[Rad Warrier]

Either my sense of smell is weak or the metformin we get here in Canada is almost odourless. Here, the metformin is lily white, perfectly circular, and easy to cut into two halves each of 250 mg at the central dividing line. When I used to live in the US, in eastern Massachusetts, the tablets used to be slightly yellowish, a little oblong and because of the absence of a central dividing line, not that easy to cut into two perfect halves.

Regards,
Rad

[Debbie Sue]

My Met smells too, but to me it smells like dirty socks. My daughter said it smelled like old s*x to her. I was shocked and asked her how she knew what old s*x smelled like. She definitely had to clam up after that. Got her good!

[davef]

Well I had to go sniff my Metformin, I take Glucophage and as far as I can discern it is odourless.

I just waiting for the post where somebody inhales too deeply trying to smell the tablet and ends up with one lodged in their nose!

[kgm0612]

Ive been on Metformin for 5.5 years and never got that "fishy" smell until several months ago when my pharmacy switched manufacturers.

I picked up my refill and when I got home I noticed the pills were round. I opened the bottle and OMG......smelt like fish food! I took them for a few days and then mentioned to my pharmacist that I did NOT like them at all. He informed me that they had switched manufacturers and he had gotten many complaints. He ordered the original ones I had been taking and took back the others.

The pills I take are oval in shape, white, has MET on one side and APO500 on the other. I immediately check the bottle before leaving the counter at the pharmacy.

Karen

[Cassini]

I have noticed the smell from the beginning, mine are fruity smelling.. they have blackberry flavouring added:

quote from Body and Health, Canada.com

These are Gen-Metformin tablets (generic)

500 mg
Each white, round, biconvex, film-coated tablet, with blackberry scent, marked "MF" scoreline "1" on one side and "G" on the other, contains metformin HCl BP 500 mg. Nonmedicinal ingredients: blackberry flavour, macrogol, magnesium stearate, povidone, talc and titanium dioxide.

[Betsey]

I can't stand the smell of my metformin. I hold my breath when I open the bottle to take one out.

[Caravaggio]

What brand is the smelly metformin? I used to take glucophage but I don't remember any smell.

[Isometric]

I don't notice it all the time...but then I try to avoid inhaling when I open the bottle those two times a day. I especially avoid trying to taste it, so I'm no help there, but I do agree with the folks who've mentioned their insulin smelling like bandaids - I've caught that scent a few times before

[walleyedave]

They smell that way because they have cod liver oil added to them so that people that are visually challanged can easily identify them, i have been told . I much prefer the blackberry scented ones to the cod liver oil ones.

[johno02]

I have noticed the bad odor also, and it seems to depend on the brand, I am currently taking tavlets from APOTEX, and they have very little or no odor. Walmart Mail services has changed mine several times, some of the others were really bad.

Talk about odors, start taking cinnamon capsules!! Take one of them, and belch cinnamon all day!!

[HuskerMychal]

I have heard some manufactorers use fish oil as a binder in metformin

[dlstanf2]

Hi! New poster here.

I've been taking metformin for years and have never noticed the smell. However, I've gone from caplets to round(aspirin like) and now I smell the medicine, both in my bottle and my urine. Was going to call my pharmacist about pills going bad, but the forum answered my questions.