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Right way to take metformin???
I am on 4 metformin a day, 500 mg x 4.
My doctor at first said take one with each meal and so eat four small meals a day. The bottle from the pharmacy says take two twice a day, no one seems to really care how I take em when I ask about this. Sometimes I seem to get metformin that are coated and sometimes they are not, have bin given three or four different brands over time and seems to be whats on the menu when I order my prescription, who knows what brand it will be next.
What is better? the coated ones or non coated, is there a difference in how they work, ie, time release vs instant absorbtion and therefore a certain way to take em?
Should I take two in am and two in afternoon for the day to help my blood or one per meal during the whole day?
Reason I am asking is I went to a group cook-out and it was Kentucky fried chicken and lots of fresh veggies, I decided to do the right thing and ate the veggies and got sick possibly because the handler might have done something wrong where the chicken was done at the kentucky place and maybe woulda bin better luck for me, Anyway, we ate around 1 pm and around 10 pm i got sick and tossed my lunch and at the end of a violent two hour session of throwing up I could taste a chemical fishy taste and burning in my throat and back of mouth and sure enough, up came two half dissolved metformin, Why was it not absorbed and are they not supposed to be gone through the system by that length of time?
I have heard about metformin causing people a bad taste and odor of fish but I never noticed it till this event with this brand and now when I open the bottle it nearly makes me sick to smell it, plus a very bad memory of that night hits me too. I hope a doctor can give me good advice on this cos I dont seem to get an answer around here from my diabetic team.
This discussion is related to Drug interactions.
My doctor at first said take one with each meal and so eat four small meals a day. The bottle from the pharmacy says take two twice a day, no one seems to really care how I take em when I ask about this. Sometimes I seem to get metformin that are coated and sometimes they are not, have bin given three or four different brands over time and seems to be whats on the menu when I order my prescription, who knows what brand it will be next.
What is better? the coated ones or non coated, is there a difference in how they work, ie, time release vs instant absorbtion and therefore a certain way to take em?
Should I take two in am and two in afternoon for the day to help my blood or one per meal during the whole day?
Reason I am asking is I went to a group cook-out and it was Kentucky fried chicken and lots of fresh veggies, I decided to do the right thing and ate the veggies and got sick possibly because the handler might have done something wrong where the chicken was done at the kentucky place and maybe woulda bin better luck for me, Anyway, we ate around 1 pm and around 10 pm i got sick and tossed my lunch and at the end of a violent two hour session of throwing up I could taste a chemical fishy taste and burning in my throat and back of mouth and sure enough, up came two half dissolved metformin, Why was it not absorbed and are they not supposed to be gone through the system by that length of time?
I have heard about metformin causing people a bad taste and odor of fish but I never noticed it till this event with this brand and now when I open the bottle it nearly makes me sick to smell it, plus a very bad memory of that night hits me too. I hope a doctor can give me good advice on this cos I dont seem to get an answer around here from my diabetic team.
This discussion is related to Drug interactions.
Metformin is usually started in small doses at a time. Usually a 500 mg tab once or twice daily. It is then usually increased to 1000 mg twice daily in a few weeks if being tolerated by patient. Metformin is usually instructed to be taken with food or milk due to the GI side effects of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating....and yes, taste perversion.
Your Dr. may have first ordered the medication in 4 seperate doses due to the above, however, I have not seen that done before, but doesn't mean it is wrong.
It sounds to me like the difference in your pills with the coating, or no coating may be a difference between a "regular" tablet and a "extended release" tablet....but it doesn't make sense that you would be changed from one to the other without the Dr. notifying you....so this brings the question to my mind....did the pharmacy goof something up or did they call your Dr.'s office for refill and Dr. either mistankenly or intentionally (for theraputic reasons) chagned from one to the other. The other reason why you may often get different looking medications is that the pharmacy has changed a contract with their supplier...hence, they supply Metformin, or any other medication, from the supplier with the contract.
Also, looking at the extended release medication, this may be the reason you saw the half digested medication when you got sick. Extended release meds are often enclosed in a "shell" or coating to provide the extended release...also not uncommon to see the "shell" in stool either.
I would tend to believe that if you have been taking Metformin for some time, the incident at the picinic was due to food posioning rather then the Metformin.
Moving forward, your physicain will be able (or should be able) to give you specifif administration instructions based on your blood sugar readings....ask him what and why....
Also, anytime you notice that a medication looks different, ask the pharmacist. On most prescriptions now, at the bottom of the label is a description of what the medication looks like. This may help you if the medication looks different as to why.
Hope this helps
Your Dr. may have first ordered the medication in 4 seperate doses due to the above, however, I have not seen that done before, but doesn't mean it is wrong.
It sounds to me like the difference in your pills with the coating, or no coating may be a difference between a "regular" tablet and a "extended release" tablet....but it doesn't make sense that you would be changed from one to the other without the Dr. notifying you....so this brings the question to my mind....did the pharmacy goof something up or did they call your Dr.'s office for refill and Dr. either mistankenly or intentionally (for theraputic reasons) chagned from one to the other. The other reason why you may often get different looking medications is that the pharmacy has changed a contract with their supplier...hence, they supply Metformin, or any other medication, from the supplier with the contract.
Also, looking at the extended release medication, this may be the reason you saw the half digested medication when you got sick. Extended release meds are often enclosed in a "shell" or coating to provide the extended release...also not uncommon to see the "shell" in stool either.
I would tend to believe that if you have been taking Metformin for some time, the incident at the picinic was due to food posioning rather then the Metformin.
Moving forward, your physicain will be able (or should be able) to give you specifif administration instructions based on your blood sugar readings....ask him what and why....
Also, anytime you notice that a medication looks different, ask the pharmacist. On most prescriptions now, at the bottom of the label is a description of what the medication looks like. This may help you if the medication looks different as to why.
Hope this helps
Ok thanks, I am now trying to figure out if my diagnosis is right, I have had thyroid issues all my life, goiter spotted at around 13 or 14 yrs old and even had an iron deficiency at same time goiter was noticed (which is very unusual in children I am learning now) as well as lots of hay fever and cold issues as a child with noticable sensitive feet most of my life, so I am now thinking my neuropathy might have been present most of my life with it becoming a more serious problem in later years to the point now where I cant even walk some days. I am now learning that neuropathy is caused by lots more conditions then diabetes and one of the causes can be long term thyriod issues. My thinking now after talking to Dr Nicolson on this site is could I have had pancreatitis most of my life and never been diagnosed with it and maybe that is where the diabetes is coming from, which might make it harder to manage. I have an appointment with my doctor this Thursday to see if I can get him to look into it more, maybe see an endocrinologist or other specialist.
Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults; sometimes also called Type 1.5, though I don't like that designation as it implies it's "midway between type 1 and type 2". It's not, it's a slower onset form of type 1. About 10-20% of Type 2's are misdiagnosed and are, in fact LADA. The clues for me were: Normal weight and lost weight on diagnosis, oral meds only worked for about a year, another autoimmune disease (thyroid), very sensitive to insulin (no insulin resistance, the hallmark of type 2).
This board has a lot of people who are new to diabetes, Sallysmart. I'm a LADA so I'm on insulin. I'm sending you a private message with a couple websites where there are a lot more type 2's.
Hmmm, seems no one knows much about this drug, I am kinda confused and nobody has answers for me on this, I am hoping someone who takes this med can tell me what works best for them cos I am not sure what works best for me due to the fact that my numbers are all over the place no matter what I try.
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