Are there any Type 1s using Metformin on this page? Was it helpful?
I’m Type 1 and in good control but lately I have been seeing my weight start to creep up. Plus, my insulin requirement was going up as well. My doctor thought I might be becoming insulin resistant and suggested I try Metformin. I have been on it about six months and haven’t see the results I was told about. The doctor said it would make me a little more insulin efficient so that I would require less and I might also lose some weight.
Anyone have any experience with it with good/bad/no results?
I’ve been taking it for ten years or so. Never even heard it might help with weight loss until recently, and in my case it hasn’t noticeably done so. It has helped with keeping me a bit more stable overall, particularly with dawn phenom.
Interesting. How long does metformin stay active in your system? 24 hrs? If it helps keep you lower in the morning (positive) do you find that it also pushes you lower in the evening (negative)?
I’ve posted about my positive experiences as a T1 taking metformin on here in several similar threads. Recommend doing a search for them—there’s some good discussion on the topic. Short version: yes it’s been awesome, helped with weight loss (lost the extra 15 lbs I’d gained I suspect due to increased insulin resistance) as well as lowered my insulin doses. It reduced my insulin needs around the clock; however, because it lowers liver output, I do think it particularly flattened my dawn phenomenon (which is driven by that)—it’s still there sometimes, but not as strong. It took a pretty substantial dosage for me to see that effect though—I’m now taking 1000mg of the ER, 2x a day. I think the ER is a 24 hour drug, but I figured splitting my doses in two once I started taking more would make more sense and provide more of a safety net in case I was late on one or missed one.
I’ve been taking it since diagnosis. It’s helped with weight reduction, dawn phenomenon, and reduced my insulin requirements. It also supposedly helps mitigate the risk of certain types of cancers from what I’ve read. I take the XR version and have no GI issues with it. I think its a brilliant drug and think they should just put it in the water.
Huh. I’m curious why you ask because I never thought it was Metformin-related but I do habitually tend to hit my lowest BG, random hypos not included, from about 5pm-7pm. I take it at bed time, 1000mg at about 10pm every night.
Metformin doesn’t directly lower blood sugar, but it does restrict the release of glucose by the liver and make insulin more effective, so I can imagine scenarios in which it could be a minor contributing factor to mild lows. This is the first time I’ve ever heard someone report it, though, so I tend to doubt whether the effect is significant or common.
I ask because I’ve never taken metformin, but have always had issues with dawn phenom. Whenever I tried to overcome it with a large AM Lantus, I tended to go low in the eave. If I targeted a good evening BS, then the dawn phenom was very pronounced. I just always had trouble overcoming that, so I was interested if you had found an alternative solution. I tried to overcome it by splitting my Lantus dose into a bedtime and a morning does. It helped, but in the end I got pushed onto a pump. Not many problems since then, but I remember it was a real pain.
Ah, yes, right–sounds familiar. My “solution” when I was on Lantus/Novolog MDI was to take a Novolog shot at bedtime that would somehow knock me low enough–but not too low, hopefully–so it wouldn’t come back up too far in the a.m. A practice of which my endo rightfully disapproved but I couldn’t figure out any way to make the Lantus do what need to be done on its own. The problem really being Lantus/Novolog MDI itself. Metformin definitely helps but really–same as you–it was only going on a pump that really licked it for me. Variable basal rate baby, nothing like it. Even so I have to set a rate from 3am-7am that makes my endo’s eyes go wide, but hey, if it works it works.
