Missed metformin and sickness

[lucy123]

Can I ask a quick silly question please?
In the past I have suffered from some quite nasty sickness and am not sure if I have an answer.
I sometimes forget to take my metformin and then go straight back onto a full dose (2000) again straight away - should I build back up - and by not doing so could this make me violently sick?

I forgot to pick my prescription up before easter and have missed 2 days worth so was wondering if I should start slowly again - I will ask the pharmacist but would be interested in your thoughts!🙂

 

[Copepod]

Check the patient information leaflet - there should be a section about what to do if you miss a dose. Hope your pharmacist can help further - definitely the person to ask.

 

[lucy123]

Check the patient information leaflet - there should be a section about what to do if you miss a dose. Hope your pharmacist can help further - definitely the person to ask.

Hi Copepod

Not sure if she was the right person to ask. She just gave me an absolute rollicking for not taking the metformin, told me the metformin was to stop me having hypos(!!) and if I didn't take it I was at serious risk of having a hypo, going into a coma and dropping dead!! Wish I hadn't asked!

I do have hypos but I am special and she doesn't know this at all. I always believed that metformin could not cause hypos in any way. I am sure I am right about this?

TBH I have very little faith in the pharmacist - she is always too busy messing about and giggling like some silly little girl. I would have reported her before now as always get bad service from her - but I think her father owns the pharmacy so can't see much point really!😡

 

[Northerner]

That's surely nonsense! Anyway, why would you have a hypo by NOT taking the metformin? It's not made of sugar, not a hypo treatment so what she said is gibberish! 😱

 

[Copepod]

Hi Copepod

Not sure if she was the right person to ask. She just gave me an absolute rollicking for not taking the metformin, told me the metformin was to stop me having hypos(!!) and if I didn't take it I was at serious risk of having a hypo, going into a coma and dropping dead!! Wish I hadn't asked!

I do have hypos but I am special and she doesn't know this at all. I always believed that metformin could not cause hypos in any way. I am sure I am right about this?

TBH I have very little faith in the pharmacist - she is always too busy messing about and giggling like some silly little girl. I would have reported her before now as always get bad service from her - but I think her father owns the pharmacy so can't see much point really!😡

Time to find another pharmacy with a more reliable / accurate pharmacist, then, I think. And worth considering complaining to Royal Pharmaceutical Society about unprofessional conduct.

Have you checked the patient information leaflet? - that won't give you a rollicking, I'm sure.

 

[lucy123]

That's surely nonsense! Anyway, why would you have a hypo by NOT taking the metformin? It's not made of sugar, not a hypo treatment so what she said is gibberish! 😱

Thats what I thought Alan.

It is worrying that she spiels off stuff that is utter nonsense. Not the first time she has done it too. This is the woman who put my name on my hubbys morphine bottle and told me it didn't matter when I complained as his record was correct! This problem occurred because she was doing his meds whilst flirting wildly with the delivery man - whilst I was kept waiting half hour for her to check the prescription - doesn't bother me normally but on this day hubby was at home in excrutiating pain and desperately needed the morphine quick!

Really don't feel like going back this afternoon - will be another long wait again - but on the bright side at least its more exercise!🙂

 

[Northerner]

Thats what I thought Alan.

It is worrying that she spiels off stuff that is utter nonsense. Not the first time she has done it too. This is the woman who put my name on my hubbys morphine bottle and told me it didn't matter when I complained as his record was correct! This problem occurred because she was doing his meds whilst flirting wildly with the delivery man - whilst I was kept waiting half hour for her to check the prescription - doesn't bother me normally but on this day hubby was at home in excrutiating pain and desperately needed the morphine quick!

Really don't feel like going back this afternoon - will be another long wait again - but on the bright side at least its more exercise!🙂

I believe there is a professional body that pharmacists can be reported to, much like doctors, and I think that a complaint should be made. Pharmacists should provide trustworthy information about the drugs they dispense and both your examples show ignorance both of a drug's use and effects and also dispensing protocols. In your case, you were sufficiently switched on to know she's speaking rubbish, but how many people has she misled with potentially dangerous consequences?

This page tells you who to complain to, should you decide to:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/pharmacists/Pages/pharmacistsandchemists.aspx

(under 'Standards of conduct, ethics and performance').

Given that we always recommend a person ask their pharmacist about drugs and their side effects or interactions etc. I would hope that the information they are delivering is at least accurate.

 

[lucy123]

Time to find another pharmacy with a more reliable / accurate pharmacist, then, I think. And worth considering complaining to Royal Pharmaceutical Society about unprofessional conduct.

Have you checked the patient information leaflet? - that won't give you a rollicking, I'm sure.

