[shankar_m]

Glycomet - safe during pregnancy?

Hi All,

My wife is 28 years old and has type diabetes for the past 1.5 years. She has family history of diabetes. Her glucose and hemoglobin A1c are under control. We are planing for a baby and consulted an endocrinologist about it. He has recommended that she take tablet Glycomet 250 mg (one tablet each day).
He indicated that she continue taking Glycomet until she conceives and it does not affect the fetus even if she has conceived and takes the tablet for a few days and then shift to insulin once it is confirmed that she has conceived.

I have complete faith in his suggestion, but I just want to 100% sure about this, so please suggest if we are on the right track?

[fgummett]

Good question shankar_m... Glycomet (generic name Metformin) is one of the most widely and longest-used oral medications for Diabetes. That doesn't guarantee it's safety of course but does mean that there is a wealth of experience of people using it and Doctors who have prescribed it.

I believe that the most frequent side-effects are gastro-intestinal... some folks call it "Metfartin".

I just did a quick web search and found no obvious concerns for Metformin connected to early pregnancy.

Insulin during the pregnancy makes sense as it has even fewer side-effects... basically it is just replaces or enhances a naturally occurring hormone.