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How long before medication reduction?

lokihen
lokihen Posts: 382 Member
edited November 23 in Social Groups
For those who've been at this successfully and improved their health, how long did it take before you were able to reduce your medications? Being able to cut my metformin dosage or stop taking blood pressure pills would feel like a major win to me.

Replies

  • zcb94
    zcb94 Posts: 3,678 Member
    After what felt like eons, I am a recent prediabetic who has stopped using Metformin, and never needed insulin since the last time I was forced to take strong shots before and after every single meal or snack due to hospitalization.
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
    About a year.
  • KenSmith108
    KenSmith108 Posts: 1,967 Member
    My insulin use dropped quickly. The Glimepiride slowly but steadily. The others haven't been changed.
    It seems I may be stuck taking insulin, depends on what damage I've already done to myself.
  • stephenrhinton
    stephenrhinton Posts: 522 Member
    I'm a recent diagnosis ...I was on Metformin and then off again in a 6 month period, but that is unusually fast.

    My A1C was 11 at diagnosis, and they put me on 1000mg/day of Metformin and Ramipril
    At my 3 month checkup my A1C was 5.4 and they cut my Metformin to 500mg/day
    At 6months my A1C was 5.0 and they cut out my Metformin
    If all goes well my Doc says I can come of the Ramipril at my 9 month visit (Daily BGL numbers have stayed low since coming off metformin)

    I also made pretty radical lifestyle changes on getting my diagnosis. At around 200 days in I am down 119lbs, and I swim a little over a mile/day. I'm keeping my daily carb intake to 80-100mg/day.
  • Brin1956
    Brin1956 Posts: 168 Member
    Most people see a reduction after as little as a 20 lb. loss. I seem to need to adjust after about 30 lbs.. Really it depends on your starting weight and the amount of exercise you are getting.
  • winnie141
    winnie141 Posts: 211 Member
    I have dropped 30+ pounds and have yet to see a reduction in my metformin. I go for my a1c in about a week so I guess I will see then.
  • kevin75626
    kevin75626 Posts: 10 Member
    When dr reduced meds, was it due to episodes of low BS? Or dr was happy with your progress and A1C update? Just curious. I have been tracking and exercising for about a month and I'm down 9 lbs but I have had a few episodes of low BS.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,994 Member
    I was diagnosed in 2012 with an hba1c of 10+. After losing 10% of my bodyweight I was given the green light to experiment with reducing metformin because of improved hba1c. A year later I was 20% down from my highest weight and only taken a single 500mg tablet every other day. At this time I was told to stop altogether. My last 3 hba1c's have been 5.0, 5.0 and 4.7 without medication.

    I am happy to say that getting off the meds is do-able.
  • snha
    snha Posts: 388 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    I was diagnosed in 2012 with an hba1c of 10+. After losing 10% of my bodyweight I was given the green light to experiment with reducing metformin because of improved hba1c. A year later I was 20% down from my highest weight and only taken a single 500mg tablet every other day. At this time I was told to stop altogether. My last 3 hba1c's have been 5.0, 5.0 and 4.7 without medication.

    I am happy to say that getting off the meds is do-able.

    Thanks for letting us know. This is awesome! I can't wait to reach that point--I have a double incentive, I probably would not need my cpap either!
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