Why Metformin?-Sandy: was- Metformin

[Guest guest]

Sandy,

The only significant negative about Metformin that I've been able to come up

with is the gastro-intestinal distress that can come when starting on it.

The side-effects listed in the drug Monograph are: Diarrhea,

Nausea/vomiting, Flatulence, Asthenia, Indigestion, Abdominal discomfort,

Headache.

Basically all " gasto-distress " .

The incidence for all these side effects is significantly higher in those

taking Metformin than the " placebo group " with the exception of headache which

was only marginally higher in the " Metformin " group.

The gastro-symptoms can be mitigated by starting with a low dose & then

progressing to higher doses as the body tolerates it. The usual starting dose

is

500mg/day & the max-dose is 2550mg/day (3x850mg). Also, some can lessen the

gastro-problems with active-culture yogurt, etc.

The negative side-effects of Actos are: Upper Respiratory Tract Infection,

Headache, Sinusitis, Myalgia, Tooth Disorder.

The negative side-effects for Avandia are: Upper Respiratory Tract

Infection, Injury, Headache, back pain

Personally, for me, I prefer a " tummy-ache " & gas to some of the things that

can happen with the new meds.

The biggest negative for the newer meds for me is their cost.

Metformin comes in 500, 850 & 1000mg tablets. I'm taking 1500mg/day

(3x500mg) although I asked my Dr to prescribe 2000mg/day (2x1000mg) & I'm

cutting the

1000mg tabs into 500mg pieces. I did that because it's cheaper that way. The

1000mg tabs cost little more than 500mg ones. Doing that, the 90-day supply

I get from the mail-order phc'y lasts 120-days.

I'm on Medicare w/o drug coverage, so cost is important to me. If you've got

drug insurance, the the cost-thing is less important & one of the new, fancy

meds may be the answer for you, although they all seem to have some

undesireable side-effect(s) that come along.

Also, the way drugs are tested for FDA approval today, by the manufacturer,

doesn't make me comfortable that there's not a conflict of interest to get

things approved that " may " not be safe in the long-run. Notice the # of meds

that get pulled off the market because of some serious side-effects that crop up

after they've been out a while. But then, that's just me.

One " positive " about Metformin is that it lessens cardio-vascular risk when

taken with Folic Acid & B12. (It's a FA & B12 Antagonist). There's quite a

bit of info on this in the DSM-L List archives. You have to join that list to

access the archives, but there's a lot of good info there.

*****************************************

, T2, dx'ed 4/98 with Fasting bg 350mg/dl & HbA1c 15.5%

Controlling until last month with LC-D & very little E

Average Fasting bg 105mg/dl, Last HbA1c 6.0%

7+ Year Historical HbA1c 5.6%-6.0%

Now Experimenting with Metformin, Glyburide & " Merlot Therapy " for HbA1c

nearer 5.0%

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>>> I would like to know why some of you feel that Metformin is the least

harmful of all the diabetic meds long term. I am not disagreeing - never

been on it but will most likely be switching meds in the next few months

(unless I am able to control with diet/exercise for a while after going off

Amaryl) - When looking at the list of meds in one of my diabetes classes,

Metformin had the longest list of side effects as well as long term problems

associated with it so I'm curious if you can point me to some literature on

this being one of the better ones? I need to find one I'm comfortable

with - doc says he would probably go with Actos or Avandia - both I have

decided I will not take (due to reading about possible vision complications)

so I need to find one I'm comfortable with. He doesn't feel I would use

insulin either.

Sandy <<<