Metformin Side Effects

If you have just recently discovered that you have type 2 diabetes, then chances are you are starting to look at different treatments. There are a variety of treatments you can choose that depend on your needs and severity of your diabetes. Before you even think about long-term treatments you need to learn a few basic skills that all diabetes patients will need to know at some time to carefully monitor their diabetes. It’s especially important for younger children to start learning how to care for their diabetes, even if you have to help them with some of the skills, since there may come a time when they may have to check their blood sugar levels or blood glucose levels on their own.

•           How to recognize high and low blood sugar levels
•           How to handle sickness and other disease
•           How to plan your diet and exercise routine
•           How to test your blood sugar levels

The doctor is going to most likely going to require you start working on a diet plan and making a habit of regular exercise. This is because exercise lowers insulin levels even if you are not losing weight. A healthy diet obviously offers nutrients to enter the body and helps shed extra belly fat.

You will most likely be required to take some sort of medication. Most diabetes medications come in pill form or must be taken directly with an injection. If you are having trouble creating insulin, then a Sulfonylurea will most likely be prescribed. Sulfonylurea medications glimepride, glyburide and tolazamide tell the pancreas to create more insulin. They are often taken in the form of small tablets.

The most common medication for diabetes is metformin. Metformin is mostly used to treat overweight or obese diabetic individuals due to its aid in weight loss. Metformin is a biguanide that tells the liver slow down the creation of glucose and removes glucose from the bloodstream by increasing the amount of glucose absorbed by the liver and fat cells. This lowers the blood sugar levels in the body.

While a large number of people taking metformin do not experience any side effects, they do occur. Most of the time they are very minor and do not last long. The main side effects are cramps, nausea, vomiting, and an upset stomach. In very rare instances metformin use can lead to lactic acidosis. However, research has led scientists to believe that a complication like liver or kidney failure leads to lactic acidosis, not metformin itself.

Metformin is extremely easy to take. Most patients receive 500mg tablets to take with a glass of water. However, you can get 850mg and 1000mg tablets if prescribed. Different formulations provide either a fast release or slow release of the drug into the body. Essentially, the slow release tablets are to ease the body into the drug and hopefully minimizing the side effects that someone may experience.

Metformin is currently the top selling diabetes treatment in the world. Over 48 million prescriptions were written in 2010. While this is not good, because the growing number of diabetes cases is alarming, metformin provides the absolute best chance at someone living a normal life. If you are a diabetes patient, talk to your doctor about possibly using metformin. Don’t let your diabetes take control of your life, act before it is too late.