Anything else but Metformin/Glucophage?
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Anything else but Metformin/Glucophage?
| Tue, 10-02-2007 - 11:10am |
I am a diet controlled diabetic. I do very well keeping my numbers in a very good range. I eat semi-well (I could eat better) and get daily exercise.
My question is - is there something out there that is better than Metformin or Glucophage? My doctor has tried me on metformin but I can not handle the constant attacks of diarrea and cramping. I did lose weight while attempting to take it but I think it was just from the dehydration!!!
Has anyone else has this problem and does anyone know anything different I could try. I have to add that I also have Hashimoto's disease (auto-immune thyroid disease) Thanks in advance.





Hi Celeste,
Welcome to the board. I was also going to suggest Januvia which is oral or byetta which is injectible. I take Januvia because I am on four injections a day already and I didn't want to add anymore. I have been on it about 3 months and I have lost 4 pounds and been able to reduce the amount of insulin that I am on. It supposedly doesn't have much in the way of side effects and certainly didn't for me have anywhere near as much nausea as metformin. It is one of the hormones that we lose when we become diabetic. So you might ask your doctor about it.
There are others on the board who take byetta and I have seen some ads on the TV for it. Some doctors think it is a wonder drug for diabetics and should be added to our water supply! I am not kidding about this. So with your doctor you might consider this drug instead of the januvia.
Please let me know what you think.
Hi,
The same thing happened to me with Metformin. I had constant IBS symptoms for 1.5 years until I convinced my doc to let me try Byetta. If you are wanting to lose some weight and get really excellent control of your numbers then I highly recommend it. You still have to eat right and exercise, but Byetta has the added bonus of suppressing appetite, so most everyone loses weight.
It does take a bit of getting used to for some. I had nausea that went away on the 5 mcg pen but could never get my numbers to stay high enough to keep from bottoming out on the 10 mcgs. It turns out that some of us (like me) don't need as much control and since my numbers never have been very high I am able to get by on just the Byetta 5 mcgs. I don't have to take any other diabetic meds and My A1C is in the non-diabetic range.
I controlled mine with diet and exercise for at least 10 years before I was diagnosed with diabetes.
If you don't like the idea of a pen injection (it's just tiny little pen needle) and you don't need to lose weight then Januvia might be a good drug to try.
Visit the PMDD Group at: Http://groups.ivillage.com/pmdd
HI Celeste,
I
Castaway
A Friend in Recovery
Paul
Thank you all so much for your valuable and experienced input!!!
Celeste,
The injectible is Byetta and the oral is Januvia. You can google them and find out more as at least Byetta has a website, but I am not sure about Januvia.
Please let us know what your doctor has to say and recommends.
Good Luck!
I had problems with diarrhea in Metformin too. I switched to extended release Metformin and the problem disappeared. This is available at Walmart for $4 for 60 pills.
Kathy Shuller
thank you all for your input.