lactic acidosis and metformin

Heather_MXP

I'm a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic. I'm on metformin and I recently learned that it has been linked to lactic acidosis. My mom, a nurse of 36 years, told me that I should only exercise moderately to be certain I don't put myself at risk of developing it. Any others here on metformin? How hard/frequently do you work out? Have you received any warning from your physicians?

lucan07

I was on metformin, I had steroid induced type 2 and never had a problem, overtraining is going to take far more training than you would be likely to do athletes are in danger not people trying to lose a couple of pounds per week. And on the upside the diet and exercise has reversed my type 2 diagnosis I was so bad I needed to take additional medications to control the diabetes and my eyesight began to fail. I would talk to the pharmacist or doctor regarding this mum seems to be acting like a mom being too overprotective!

Heather_MXP

I agree with you, lucan. My mom is on the conservative / protective side. After the phone call with my mom I looked online for information about the connection between the two and it seems really rare and only an issue for people with cardiac or renal problems. But, I love to wear myself out in the pool... really kick my butt until I can barely climb out of the water at the end. I don't know if that qualifies as over-training or not. Probably not, given that I'm not very fit. I got REALLY sick at the end of August and I've been barely functional until the last week. I'm trying to get back into a routine without killing myself. I guess I can ease myself into it. Up my work out little by little while I gauge how I tolerate it.

lucan07

I have been doing between 1 and 3 hours hard cardio daily on occasions and thats not enough to give me any reason to worry, I am also recovering Bowel cancer, 3 Major surgeries, Ulcerative colitis. But I got fed up with the meds that were doing me more harm than good (Steroids, Mercaptopurine, Tramadol, Tizanidine etc etc) and persuaded the consultant that I was gonna try something different. I am down 88 lbs since 31 Jan 2013, losing 3 lbs a week for last two months since started logging and ten times as fit and alert improving all the time.

You would need to be quite fit before you would be able to get close to that type of overtraining!

sumeetg37

I'm on metformin, I walk 30-60 min a day, 2 days a week I try to do at least 30 min of more intense cardio, and I lift 3 days a week... So far no problems. I don't think you really need to worry too much especially since exercise is incredibly important for diabetics... maybe hold off on the marathongs though

adiggs2777

I'm on Metformin. I do about 45 minutes between the elliptical and the bike at the gym 4 days a week. The only side effect is that my blood pressure is fab, my cholesterol is normal and through diet combined with exercise my HA1C is at 6.1, down from a 9.

Heather_MXP

I'm on Metformin. I do about 45 minutes between the elliptical and the bike at the gym 4 days a week. The only side effect is that my blood pressure is fab, my cholesterol is normal and through diet combined with exercise my HA1C is at 6.1, down from a 9.

Horrible, horrible side effects, adiggs.

Heather_MXP

Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I'll back off the lactic acidosis scare.

cats847

Hi, I have no personal experience with metformin, but I did a research project on metformin-associated lactic acidosis for my nursing degree.

After reviewing a voluminous amount of peer-reviewed studies on the subject, I could not see any true link between metformin and lactic acidosis. The association goes back to another drug that was a pre-cursor to metformin, and I can understand why your mom would hold that viewpoint. However, according to the latest research (as of 2013), I would say you are pretty safe.