Metformin
by Steve Richards on November 1, 2008
I thought it would be helpful to talk about my mom’s experience with metformin. Please note that I am not a doctor, and you should consult with your doctor concerning all medical matters. I want to share my experience, because I have done a lot of research on diabetes, and there has been much improvement in my mom’s diabetic condition based on things we have done as a result of my findings. My mom’s condition was pretty bad. She had reached the stage of needing insulin shots and metformin every single day. Metformin is the drug most prescribed in the U.S. to help control high blood sugar. It works by suppressing glucose production and increasing insulin sensitivity among other things.
I’m highly in favor of using this drug, even though it can have some side effects of discomfort. The reason I recommend it is because there are not many options for keeping blood sugar down, and I feel that metformin does a good job without making the situation worse. How could the situation become worse? For that answer let’s look at what happens when you become a diabetic. One thing is that your pancreas has probably become weaker from being overworked, and can’t produce the necessary levels of insulin to control blood sugar. The other is that your cells have probably developed a resistance to insulin. This happens because of the higher levels of insulin in your system, when your pancreas produced more insulin to keep sugar levels down. When things are working properly your blood cells take in glucose (sugar) along with insulin to use as energy. Without insulin, or by being resistant to insulin cells can’t take in the glucose in blood as usual, which results in high blood sugar. Many people reach the stage of requiring insulin shots, as my mom had. I was always against relying too heavily on the insulin shots because I didn’t want to make my mom’s cell resistance to insulin any worse. My preference is to control blood sugar in other ways. I believe the best thing you can do is eat foods that are low on the glycemic index so that there is no spike upward in blood sugar, and also to exercise. It is believed that being active and exercising can help to improve cell resistance. On top of that take the metformin drug as prescribed. Metformin may also help to improve cell resistance to insulin. On the other hand, having excess insulin in the body runs the risk of making cells more resistant. Don’t get me wrong, insulin shots at some stages are very necessary and do play an important role because blood sugar needs to be controlled. Injecting insulin can also help give your pancreas a rest from working so hard. However, I focus on controlling blood sugar in other ways which don’t rely on the shots. Eating healthier and being more active is a great strategy for keeping blood sugar lower. Taking metformin can help as well.
There may be some periods of stomach discomfort when first taking metformin. This should get better as your body gets more used to taking the drug. Also, it is important to take the drug as prescribed. For example, at one point my mom was taking the metformin pill with a handful of other pills for various things like cholesterol and blood pressure. She would then complain of severe upset stomach. It got so bad that she stopped taking everything completely. When I investigated to see why she was having such problems I found that she was taking the metformin incorrectly. For one thing, she was not eating solid enough food before taking the pills. It is recommended to take the pills with food. I told my mom to stop taking all of the pills except for the metformin, and to be sure and eat something solid first. When my mom did this she felt a lot better and could take the metformin regularly. In addition we cut the pills in half, so the dosage went from 1000mg to 500mg. We then slowly added the other pills back one by one. Pretty soon she was taking all the pills correctly as prescribed by her doctor. She was even able to take the full dosage of 1000mg occasionally and have minor discomfort but nothing she couldn’t handle.
All along we checked her blood sugar level readings, and we saw a lot of improvement now that she was taking the metformin regularly. I also made sure that she ate foods which were a bit lower on the glycemic index. When she went for a meeting with the pharmacist she took along a log we had been keeping of her blood sugar levels. The pharmacist was very encouraged by the readings. My mom described the stomach trouble she had been having and how things had become better. Her fasting blood sugar was still a bit higher than the target range. The pharmacist prescribed some "time release" metformin, in order to help keep sugar levels down at different times. That turned out to be a really a great thing. My mom was able to take the time release metformin with no stomach discomfort at all. In addition, her fasting blood sugar came down even more, almost into the target range, and this was without insulin shots. In other words, we were reversing the course of high blood sugar away from the point of needing the insulin shots which was my goal. As of now, she is not taking the insulin shots or the metformin pills. Her blood sugar levels are almost normal, but just a bit high. I’m allowing her a break from the daily need to take the shots and pills. Her weight has dropped by a lot, and she is a bit more active. My goal is to get her totally away from the need for shots and pills, and still be in the target range for blood sugar level - basically to live like she doesn’t have diabetes. We are getting very close to being there!
You can find more information on metformin here.
