Metformin anxiety

[judecorp]

I filled the prescription for the Metformin and I read all of the information that came attached. Incidentally, it's the same information as all of the webpages I read last week, except for the ominous line, "Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects." That just creeps me right out. Lactic acidosis? Yikes. I've seen A Few Good Men. I know what lactic acidosis can do. Just ask PFC William Santiago.

I also don't like friends' reports that they had diarrhea and/or were dizzy for the first several weeks of taking the medication. I think it would be a phenomenally bad idea to be dizzy when I drive around the crazy streets of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Southie all day. The idea of that happening makes me feel a little, well, dizzy.

I also don't like the idea that you're not supposed to drink alcohol when you take it. I mean, I'm not a big drinker but the idea of not drinking anything, at all, ever, is really unappealing to me. No glass of wine with special dinners? No beer with pizza? No drinks out with friends? Indefinitely?

I'm really /really/ not jazzed about this. At all. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that while I was able to fill the prescription, I'm not sure I can get myself to actually take any. I have serious dread.

Comments

[whirledpeas.livejournal.com]

Just start with one pill/day for the first week and work your way up.

And if you cut down on the carbs/fat, your poo won't be an issue.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't eat a lot of fat, but I will die (DIE) without the carbs. I am the Anti-Atkins!

[communista.livejournal.com]

Never, ever read the side effect labels!! ;) I did that with my patch, and instantly started "feeling" all the worst symptoms. You'll be able to evaluate for yourself if something goes wrong, and with the slightest concern, call your doc and ask, or a pharmacist. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

HA! You're right... for someone with mild anxiety issues, I should definitely stay right the heck away from all of those warning labels! (This is why I never take medication, dude!)

[estrange.livejournal.com]

So you're taking the metformin - good luck with that. Get ready for non-stop diarrhea and stomach aches for the first week or 2 - just make sure every time you eat there is a toliet near by! Anyway it may not effect you the same way it did me. It does get better but it takes a week to two weeks for your body to adjust. My pharamist told me that metformin is one of the highest prescribed drugs out there so a lot of people do take it. You could try it for a month and see how it goes. I have insulin resistance too. I think we were sisters seperated at birth - it seems we have all the same women issues.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I still need to comment back to your other long comment about when you took metformin last time, and all about your pregnancies and everything. I've been so swamped and out of my mind, and every comment that will take any kind of thought and effort has been left sitting - sorry!

I'm so glad I played Survivor LJ because I found you! I think we really are like kindred spirits separated by a big, huge country. :)

The PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) said that the report of diarrhea was 15% (compared to like 5% with placebo) - so I'm just going to hope I'm in the 85%! ;)

[estrange.livejournal.com]

Oh don't worry about replying - just get to it when you have time. Sometimes it takes me weeks! ;)

Really - 15%? Of course I'd have to be one of the lucky ones to fall into that! :/

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I bet it's more than that in reality.

[estrange.livejournal.com]

I was going to tell you about the non-drinking thing - my pharmacist made sure to tell me not to drink while taking it so you might want to research that. My bottles came with big ass warning about not drinking while taking it.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's because some alcohol has a lot of carbs, or if it's the dehydration?

[estrange.livejournal.com]

I really don't know? I thought the alcohol mixing with the drug could cause bad things to happen to your body but I don't know.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should ask Dr. keelamonster.

[emokideeyore.livejournal.com]

I take metformin daily. My stool was a bit looser the first week, but I didn't have anything more than loose unless I ate a lot of fatty foods, then I would get diarrhea, but it was nothing that taking Immodium didn't fix. Immodium is a beautiful thing. I didn't experience any dizziness unless I didn't eat more than an hour after taking it, and I still do that even after months of taking it. I drink with my meds. I just don't drink right after taking them. If I'm going to have drinks? I'll have my drink and wait a couple of hours before taking the pill, or I'll take it with a snack just before bed instead of at dinner. I had my booze during the Super Bowl. Didn't stop me at all.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much - this was so helpful! I'm glad to see that it's not a "do not ever drink ever" thing. You have just made my milennium!

(Wow, I sound like a total alky the way I'm getting so excited. Heh. I just don't like to be told "no" to things, I guess.)

Thanks so much!

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

I take my metformin at night, and the excretory side effects are minimal, if present at all. (This is vulgar, but if I take it in the a.m., I NEED TO GO urgently, and I have had to leave my classroom. When I take it at night, I sleep all night, no probs, and I go when I wake up, not so urgently.) And, the alcohol part is written on all drugs; mainly, if you drink on this stuff, you'll notice you'll get drunk, faster. The drug's effectivness on bloodsugar is altered temporarily (alcohol being a sugar and all), but for the moderate drinker, it's not a big deal, I was toldl. One, perhaps two drinks tops, and you shouldn't really notice. It regulates your metabolism, so you'll FEEL the effects of any alcohol more. I actually liked that side effect, I think it was what helped me realy find out that I can enjoy relaxation at one glass of wine, whereas before, I felt nothing until the 4th :) (stupid metabolism!)

I feel dizzy when I DON'T take the metformin regularly, or when I'm "lazy" about the time between doses.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm supposed to take it twice a day, so I don't think I will be able to avoid the "morning" bit. However, I might start getting up a little bit earlier (not too much, I hate getting up early!) and taking it a bit before work with a little bit of breakfast. Heck, it can't hurt to start eating breakfast like normal people! ;)

My big fear is that I'll get the crazy urge to GO GO GO when I'm at a client's house. Sometimes I go to the bathroom in client's homes and it's no big deal... but I try not to, and even then only when I feel like I'm going to pee my pants.

