Re: All those taking Metformin .........
From: anonymous@obgyn.net
Wed, 28 Nov 2001 08:43:19 -0600 (CST)
Hi Tracy,
Good luck with the Met. Just remember you may not have gastric symptoms
taking it. SO wait and see. I have severe gastritis and take prevacid
daily and really have problems if I stop it, or even with it if I eat
the 'wrong' foods. But I have no side effects from met - not even a
vague sign.
That said, I don't know if the met helps me yet or not (Been doing it
for about 4 months now). Perhaps because I am also taking Diane 35 so
can't tell if I would be 'fertile' or not - and that also theoretically
affects the crazy forest. What a good way to describe it! LOL! Though I
haven't seen any affect on the hair except that the chin hair is growing
slower. Am losing weight - but that could be the thyroid meds, or also
the relatively strict low carbing.
Best wishes and good luck
Sally
. At Wed, 28 Nov 2001, Melanie wrote:
>
>Hi Tracy
>Has your doc done regualr day 21 and 28 bolld test to confirm that you
>are ovulating/ Its just that my cycle seemed relitively regualar and my
>doc decided to do some blood tests o check i was ovulating only to find
>that all 5 months that i had blood tests for i did not ovulate once even
>though my cycle seemed regular, hence me now being on met, plus he feels
>that as i was so down about weight that it would help me menatally as
>well as physically. And it has, i suffer from IBS symptoms, so he
>perscribed an antacid twics a day and to be honest the gastro problems
>are a mall price to pay for the weight loss and feeling of finally being
>in controll of my boday and destiny. I ahve found that mt tummy and
>bikini forest seems to be thinning slightly as well. It can also help
>imporve fertility, so you have a strong pro met case.
>
>Good luck and take care
>
>Mel
>
>At Tue, 27 Nov 2001, TJ wrote:
>>
>>Hi Jodi,
>>
>>Your numbers are an exact match to mine, exept I got an extra 34 lb on
>>ya! Did you experience weight loss with Met? See, I guess since my case
>>is "mild" my Endo didn't want to give me the Met. I get my period every
>>35-42 days, no visible facial hair but hair on my tum and on my boob,
>>and I have an insane bikini "line" (hahhaha.. that just cracks me up..
>>more like bikini "forest"). The oily skin I could definitely do
>>without, but I'll live with it for now. I DO however have colitis that
>>is kind of flaring up these days. She didn't really want to give it to
>>me because of the possible gastro effects; she thought the possibility
>>of bad gastro results with the Met at this point would probably outweigh
>>the benefit of the Met. She said most women take Met with the goal of
>>regulating their periods and inducing ovulation and that since I'm
>>"getting my period basically every month I AM ovulating." She doesn't
>>think I'm going to lose much weight, if any, with it. I already know
>>it's not really going to do anything for the hair/skin issues. Since I
>>hope to try to get pregnant in the next year, Spiro is out. So, we
>>talked about it and she felt that exercise and a healthy diet would give
>>me much more benefit than these pills, but I told her I really wanted to
>>at least try it so she gave me a bunch of samples. And now I can't even
>>start to try them until after 12/11 because I have an Endoscopy that
>>day.. grrrr.. So anyway..... I guess I'm just looking to hear some
>>good news from someone who may be sort of similar to me so I will know
>>that the probable and unbearable diarrhea will be worth it...
>>
>>Thanks so much,
>>Tracy
>>
>>At Tue, 27 Nov 2001, jodi wrote:
>>>
>>>Samuel Thatcher says, with regard to fasting insulin levels, that
>>>"usually levels over 20 are associated with insulin resistance and
>>>levels under 10 are normal. We use 14 uU/ml as a cut off point of
>>>normal." He also says that a fasting glucose to insulin ration that is
>>>less than 4.5 is suggestive of insulin resistance. I guess maybe
>>>"associated with" and "suggestive" are the key words... he doesn't say
>>>for SURE you can tell... :-)
>>>
>>>I personally only had a fasting sugar/insulin ration drawn... never did
>>>the tolerance test. My insulin was 19, my glucose was 82... my doctor
>>>gave me met without any further testing. At that time, I was 160 and
>>>5'4, so not enormously overweight...
>>>
>>>They have found met to work in women with PCOS who didn't test as IR...
>>>and they have found met to work in women who are thin... I think it
>>>might depend as much on how with it your doctor is. I've seen some
>>>pretty out of it doctors in my time... i.e., the gynocologist who told
>>>me I couldn't possibly have PCOS because I wasn't severely obsese... ha
>>>ha ha...
>>>
>>>- jodi
>>>
>>>At Tue, 27 Nov 2001, Sonnet wrote:
>>>>
>>>>A fasting glucose test won't tell you whether or not you are IR, though.
>>>>It will only tell you whether or not you're diabetic. (I had this
>>>>trouble with my doctors in Australia, btw - every time I mentioned the
>>>>IR thing to them they would promptly check my blood sugar, see that it
>>>>was fine or slightly low, and dismiss me entirely!)
>>>>
>>>>I think though that you may have something with the overweight
>>>>connection. Even though we know Met is good for treating PCOS whether
>>>>or not you show up as IR or ar overweight or slender, I think us big
>>>>girls get the prescriptions for it more often. Maybe they look at us
>>>>and assume that there MUST be something metabolic going on in there, or
>>>>our case is worse, or something? DOctors are frustrating!!
>>>>
>>>>At Tue, 27 Nov 2001, UK wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>Just a quick question ....
>>>>>
>>>>>Did you have a fasting glucose test before being prescribed Metformin to
>>>>>check if you are Insulin Resistant ?
>>>>>
>>>>>Some doctors are saying that Met only works if you are IR, yet they
>>>>>prescribed it for me without testing if I was IR.
>>>>>
>>>>>Also, do you think that weight makes a difference as to whether Met is
>>>>>prescribed ?
>>>>>I wonder if the more overweight you are, the more likely they are to let
>>>>>you try Met.
>>>>>
>>>>>Would be interested to hear peoples opinions.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks
>>>>>Gem
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>Sonnet Fitzgerald, PCOS Association, Online Community Liaison. Email: sonnet@pcosupport.org
>>>>
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