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Stopping Metformin

C

ChrisThis

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I stopped taking Rybelsus at the beginning of February this year and today my GP suggested that I try coming off Metformin too after having made significant lifestyle changes and 2 good HbA1c results. I’m interested to know what people’s experience is of going drug free - but I do appreciate that everyone is different. Thanks.
 
I dropped metformin once my HbA1c and fasting BG were securely down into "normal" figures, I guess more than six years ago now.

Once you're at that stage met likely does very little for BG.

The next question for me was whether met has benefits not related to BG. There is endless speculation and low-quality commentary that it is good for longevity, heart health etc but there is actually just about zero actual evidence for these kinds of benefits in humans.

On the other hand, there is reasonable evidence that it can actually reduce the insulin resistance benefits of exercise for some non-diabetics.

See eg https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3774338/


So for me it was an easy decision to drop it. Didn't have any impact on HbA1c or fasting BG, which have been stable & "normal" ever since.

EDIT: A different situation with GLP-1 drugs. There's a growing body of evidence that these drugs have a range of benefits beyond BG control - cardio-renal, maybe dementia, cancer. I probably would have been a lot more keen to remain on these if they had been around at the time. Also SGLT2i's, for cardio-renal benefits beyond BG control.
 
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Mine was stopped last year and it made no difference to hba1c, but I was only on 500mg (I was told I didn't need it.) It was halved 3 years before that from 1000mg.

If levels are good, it may not be doing much, but it could potentially still be reducing glucose from the liver and blunting post-meal levels a little.

I'd try stopping it, get another blood test, and see what the result is.
 
We have had quite a few members who have come off Metformin over the years, and by the time they considered dropping it, it seems it was not having all that much effect on their BG levels.

A smaller number remained on Metfromin, and some remained on it for a while, but dropped it eventually.

Given those experiences, I wouldn’t expect you to see huge changes in your BG profiles if you maintain the lifestyle changes you have made, and keep you weight in a good place for you.

Let us know how you get on 🙂
 
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