me when I started 12 years ago. Have you changed your diet at all? Medication helps but diet and lifestyle have to be addressed too. Hope GP told you that.Good luck
 
Yes, Metformin builds up in the system slowly with each dose topping the previous ones and I think I have seen talk of about 2 weeks to have maximum effect and just 2 tablets is not a particularly effective dose, but you have to built up the dose slowly to help prevent or reduce digestive irritation. Each dose doesn't work on your levels from the meal you have eaten with it, it just slowly reduces the amount of glucose your liver releases and helps with insulin resistance.
 
It does take a while to build up in your system so a few days is not very long. It does not act directly on the food you eat but works in the background helping the body use the insulin it produces more effectively and reducing the release of glucose by the liver.
Dietary changes will be just as important, reducing those carbs in your diet.
would you like to share some examples of meals you are having and people may be able to suggest some modifications you could make.
 
Thanks very much. For lunch I had a plain chicken sandwich on Chia Bread. Nothing else. For evening mean I'd have a chicken casserole with veg and 150g new potato. I don't eat sweets, chocolate, cake etc.
 
Hi. Metformin never has that much effect on BS despite GPs often prescribing it. The first way to treat T2 is to reduce the carbs in your diet. This usually needs to be below 130gm/day and a lot less if you can. The GP can prescribe other tablets if both of these don't work well enough.
 
DaveB said:
Hi. Metformin never has that much effect on BS despite GPs often prescribing it. The first way to treat T2 is to reduce the carbs in your diet. This usually needs to be below 130gm/day and a lot less if you can. The GP can prescribe other tablets if both of these don't work well enough.
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Many thanks for your prompt reply
 
Leadinglights said:
It does take a while to build up in your system so a few days is not very long. It does not act directly on the food you eat but works in the background helping the body use the insulin it produces more effectively and reducing the release of glucose by the liver.
Dietary changes will be just as important, reducing those carbs in your diet.
would you like to share some examples of meals you are having and people may be able to suggest some modifications you could make.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Thanks very much. For lunch I had a plain chicken sandwich on Chia Bread. Nothing else. For evening meal I'd have a chicken casserole or fish with veg and 150g new potato. I don't eat sweets, chocolate, cake etc
 
rebrascora said:
Yes, Metformin builds up in the system slowly with each dose topping the previous ones and I think I have seen talk of about 2 weeks to have maximum effect and just 2 tablets is not a particularly effective dose, but you have to built up the dose slowly to help prevent or reduce digestive irritation. Each dose doesn't work on your levels from the meal you have eaten with it, it just slowly reduces the amount of glucose your liver releases and helps with insulin resistance.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
What is "chia bread" or do you mean ciabatta which is essentially white Italian bread?
 
15g carbs per slice is more or less the same as ordinary wholemeal loaf and not much different to white bread. Was it an open sandwich on just one slice or was it 2 slices?
Was there a reason why you had just plain chicken? Eating more veggies/salad to bulk out meals and make them more interesting is important and reducing the carbs.

I know it is part of our culture (and particularly yours if you are Irish) to eat bread and potatoes particularly and it is hard to imagine meals without them but gradually you learn that they and are not essential for a good, tasty, filling meal.

Bread spikes my levels really badly and just isn't worth in the end. Porridge is the same. 🙄I have a small portion of potatoes about once a month now. I am not saying you need to reduce your intake to this level but almost certainly less than you are now, but reduce it gradually. The less you have, the less you crave them but you do need to experiment with introducing new foods so that you have new things to enjoy rather than thinking about all the things you have to cut down on.
 
Kevin Marx said:
Thanks very much. For lunch I had a plain chicken sandwich on Chia Bread. Nothing else. For evening mean I'd have a chicken casserole with veg and 150g new potato. I don't eat sweets, chocolate, cake etc.
Click to expand...
Oh dear - did no one tell you that diabetes is the inability to deal with carbohydrates?
I suspect not - but unfortunately Metformin doesn't remove the glucose from foods from your bloodstream, it is a matter of avoiding foods high in starch and sugar.
 
Drummer said:
Oh dear - did no one tell you that diabetes is the inability to deal with carbohydrates?
I suspect not - but unfortunately Metformin doesn't remove the glucose from foods from your bloodstream, it is a matter of avoiding foods high in starch and sugar.
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This is all new to me, today I had 150g carbs
 
rebrascora said:
15g carbs per slice is more or less the same as ordinary wholemeal loaf and not much different to white bread. Was it an open sandwich on just one slice or was it 2 slices?
Was there a reason why you had just plain chicken? Eating more veggies/salad to bulk out meals and make them more interesting is important and reducing the carbs.

I know it is part of our culture (and particularly yours if you are Irish) to eat bread and potatoes particularly and it is hard to imagine meals without them but gradually you learn that they and are not essential for a good, tasty, filling meal.

Bread spikes my levels really badly and just isn't worth in the end. Porridge is the same. 🙄I have a small portion of potatoes about once a month now. I am not saying you need to reduce your intake to this level but almost certainly less than you are now, but reduce it gradually. The less you have, the less you crave them but you do need to experiment with introducing new foods so that you have new things to enjoy rather than thinking about all the things you have to cut down on.
Click to expand...
Thanks, this is all new to me. I'm actually English by birth and parentage 🙂. I had 150g carbs today so thought it was a decent start. If I go all out from day one I will be more likely fail. I appreciate your advice 🙂
 
Kevin Marx said:
Thanks, this is all new to me. I'm actually English by birth and parentage 🙂. I had 150g carbs today so thought it was a decent start. If I go all out from day one I will be more likely fail. I appreciate your advice 🙂
Click to expand...
I would try to reduce that down a bit more but gradually to 130g. I know it doesn't sound a big difference but does give a bit more leeway for under estimating the carbs in foods and drinks.
 
Kevin Marx said:
Thanks, this is all new to me. I'm actually English by birth and parentage 🙂. I had 150g carbs today so thought it was a decent start. If I go all out from day one I will be more likely fail. I appreciate your advice 🙂
Click to expand...
I dropped my carb intake to no more than 50gm a day because I had already been successful on that amount when doing the Atkins diet. I had the added backup of a testing meter so could check before and after eating and see how a meal affected me. Type 2's tend to test two hours after starting to eat a meal, as that seems to give a good indication of how things are with them. Once I was seeing no more than 8mmol/l I kept to the same levels of carbs and my numbers continued to fall as my metabolism improved.
I started out with HbA1c of 91, after being left unaware of high glucose levels, so I was in deep right from diagnosis. I think that you might be able to deal with more carbs - almost everyone can who is an ordinary type 2.
 
Drummer said:
I dropped my carb intake to no more than 50gm a day because I had already been successful on that amount when doing the Atkins diet. I had the added backup of a testing meter so could check before and after eating and see how a meal affected me. Type 2's tend to test two hours after starting to eat a meal, as that seems to give a good indication of how things are with them. Once I was seeing no more than 8mmol/l I kept to the same levels of carbs and my numbers continued to fall as my metabolism improved.
I started out with HbA1c of 91, after being left unaware of high glucose levels, so I was in deep right from diagnosis. I think that you might be able to deal with more carbs - almost everyone can who is an ordinary type 2.
Click to expand...
Many thanks for your post, much apprecited
 
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