side effects

[bbenvin1]

new to this- I'm on metformin for insulin resistence and armour for slow thyroid. I felt fine on armour alone, but after 1 month of metformin, I have gas, diarhea, and mostly joint stiffness. anyone else have this?

[MarcS]

YES. I have been on Metformin for a few months now. 1000mg with breakfast, and 1000mg at Dinner (and Insulin also). In the beginning it was horrible. I had to reduce it to 500 each time -- with doctors okay. I slowly increased my dosage over the period of two months (cut the pill in half), and eventually was a bit more tolerant. If I ever miss an evening dosage, I pay for it the next day (symptoms return like you described).

[bbenvin1]

thanks, Marc. I'm on 5oomg twice a day- yesterdy, I could hardly walk or get out of A CHAIR. i backed off but took one dose tonight. If I stay with it is there any chance this crippling effect will diminsh?

[Handybear]

Make sure you are taking it with food! Also I find that I have the best results if I have a little food in my stomach before I take it. I will eat some of my meal, and then take the metformin.
The side effect will eventually subside. I have no effects from it now. Good luck.

[MarcS]

Yeah it gets better, like Handybear said. Must be taken with meals. I don't have any ill affects either any longer and I am now up to 1000mg twice a day (yes they look like horse pills). Talk to your doctor, I am sure rather than making you feel ill he would rather see you slowly adjust to it? I didn't have any problem with 500mg twice a day and I also took other meds too (Vytorin, Lisinopril, and a baby asprin) in the morning. Hope it gets better for you.

[Kim_in_TN]

The stomach upset is normal and generally subsides. ALWAYS take it with food! The joint stiffness concerns me though, I would check with your doctor on that part. I've not known of Metformin causing that!

[Lulika]

I felt awful on metformin for the first week and was tempted to stop but after a week, it gradually became tolerable and now I have no side effects at all. My doctor said it can have side effects on people, some get the stomach problems, but I was just totally spaced out!
In any case I hope you get used to the meds and feel better soon :)

[Jill-O]

I had been on Metformin for over a year and doing fine but just recently had to get off it due to it starting to cause bad diarrhea (5wks before I figured out "what" was causing it!) :(

[bbenvin1]

Well, you all give me hope- I really need to take the meds so I will tough it out. The joint stiffness doesn't show up anywhere as a side effect- and this happened before so I will watch it and keep in touch with the doc. Thanaks everyone- have a good day!

[davef]

I have had a few "Metformin Moments", cramps, wind that a wind farm couldn't handle and then the world falling out of my bottom;). As the others have said, make sure to take it with food, for me that means after eating and not while eating. I have found that I'm more likely to have the "moments" if I don't eat, eat too much or have greasey foods.

It generally does get better. I would agree with Kim about the joint pain, talk to your Doctor about that.

[Scrabblechick]

Yeah, I had all the gastric side effects, too, but they did subside, and now I'll have the occasional bout of diarrhea or gas, but it's all much better. I take 500 mg 3x/day.

As stated above, make sure you take it with meals. It DOES get better.

[rmichaud]

new to this- I'm on metformin for insulin resistence and armour for slow thyroid. I felt fine on armour alone, but after 1 month of metformin, I have gas, diarhea, and mostly joint stiffness. anyone else have this?
I'm on Glucophage XR now as I couldn't take regular Metforimn for this reason. I couldn't even take the generic version of XR, Metformin XR. I know all the generics are supposed to be the same as the name brand(glucophage), but don't believe it. I had some generic brands that were better for me than others and some I couldn't take at all. They all affected my blood sugar differently also. I also agree with the others on taking it after a meal. I also find that if I have a meal heavy in carbs I have gas and diarrhea issues and BEER is the worst.

[kgm0612]

I'm a type 1 pumper taking 500-mg twice a day. Five years ago when I started on Metformin, I had some stomach problems but they subsided after a month or so.

Although many say to take it with food, I honestly find it is less harsh if taken on an empty stomach. I take my morning dose at 7:20 before leaving for work and eat breakfast at my desk by 8:15. I take my evening dose about 10-15 minutes before dinner.

Karen