Absolutely, the manufacturer can be different. Even at Costco, you should be able to request the information. @RalfLott has some experience with knowing the different products in the "inactive ingredients" section. The manufacturer "should" be on your label, but if it's not, you can call and request the info, as well as from your old pharmacy. If Costco can't order the one you've been using, might be worth seeing if the old pharmacy can do mail order for you or something.

EDITED TO ADD: For me, it's often dyes or sweeteners that do that to me. The bulking agent is another possible red flag.

FWIW, my metformin is made by Zydus.

For reference, if anyone cares, my brand named Glucophage is manufactured by BMS. Dose is XR 500 mg.

@RalfLott - have you had any success in going through the different generic formularies yet?

I was just curious. I'm still waiting with bated breath to see if the exception request my doc sent through will be viable for my next refill...

Well, I'm with BCBS. My doc's office just notified me last week that they sent the appeal on my behalf. I figure I'll give them a couple days to make sure it's processed, and then I'll start the nagging/calling process. But thanks for the advice!

Yes, Options plan for both Medical and Rx coverage... I pay $30.18 right now for 30 pills of Gluco. That's the different between the cost of the generic and brand name coverage ($25). When the # of pills doubled, so did the cost, as it's a per pill cost over the brand name coverage when generic available, etc. So, when this goes through as approved, I'll pay $25 for the update 2 pills a day/60 pill Rx, theoretically. That's the goal. Metformin is in the $10 ish range...I don't think # of pills/dosage makes much difference there.

EDITED TO ADD - I'm barely prediabetic, @RalfLott . It got added to my chart recently, with a fasting glucose of 78, A1C of 5.4%, and insulin of 7.8. Still don't know why it was added.

What should the spot BG be? How many hours post eating? My dr swears I'm nowhere close to diabetes, yet my numbers are worse than Knit's (and I'm already on the max dose of metformin.)

Fwiw, also check the insulingenic foods you are consuming. This will help you control your BG as a well. I'll have to research the site again and post it. Sorry.

RalfLott wrote: »

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Yes, Options plan for both Medical and Rx coverage... I pay $30.18 right now for 30 pills of Gluco. That's the different between the cost of the generic and brand name coverage ($25). When the # of pills doubled, so did the cost, as it's a per pill cost over the brand name coverage when generic available, etc. So, when this goes through as approved, I'll pay $25 for the update 2 pills a day/60 pill Rx, theoretically. That's the goal. Metformin is in the $10 ish range...I don't think # of pills/dosage makes much difference there.

EDITED TO ADD - I'm barely prediabetic, @RalfLott . It got added to my chart recently, with a fasting glucose of 78, A1C of 5.4%, and insulin of 7.8. Still don't know why it was added.

Hmm. If your fasting glucose is 78 but your A1c is 5.4 (average BG of around 115 per http://rajeun.net/HbA1c_glucose.html), theoretically, you'd at least be pre-diabetic, because your BG would be running higher than 115 enough of the time to pull your average up.

But that assumes that A1c is a reliable test, and there are all sorts of factors that can distort the A1c result. Frequent spot BG testing yields better information.

@RalfLott - that 78 is absolutely a blip. It has NEVER been that low before, as far back as I have recorded numbers. And it was fasting, but it was not first thing. I'd always been told, nothing after midnight. My appt was at 8 am, blood labs were to be drawn at 9 something, and they refused, because it hadn't been 12 hours for the cholesterol test. So I went home and took a nap, got up at 12:30 pm or so, went, and waited at the hospital until almost 1:45 pm to draw the lab. I wasn't hungry when they drew it, and in fact, didn't eat until, maybe 3:00 or 3:30 pm... So it wasn't first thing. My normal fasting is 89-91 or so. the 89 had a A1C of 5.2%, the 91 had 5.4% - and insulin of 11.3 and 9.9 respectively (the 11.3 was what prompted me to get back on glucophage). The 7.8 of this test was why my doc wanted to have me take it twice a day.

And yes, I know that the A1C shows that obviously my glucose runs higher at some points to bring up the average, but I can't seem to isolate it fully.

UGH.

I was taking T3 medication at the time of the A1C test, but my last Free/Reverse T3 tests were 5 months before. I was supposed to revisit this week, but being sick put the kibosh on that! I was taking 112 mcg Levo, 5 mcg Lio 3x per day at the time of the A1c test.

The last 3 weeks, I've been off all that, and taking Armour, I think 90 mg. Something is off, though, but we'll have to wait to test.

Last test, my folate was too high, my B12 was dropping some, and my ferritin and such was in the low-mid range. All of these go along with not having a gallbladder/stomach acid/digestion problems.

I don't remember hemocrit specifically, but the last 2-3-4 tests (3-6 months apart each time) were showing dehydration within other factors in my CMP, but not enough to medically treat. Just enough to get told, "drink more water," with no suggestions how to remedy it when I was already maxed out.

The 5.4% was consistent with the previous test 6 months prior (and mostly back to 2014). When I first saw my endo in 2014 (May), my A1C was 5.1. Oct-2014 was 5.3, Apr-2015 was 5.1, Oct-2015 was 5.1, Apr-2016 was 5.2, Oct-2015 was 5.4, Apr-2017 was 5.4. So I don't the A1C itself is the fluke, though I do think all the tests were done through DLO (Diagnostic Labs of OK), so I guess that could be a factor...

@RalfLott