Does anyone know of a reputable online seller of metformin not requiring a doctor’s prescription? As an aside, it is so strange that regular insulin can be bought at Walmart without a prescription but not metformin.
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Metformin requires a prescription in the US so you would need to get it outside the US. It is available in Canada but the Canada online pharmacies require a prescription, so that the medication can go cross border into the US without any issues and as proof that it is not being ordered for resale. There are, however, some online pharmacies in Canada that have a doctor they have contracted with that will include a prescription with your order if ordered through them. I am on insulin, a similar issue, where no prescription is required in Canada, but the online Canada pharmacies require me to have a prescription to facilitate the cross border process.
Some people think berberine is as good as metformin. I don’t know if that’s true, but you could research it.
Thanks, Gretchen. Berberine is classified as a supplement I believe and so is much less strictly regulated. Also I specifically need metformin for steroid-induced hyperglycemia, fatty liver, and osteoporosis. In the The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Home Page Vol 8 2020: “Until further evidence is available, doctors might consider metformin for patients at high risk for glucocoticoid side-effects on an individual basis and with compassionate use.” The AMPK pathway is downreulated by glucocoticoids and metformin restore’s AMPK activity. I’m not sure if Berberine does that.
Thanks, CJ114. Have you had good experiences with this kind of pharmacy? If so could you share the website here or message me?
I only live a couple of hours drive from the Canada border so, until Covid, I would mostly drive up to Canada, pick up my insulin and get back by lunchtime. Since Covid, and before that when I did not want to make the drive, I have been ordering my insulin from:
They are really nice people, very responsive, and will follow up with you on re-orders as well. Give them a call on their 1-800 line and I think you will be impressed. My only beef with them is they do not accept AMEX, only MC/VISA for credit cards. Even if you do not order from them, they will be happy to answer any questions you may have and they will give you honest answers. I have used them for several years and have been very pleased with their service. I have attached a generic link above to their website as well as an additional link below to their Metformin page.
Thank you so much!!!
Hi CJ,
I went to that website and it says I need a valid prescription. I thought that site didn’t require a prescription.
I know some of the online Canada sites will issue a prescription. The one I use used to not require a prescription but now they do. This is the only one I can vouch for as that is the only one I have used over the years. If you Google Canada online Metformin without prescription some will come up but since I have not used them, I can’t vouch for them.
Call the 800 numbers and ask for advice and options and tell them it is too inconvenient for you to get a prescription
OK, thanks anyway. Just as background, my husband has severe adult-onset asthma. The glucocorticoids he takes for his asthma have given him increasing blood sugar levels ( not prediabetic yet), fatty liver disease (the beginning stages), and dexa scan diagnosed osteoporosis. He is 59 years old and never had any of these issues before the asthma medications that he needs to breathe. I asked Dr. Bernstein about this, and he said to research metformin, which is how I found the article in the Lancet. The dosage was 850 mg 2 to 3 times a day (as tolerated). Our doctor had never heard of this before, so he is hesitant and prescribed my husband 500 mg of Metformin a day. I am hoping he will adhere to the dosages in the study and up his dose when we see him in July. But I am investigating what else to do if he chickens out. He might just get to prediabetic levels himself soon with just the one pill. Bu the problem with waiting for that to occur is that his existing osteoporosis and fatty liver might progress as well, and his immune system will also be weakened with higher blood sugar.
The reason insulin does not require a prescription and metformin does is that people who need insulin, need it all the time and immediately.
A person with no script could die waiting for his script to get insulin, where that is just not as immediately necessary for metformin.
The prescription requirement for regular insulin was dropped after some people died from not having access, where lack of metformin could still kill you, but it would take a long time.
The stated max dose of Metformin is listed at usually 2,000 mg a day, although Mayo has listed up to 2,550 that is sometimes used. You could pull that up and show it to your doctor along with the Lancet study.
However some medications interfere with other medications or conditions and the larger doses might be more likely too. Your husbands doctor could be hesitant because it could require more research to find out if it is okay with your husbands set of circumstances and meds. You just never know why your doctor decides on certain things sometimes. I do know Metformin is known to deplete B12 levels.
But the hesitancy might have been because of the Fatty Liver or it is something else entirely.
Clarifying metformin's role and risks in liver dysfunction - PubMed.
Steroids notoriously causes high blood sugar, liver issues and depletion of bone. They usually are hesitant to leave people on them because of that and other issues. It doesn’t mean they won’t if needed, just they are hesitant.
You also might look into Milk Thistle GP, it’s wonderful for the liver. Solaray makes a Fatty Liver Formula too.
Long term systemic use of any steroids, like Glucosteroids (of which glucicorticoids are a subclass) are well known for increasing insulin resistance and medical literature in just the last two years is increasingly mentioning metformin as a cheap and effective way of reducing the impact. One reason this has been a hot topic is that middle aged and older Covid-19 patients have been prescribed gobs and gobs of steroids.
A fairly readable article:
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Yes, that is the study I showed my husband’s doctor. I don’t know why that abstract didn’t also mention that in addition to improvements in blood sugar, there were improvements in liver function, bone mineralization, and immune function. Basically everything that was affected by steroids (possibly because of down regulation of the AMPK pathway) was improved with metformin (possibly because it restored this pathway).
Is your husband’s doctor a PCP or an asthma specialist or …?
While most specialists who often prescribe steroids are broadly aware of the effect they will have on diabetic patients, most would never ever dream of testing A1C or random bg or prescribe metformin to a non-diabetic patient.
Does your husband have lab results (like an A1C above 7 or after meal bg’s above 180) that would make it trivial to get a metformin prescription from a PCP or endo?
The study convinced the doctor to prescribe metformin to my husband.His A1c was 5.5 and trending up from previous years. If you read the study I posted above that was also referenced in a Lancet article, the steroid users getting prophylactic metformin did not have elevated blood sugar. My husband’s doctor who is prescribing the metformin is not a PCP/GP, he is an allergist/asthma specialist who was not aware that the inhaled Symbicort dose my husband is taking could lead to osteoporosis, hyperglycemia, etc. His doctor thought only those taking a higher dose of something like Prednisone would have the side effects my husband is now experienced with Symbicort. I did the research and asked for the DEXA scan as my husband had some pain in his back and seemed to have lost some height. The DEXA scan revealed osteoporosis. So his doctor initially was nervous about prescribing the metformin, but I showed him the Lancet article and he acquiesced and agreed to start him at 500 mg metformin once a day. after a while I asked him to go to 500 twice a day. When I we see him in July I will ask to go to 850mg twice a day and see if we can also safely lower the Symbicort dose.
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You might have a better time pursuing this through your PCP who is probably way more familiar with Metformin than an allergist.
Already got the Metformin. Family doctor will not give script for Metformin unless pre diabetic
I would be wary that what you have is really metformin.
I mean it makes perfect sense to me. Steroids cause insulin resistance and metformin reduces insulin resistance.
I bet you can find a doctor who will prescribe it so you can get it through normal channels.
We did get the metformin from my husband’s asthma/allergy doctor. So far so good.