Hi copepod and thank you for taking time to answer.

Yes I have now read the leaflet and it says to take the next dose as soon as you remember and if it is time for the next dose already - just miss a dose. I had missed 3 days and went back to my normal dose when I was sick. I am not sure if it was because I had to start on 500 and slowly go up to 2000 that may have made me sick. Maybe I should have started on a lower dose - this is the answer I was looking for from the pharmacist.

Surprise surprise no mention of hypos on the leaflet either.

You are quite right though - when I have fetched the rest of my meds today I will be going to another much friendlier pharmacy from now on - it will be a good walk but thats another bonus isn't it.

I think I will report the pharmacist too as incorrect advice should not be given. If she didn't know I would have been happy with can I look it up and tell you when you pick up the rest of your meds, rather than the gibberish she gave me.

 

[lucy123]

I believe there is a professional body that pharmacists can be reported to, much like doctors, and I think that a complaint should be made. Pharmacists should provide trustworthy information about the drugs they dispense and both your examples show ignorance both of a drug's use and effects and also dispensing protocols. In your case, you were sufficiently switched on to know she's speaking rubbish, but how many people has she misled with potentially dangerous consequences?

This page tells you who to complain to, should you decide to:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/pharmacists/Pages/pharmacistsandchemists.aspx

(under 'Standards of conduct, ethics and performance').

Given that we always recommend a person ask their pharmacist about drugs and their side effects or interactions etc. I would hope that the information they are delivering is at least accurate.

You are absolutely right Alan. I will defintely change pharmacy after I have picked my meds up tonight and will also sit down and write a complaint too.

When I was first diagnosed I was given merely a leaflet about diabetes and told to get on with it. No mention of a follow up appointment or nothing. So the nurse was useless and so is the pharmacist.

I am lucky as I have all of you to advise, but what about the other diabetics at my surgery who use the same pharmacy as it is attached? I feel like standing outside with a board saying - Diabetics see my for proper help - and then giving them the forum details! Grrr😡

 

[itsallgood]

Metformin

As a Metformin user myself I can recommend reading the Wikipedia entry for it which is extremely informative in an understandable way. I occasionally re-read it just to remind myself why I'm taking the chuffing things 🙄

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin

 

[lucy123]

As a Metformin user myself I can recommend reading the Wikipedia entry for it which is extremely informative in an understandable way. I occasionally re-read it just to remind myself why I'm taking the chuffing things 🙄

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin

Thank you - interesting that one of the first symptoms they mention for overdosing is vomiting. I do think if I forget to take them for more than a few days again I will step back up gradually! Let the body get used to them again.🙂

 

[RachelT]

Hi Lucy,

You're right, you are unlikely to start having hypos because you skipped your metformin. Because Metformin works by reducing insulin resistance rather than by making your pancreas chuck out more insulin, it won't make you have a hypo if you take too much, and generally, people taking metformin don't suffer from hypos.
I'll confess, i can't have a go at anybody for not taking their tablets, especially Metformin, because i am rubbish at remembering to take mine, one little change in routine. even a weekend and a let breakfast and it's "whoops, i forgot again!". As such i can speak from personal experience and say that when i do skip a couple of doses and restart again i do tend to find that any side effects so come back and haunt me, in my case, the runs. The other things that makes them worse is taking them on a empty stomach, if you can't stomach eating, it might be best not to take your metformin until you're feeling up to food. If your pharmacist complains, that's what we do in our hospital!
Speaking of your pharmacist, putting the wrong name on a medicine is a serious offence! If you or your husband was seriously hurt or suffered badly because of it, they could get into a lot of trouble. I'm not saying these things don't happen from time to time but we in our pharmacy at least have the decency to be profrusely sorry. And we then report it and try to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's a breach of patient confidentiality at the very least, and possible criminal negligence at the worst. People can be sent to jail for this.

 

[lucy123]

Thanks RachelT - that has really helped me to know what I am going to say when I go back into the Pharmacy to collect my outstanding meds. I will not shout or get excited - I will simply state that I will not be using them again as the information I was given was totally incorrect and together with the mixed up name which is a serious offence,I have lost trust in them - and I will be making an official complaint.

Thanks for your help everyone🙂

 

[Northerner]

Thanks RachelT - that has really helped me to know what I am going to say when I go back into the Pharmacy to collect my outstanding meds. I will not shout or get excited - I will simply state that I will not be using them again as the information I was given was totally incorrect and together with the mixed up name which is a serious offence,I have lost trust in them - and I will be making an official complaint.

Thanks for your help everyone🙂

Good luck Lucy 🙂

 

[AJLang]

I hope that your trip to the pharmacy went well and that you do not have any side effects when you start your Metformin again.