How do you know you need Met?

ftgrfr

Hi, I am brand new here, but not new to PCOS. I was diagnosed in my mid 20's while trying to conceive. I was prescribed metformin, and it worked quite well as I was pregnant first cycle with both of my children.

Fast forward almost 8 years. I am slowly gaining weight, although I am not overweight (yet). I feel like crap. I have acne on my body (not much on face). I crave carbs (sugar and breads) like crazy. I am back on metformin for PCOS managment, not for fertility. I have been on 1500 mg/day for one year, and have not lost any weight. My acne maybe cleared up, but not a lot.

My question is, how do I know for sure that I need met? How does my doctor know? My sister is diabetic (type I) so I have used her glucometer a few times (while not on met) and my blood sugars are NEVER high. Does this mean anything in terms of needing the medication? I am always worried that my blood sugar will drop too much from the meds, and sometimes I eat something "just to make sure" which I am sure doesn't help the weight loss.

I know these are questions I should ask my doctor, but sometimes it is nice to read other people's experiences!

Thanks so much.

Journeywithyou

I just had an appointment with my PCOS doctor. Was my first visit with her and this is one of the medications we discussed putting me on. But before she does I have to take a 2hr Glucose Tolerance test. After we get those results back we are going to revisit if Met is a good fit for me. I was blindly put on Met when I first rec'vd my PCOS DX in my early 30's. That is when I got preg with my son. I never went back on after that.

Alliwan

Met is used if you have Insulin Resistance, which many PCOS women have, but not all with PCOS will. You need a FASTING INSULIN LEVEL test, NOT a glucose test. Most of us with IR have normal glucose but the insulin is high. You and your doctor will not know if you need it unless you get the fasting insulin test.

Many doctors will rx Met for pcos just like they rx bcp for pcos with no idea why or how it works. If you dont have IR, chances are you dont need Met and it will not help the PCOS. Met can also stop working after awhile for some people.

ftgrfr

Aha! Thank you. I felt like I was missing something, and just blindly put on met. I will ask about this!

KnitOrMiss

And just to let you know, @ftgrfr‌ , my tests did not show me to be out of range for having IR, I still have nearly all the symptoms, so my doctor wanted me to try it. It worked wonders. However, honestly, I'm what, about 9 months down the road, and have decided to try getting off of it for a few reasons....I'm trying inositol in place of it, but I'm still adjusting, and some of the worse symptoms/main reasons I started taking it have returned... I have an appointment with my doctor again in April, so I'm going to give it until then unless my symptoms explode on me again to see if I can do without it. If not, I'll get back on it, but I'll have to massively alter my eating in the first half of my day, which gets complicated. Just to let you know that if you have most of the symptoms, even if your range is in the normal, it may be out of range for you personally. Doctors are not infallible...