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

All bodies are different, but my "need to go" usually takes about 45 minutes... if I got up and ate breakfast, I wonder if it would come faster, or not at all?

I am really inspired by your journey, Jude. Thank you.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You're inspired by what journey? The journey where I'm insanely neurotic and have phobias about taking medications? The journey where I go into people's nasty homes and am afraid to use their bathrooms because they might never have been cleaned?

Oh, honey, find a better journey! ;)

p.s. Thanks for all your help.

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

:-P The journey of you working out a lot, and taking care of yourself. You spend your professional life caring for others. I am inspired by the fact that you care for you, too.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Don't get too inspired - I skipped the gym tonight. ;)

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

Given your anxiety and the less than fun effects of this med, do you thinka second opinion might be in order?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, I've already seen, gosh, five doctors about all of this reproductive mess in my life? At this point I'm starting to think I'm just an alien.

I suppose I could try to get a referral for a reproductive endocrinologist... but I saw one of those a few years back, too.

[jadefu.livejournal.com]

Is this a regular doc, or an endocrinologist that gave you this?

I take it, and the first month she eased me up to the full dose she wanted me on. The only side effects were the first couple weeks just my stomach adjusting. I didn't have rampant diarrhea, just things were a little looser than normal....especially if I had really bad-for-you fatty foods or junk foods. (Wow, encouragement to keep eating healthy??) My stomach would gurgle after eating quite often, kind of like a warning sign. :)

My Endo said easing into the dose helps your stomach adjust, rather than taking the full dosage from day 1.

As for the alcohol, I still drink sometimes. My psych meds say not to drink either. I've ask several doctors about it, and the response was it's ok to have a few drinks with a meal, just try to drink them slowly. But slamming back a six-pack in, like, 30 minutes, would be a big no-no.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It's a regular doc. And I'm a bit uneasy about it since it seemed like I knew more about the drug than she did. (I certainly knew more about the possible side effects and other things.)

You're the second person who's told me that they were told to ease into it. I think that's a good idea even though I wasn't told that.

[skreeky]

I'm taking two different drugs with which I'm not supposed to drink. Hahahahaha! But it's important to ask before you decide to drink anyway, WHY aren't you supposed to drink?

With my birth control, it supposedly increases your sensitivity/intoxication. I thought, "Yay!"... but they lie. It does no such thing for me.

With my antidepressant, it supposedly increases your sensitivity/intoxication AND alcohol increases the risk of seizures. I looked up what my chance of a seizure actually is. Rather tiny. So I thought "Yay!"... but again they lie. I still can't get a buzz on less than 4-5 drinks.

However, if the reason turns out to be a really dangerous dramatic increase in your chances of a certain side effect, or if it reduces the med's effectiveness, or something like that, I'd take the warning more seriously.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, from what I can tell from reading and reading, part of the problem is that some alcohol (like beer) contains a lot of carbohydrates and that can cause stomach problems, since part of what the med does is prevent your body from digesting some of the carbs. The other thing is that one of the really rare and severe side effects is lactic acidosis, and dehydration can exacerbate that possibility. (But I guess you'd have to drink quite a bit to get dehydrated, and I really try to avoid that amount of booze.)

[keelamonster.livejournal.com]

Just chiming in as someone who writes the metformin, you have a lot of options. ANd there have been a lot of good suggestions here.

Start with a pill a night and work your way up over a week or two. You've been walking around insulin resistant for probably 7 or 8 years, one or two more weeks won't kill you now. If a whole pill causes problems, break it in half. Take half a pill every night until you're fine (usually 3 or 4 days), then 1 pill a night, then 1 pill twice a day.

Find out if your insurance covers glucophage XR, and that's only once a day.

The lactic acidosis is actually fairly rare. I've had hundreds of patients on metformin over the past 7 years and I've never seen a case of it. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, of course, but it's not like it happens all the time.

Drinking is fine in moderation. Just like everything: a little bread is fine, eating the whole loaf isn't so good. A glass of wine with dinner isn't a problem, a bottle for breakfast means you should call AA.

Keep exercising and eating right and you just might be able to come off of the metformin altogether, too.
Keep going, girl, you can do it!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I always love it when Dr. Keely chimes in with the advice. After talking to some other people (and hearing it from you) I'm definitely going to ease into it and go from there.

Thanks for making me feel better about things. I really do appreciate your input, especially since you seem to know more than my doctor (or at least have more time after work hours to explain it).

p.s. My insurance covers Glucophage XR but it's waaaaay more expensive.

[keelamonster.livejournal.com]

yeah, it sucks when the medicine you want is on the 3rd tier and costs a bazillion dollars more than the generic.

Like you said, though, just ease into it and you should do fine.

You're one of my favorite patients, because you actually listen. Or at least you act like you do.

Hee.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

(I'd listen more if the medical advice came with, you know, smooches. I hear they're very medicinal.)

[cranapril.livejournal.com]

Actually, all these warning labels remind me of when I had pleurisy last month. You know how some meds have stickers that say Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery... Mike Make You Dizzy... and stuff like that? Well, this one said:

Do Not Drive For At Least Six Hours After Consuming

Which I thought was just a joke... Boy, was I wrong! This medication rendered me completely useless. I couldn't even get off the sofa.

Most of the time, I just ignore the warning labels... like the ones on a cup of coffee from McDonald's: Contents HOT. Well, Duh!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes they really do go a little overkill on the warning labels. Once I got some antibiotics with like 6 stickers on it. I was like, "Woah! This is an antibiotic! Isn't it supposed to make me /better/?" (Come to find out I had no side effects, not even a yeast infection.)

I guess I just have to see what happens.