Type 1's on Metformin?

I have often wondered about type 1’s and metformin. I take symlin along with apidra and lantus, just like any other routine injection it has it’s good days and bad ones. Sometimes the symlin works very well and leaves me with fantastic numbers for most of the day, other times I feel as if I’m injecting water…simply no results. Can metformin AND symlin be used?

I have been on metformin since i was diagnosed with T1 in last May, it’s actually pretty good!. The nausea was too much at the begining, but then my body started getting used to it and now it’s all good. But be careful with taking it immediatly before food, because if u had it after ur meal u’ll get awfully nauseated!
What metfrmin does is that it stops the liver from secreting the glucose stored in it, so it helps controling ur BG on the long term. For me, i couldnt see its effects until after a while. At the begining i was on 2 tabs 500mg per day, but now i take 4 tabs of 500mg because my BG is going way off the track & metformin helps control it.

great!!! this is exactly what I was looking for… thank you so much for sharing your experience! How can I find your blog from last year? I tried looking before I posted my question… thanks again!

The blog can be read here: http://www.tudiabetes.org/profiles/blogs/metformin-amp-a-type-1 or if you go to my page, it’s in the column along the left side of my profile. Glad to help!

Reporting back after only 1 week on Metformin with amazing results!

I have lost 3 lbs, lowered my TDD from about 100 units of Novolog to 82 units, and I bolus about 5-10 minutes before eating with minimal effect on my post-meal BS…

I’m currently taking one 500mg pill before breakfast and one 500mg pill before dinner…

I have had very minimal IBS type side effects, and zero nausea. On the other hand, I feel more energized and active than I have in years! I’m a pretty skeptical person with new treatments, so I don’t really attribute any of this to placebo effect.

Time will tell, but Metformin is looking like a real winner for this Type 1 diabetic!!!

I was put on metformin in January, and it was helpful. I began to feel like my insulin was actually working. Although I didn’t have insulin resistance when first diagnosed, the weight gain that accompanied insulin use brought it on bigtime. So I find it has helped (interestingly, it didn’t help at all while I was misdiagnosed as a type 2 and that was all I was using - had very little impact on anything at that point).
In March I started symlin and I have been able to cut my TDD by about 40%. Some weight coming off, but it’s slow. I’m not working really hard at it right now, so I am pleased that it’s happening anyway. The trick with symlin (for me) was taking it right before eating and then NOT taking insulin until about 15-20 minutes after I finished eating. I had trouble with lows in the beginning, but have adjusted my basal and my ratios and don’t have them much at all anymore!

I was initially diagnosed with T2, and perscribed Metformin, in July 2010. Now I am a scientist by training, and comfortable taking data, plotting curves, hypothesis testing, etc. I saw that the Metformin had some effect, in that it lowered the monthly average, but the daily/weekly swings in AM (fasting) glucose were quite erratic. My dose was raised, which further lowered the monthly baseline, but the swings kept up. Further blood tests revealed the antibodies necessary to confirm a T1 diagnosis. I am currently transitioning to injection insulin, so I do not have further data to compare to Metformin. My Endocrinologist says that if you have any beta cells active, Metformin can have an effect, but with an inactive pancreas, it should have no effect. (My specialty is not medicine, so I have to defer to his knowledge and experience in interpreting the effectiveness of the drug given the state of functional efficiency of the patient’s pancreas.)

Mark… you may be on to something… as it turns out I mentioned to my doc that I never have had ketones… I use the ketone test strips whenever my blood sugar is high and even if I’m over 400 mg/dl I still have never had more than “trace” ketones.

My doc thinks this may be a rare form of diabetes known as MODY and we will look into it further… perhaps I can get off the insulin altogether after 20 years and just take pills! We shall see… thanks for your input