Newly Diagnosed - how effective is Metformin?

[rcampbell]

Hi
I was diagnosed November 18th and have been on 2 500mg Metformin tablets since (Relon Chem).
My blood sugar is not coming down - indeed seems to be going up. I have been monitoring for a month anyway even before being diagnosed.
I have also had ketones confirmed - a few of my readings have been very high in earlier weeks. These are my recent readings (before breakfast) before and after Metformin
15th - 12.6, 16th - 11.6, 17th - 13.2, 18th - 14.1
Commence Metformin
19th - 14.8, 20th - 14.1, 21st - 12.7, 22nd - 14.1, 23rd (today) 15.3
I have not usually been one to rush to the Doctor, but I guess Diabetes changes this. I have a follow up with the practice nurse on 4th December. Should I wait until then? Does Metformin have an immediate effect, or is this a slow process and I shouldn't worry?
Dietwise I do not take sugar in drinks or on cereal anyway and I have cut back on alcohol (already moderate) and chocolate (weep!), and while I am open to diet advice I do feel there is limited scope for getting the sugar level down only through diet so I do need some medical help.

 

[Steff]

hi there rcampbell welcome to the forum , i can only go on my expereience with metformin and tell you i had all sorts of bother i stopped taking it and all sorts it took ages for my levels to get anywhere half decent but in the end it did happen i was recently upped onto 1000mg and i cant say i was happy at first i had bad side effects but i guess it doing its job now, id say hang in there .

 

[PhilT]

Hi rcampbell,

If you have only been on medication since 18th Nov you haven't really given it much time to have an effect. Also Metformin does not lower blood sugar levels it makes you more insulin sensitive so that the insulin that your body produces is more effective in controlling blood glucose levels.

Give it some more time, if nothing changes your doctor will probably increase your dose to 2 500mg Metformin twice a day. If that has no real effect the next step would usually be to put you on a low dose of a blood glucose lowering drug like Gliclazide in combination with the Metformin.

Don't worry too much I'm sure things will get better after a while.

 

[Tezzz]

Hi,

Looking back at my diabetes diary I see I was on 1 a day for a week then 2 a day.

It took a while for them to work and after a month I've been getting good numbers since.

 

[AlisonM]

Hi there and welcome in.

I was diagnosed in September and put on Metformin, 1000mg per day and Gliclazide which I couldn't tolerate at all. Since the doctor took me off them I've been generally higher but still coming down slowly my current dose is 1500mg per day. It takes time and possibly the most important thing you can do to bring your numbers down is change your diet to include less carbs (bread, potatoes, pasta and rice) and high sugar things like some fruit and cereals. Eat loads more veg, especially greens.

 

[HelenP]

Hello there and welcome to the forum.

With regard to Metformin - I was diagnosed at the end of July and the doc told me that as my BG levels were so high I wouldn't be able to bring them down quick enough with diet alone, so I was put on Metformin - one a day to start, then two the following week, and finally from the third week I've been on 3 x 500mg a day.

I guess I've been really lucky that I've no side effects at all (well, windy problems aside, lol, but I'm sure you don't wanna hear about that!! 😱) and a combination of the tablets and a drastic change to my eating habits has resulted in a huge reduction in my BG levels. I'm now scared that if my levels stay so good the doc might want to reduce my Metformin, and that scares me!! I NEED my comfort blanket, lol.

xx

 

[wallycorker]

Hi,

Sorry about your diagnosis. In my opinion, it is unrealistic to expect that the metformin tablets will have a very big effect in lowering your blood glucose levels - that certainly wasn't the case for me anyway. I certainly wouldn't sit back waiting for the tablets to sort things out for you because I don't think that they will.

Again in my opinion, the only way to bring down your blood glucose levels is to cut out the sugar but also - and importantly - cut back on the starchy carbohydrate in your diet - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. That usually has a quick and dramatic effect in lowering blood glucose levels.

Best wishes - John