Taking all of my Metformin ER at night before bed has worked out really well for me. I’ve been on it for 12 years and I’ve been lucky to dodge the gastro issues.
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I have actually found more people saying to take it at night. I got a job recently, and super worried about the whole having diarrhea. I’ve had one friend who took the regular Metformin have the diarrhea symptom and didn’t even realize/know they went.
I think diabetics can get some reasonable accommodations, but I’m not on insulin or anything. I’d have to speak to someone who’d know more on accommodations for diabetics (type 2 or type 1)
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Just an FYI
“Take metformin exactly as prescribed by your doctor.
Take metformin with a meal, unless your doctor tells you otherwise. Some forms of metformin are taken only once daily with the evening meal. Follow your doctor’s instructions.”
I take my ESR metformin with meals, no problem… Nancy50
It can be any of those or none. One of the actions of Metformin is to delay digestion, slowing the release of glucose into the bloodstream. Ozempic and some other type 2 drugs do the same.
Most people’s digestive systems settle down after a while. Some do better on extended release Met, others just can’t tolerate it.
It’s a good and mostly safe drug that tends not to cause hypoglycemia.
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I’m not on any medications yet. My doctor mentioned that metformin might be an option down the line if my numbers don’t improve. For those of you who started with lifestyle changes first—did you end up needing metformin eventually? And if you’re on it, what kind of side effects did you notice?
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I was able to be drug free for 10 years with proper diet and regular exercise. Then my BG started rising again that couldn’t be managed with diet and exercise. My PCP prescribed Metformin and told me that T2DM tends to progress as the insulin secreting Beta cells wear out from overwork.
There’s no guarantee that your T2DM will progress like mine. I’ve gone from no drugs to Metformin and an insulin pump. Oh, I still eat right and exercise, those 2 things are key to good T2DM management - with or without drugs or insulin.
My Metformin side effect was morning loose stools. After a couple of times I was good for the day. It has since passed.
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That’s really encouraging to hear you had 10 drug-free years with diet and exercise, that’s amazing! It gives me hope that the lifestyle changes can really make a significant difference, even if it’s not permanent.
It’s reassuring to know that diet and exercise remain important even when medications become necessary. Sometimes I worry that needing meds means the lifestyle stuff doesn’t matter anymore, but it sounds like they all work together.
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Same as Luis3 here. Ten years on diet and exercise alone. Once I adapted my diet to 35-45 carbs a day—and brought my whole family with me, bless their loving hearts for their support—it became easy and yummy. This overlapped with my husband’s retirement and his growing pleasure in taking over cooking for us. He delighted in experimenting with low-carb meals. And it was no protection from a heart attack in 2018–though as my sweetie said–without all the improvements in my eating habits, it could have been much worse! I come from a gene pool prone to strokes, after all. So my T2 did evolve into taking metformin, as well as a BP med and a thyroid med. I hated it far a time–the dependence on so many blankety blank meds, but I’m still here, after all, able to delight in grandkids and great nieces and nephews!..…Oh, and I was a dancer/teacher/choreographer for 40+ years, so the exercise component of our “self-care" hasn’t been a problem–even with the arthritis and fibromyalgia, I have been able to keep adapting my workouts and walks. Oh and for the better part of a decade, my sweetie introduced me to the glories of hiking in The Cascade Mountains. I had grown up canoeing on and swimming in Midwestern lakes—mountain hiking was revelatory in its own way! Enough….You know your very own dotage is taking hold when everything becomes about Storytelling!..LOL…Best to all….
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Well, Judith, I am a fan of stories, it’s how I learn best, and as a dancer you told stories with motion, as a teacher you passed that on and as a choreographer you crearted.
Now, get your Swetie to share some of those recipes and take us on a hike in the Cascades.
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