Re: Metformin and hypoglycemia
From: anonymous@obgyn.net
Wed, 5 Mar 2003 19:47:35 -0600 (CST)
At Tue, 4 Mar 2003, =?iso-8859-2?q?Zalányi wrote:
>Hi Sam,
Thanks for the response. I think I am going to ask for a glucose
tolerance test. My current Metformin doseage is 2000 mg daily - 1000 in
AM and 1000 in PM. I had started back in '99 on 500 and it had to
continually be 'upped' until my insulin levels reduced, which wound up
being at 2000 mg. They were fine for almost 3 years and now this. I
really, really suspect that they are not in the normal range any longer.
Anyway - thanks for the input and for listening. I am waiting for my
blood work drawn last Friday to come back this week....maybe there will
be an answer there.
>Hi,
>
>I would suggest a glucose tolerance test, possibly with insulin levels. Also, why don't you reduce metformin to 500 mg.
>
>Sam
>
>> I have been on Metformin for 3 years - and until recently, it has been a
>> Godsend for me. Luckily, I'm not trying to get pregnant - conceived
>> twins after 2+ years of fertility treatments over 9 years ago. The
>> Metformin helped dramatically with the side effects like weight gain and
>> also brought my testos. levels back in check. However, I've started to
>> gain weight for no really good reason and am constantly tired - plus
>> I've started having episodes of what my doctor thinks are hypoglycemic
>> reactions. I get very shaky, nauseaous, sweaty, confused and drowsy
>> until I get some type of sugar in me then I start to feel better. This
>> has happened about 6 times over recent months, most recently last week.
>> I took my morning dose of Metformin (1000 mg) in the morning as usual
>> and within 1 hour felt horrible - a bad episode this time.
>>
>> I drank some apple juice and ate a muffin - but it took almost an hour
>> before I started feeling 90% - and then the weakness and drowsiness just
>> wouldn't go away entirely. Has anyone who has been on Metformin for
>> awhile experienced hypoglycemic reactions? Has anyone with PCOS ever
>> been diagosed with an Insulinoma - a cancer of the islet cell(s) of the
>> Pancreas? My glucose has always been normal when checked (has not been
>> checked during a hypoglycemic 'attack' yet) but my insulin has always
>> been elevated prior to Metformin - my doctor is running a battery of
>> tests from my episode last week to determine what may be going on, but
>> in the meantime I'm truly scared that perhaps I have developed Type II
>> diabetes or an Insulinoma (that while rare, seems to be exactly the
>> symptoms I have been experiencing). HELP!
>>
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