Update on chemotherapy and Metformin

[happydog]

I have survived my second cycle of EC and cyclophosphamide. The GP gave me 500mg of metformin to take on a couple of days before the cycle and for three days after the end of my steroids. It may have been coincidence but I had really bad stomach cramps and diarrhea (not a plus when you are hooked up to a load of tubes but need to keep rushing to the loo!) Sadly they did not make a lot of difference to my blood glucose levels which went into the 20's again. Once I stopped taking the steroids they came down and are now in the 7's. I lost a couple fo kilos in weight. I do not feel sure about taking the metformin again as it did seem to coincide with a very upset stomach. I also seemed to have a great deal of gas in my tummy. I have a friend who has diabetes and he says that the metformin can cause stomach pain etc. Any views?

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I have survived my second cycle of EC and cyclophosphamide. The GP gave me 500mg of metformin to take on a couple of days before the cycle and for three days after the end of my steroids. It may have been coincidence but I had really bad stomach cramps and diarrhea (not a plus when you are hooked up to a load of tubes but need to keep rushing to the loo!) Sadly they did not make a lot of difference to my blood glucose levels which went into the 20's again. Once I stopped taking the steroids they came down and are now in the 7's. I lost a couple fo kilos in weight. I do not feel sure about taking the metformin again as it did seem to coincide with a very upset stomach. I also seemed to have a great deal of gas in my tummy. I have a friend who has diabetes and he says that the metformin can cause stomach pain etc. Any views?

It can.
It didn't happen to me, and most seem to get over the side effects very quickly.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Does sound like the sort of thing some people can get with ‘metfartin’.

As @travellor says, many people find any gastric upheaval settles down within a few weeks, but others on the forum found metformin very difficult to tolerate.

There is a ‘slow release’ version which can be gentler on the tum?