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Re: PCO Maintenance with Metformin/GlucophageFrom: Avalos (anonymous@obgyn.net)Tue, 23 May 2000 08:43:25 -0500
Start JUMPING on your PCP... I started running into the same obstacles when I first began to push the envelope with my doctors... Both my OB-Gyn and my PCP suggested to me that the only reason that I was pushing for them to prescribe Met to me was to lose weight! I was furious with them! On top of that, my PCP was trying to get me to take Meridia and Xenical to lose weight.... I had had enough of them! I wrote a very clear letter of complaint/frustration to my HMO, and I copied, referenced and attached ten different articles/studies/pages from Dr. Glueck's website, PCOSA website..... In the meantime, I kept going back to my OB-Gyn asking for more tests. About a month after I sent the letter to the HMO, out of the blue, my OB-Gyn diagnosed me and referred me to an RE. No mention of weight-loss, just a nice referral (she had been resisting up until then). My husband and I went together, and this doctor that we had never seen before knew ALL about me, my entire medical history... EVERYTHING. It was kind of spooky, because we could tell that he had spent lots of time looking at my file. At the beginning of the appointment, he was clearly against prescribing Metformin, but instead of proposing alternatives, he just kept talking with us, and one by one, he brought up the articles and information that I had attached to my letter to the HMO... he had a copy of it on his desk! He told us very clearly that it was not his practice to prescribe Metformin to women who were not trying to conceive, but he acknowledged that there was nothing to prevent him from doing this, either, and that studies are increasingly demonstrating that Met is a medication that addresses what is perceived to be as the cause of PCOS, Insulin Resistance... He warned me that it would make me sick (painted a worse picture than what it was for me), and with that, he capitulated and prescribed it to me. Bottom line: Metformin can be and is prescribed to women with PCOS, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE TRYING TO CONCEIVE! The problem, as usual, is that sooooooooo many doctors out there are just not informed, not interested, and not motivated to learn more. I am really impressed when a doctor says that he or she will research an issue if they are not fully informed on that issue... I am AMAZED when one actually follows through and fulfills that promise! (I am "pushy".... I always go armed to the teeth with information, copied, hilighted, organized... just to make their work easier for them! hee hee hee! ). I've found that it helps to be persistent (yes, it is exhausting and frustrating at times, but eventually you get what you are after if you just keep trying... stubborn? mmmm-hmmmmm). So with all that said and done, if your Primary Care Physician continues to be an idiot and to give you substandard evaluations and treatment, then JUMP up and down REALLY HARD for him to refer you to an RE... and start communicating your frustrations and issues to his superiors in the Medical Corps command. I wish you all the best of luck, God bless you! Clara -----Original Message----- From: anonymous@obgyn.net [mailto:anonymous@obgyn.net Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 5:37 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PCOS-MEDICATION Subject: PCO Maintenance with Metformin/Glucophage Do doctors prescribe Metformin for PCO maintenance for women who are not trying to conceive? I went to my Primary Physician with questions about how to treat PCO for the long term (not just with progesterone like drugs to induce a period) I was referred to a gyn who told me that metformin was only for those trying to get pregnant. I stressed the recent research about long term effects of insulin on overall heath and weight. He said he would research this himself. To make a long story short, he took my question as a request for a "magic bullet" for weight loss and researched only the weight loss portion of the studies. (by his attitude, he really didn't want to take the time researching for a patient who claimed to know more than he did!) He said Metformin wasn't for me, but told me ask again in a couple years. (He also incorrectly reassured me that at age 32, I was too young to worry about ovarian or unterine cancers.) As a Military Dependant overseas, I am extremely limited on my options for a second opinion. I am grateful I found this forum. If doctors in the states are prescribing Metformin for long term PCO treatment, (not just infertility), then I will jump up and down with my Primary Physician to be referred to an endocrinologist.
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