Metformin Support Group

I'll be glad to join you. I was diagnosed T2D at the end of March and take 500 mg of metformin 2X a day. I take one with breakfast and one with dinner. Those first two weeks I had zero appetite and random nausea. It's been better since. I'll be going for another A1C test in a few weeks and at that point my doctor will decide if the dosage needs to be adjusted.

You're smart to make changes now. My A1C was prediabetic a year ago and I didn't do anything about it. Not shocking that it was 7.0 this March.

I wish you the best!

@cyn_love Horribly disgusting! I hold it between my teeth until I get my drink to my mouth. As I said, it's been several years since I was on it, but I have insulin resistance which makes it nearly impossible to lose weight, which then impacts fertility (thanks, PCOS!). I found that when I stuck to my nutrition/movement plans, I lost weight consistently rather than lose one, gain five as I typically did. It helped with my blood sugar, of course. I ended up getting pregnant within 6 months of starting to take it. Hooray for no side effects! Do you take the extended release? That's the only way I can avoid the nausea, other than taking it with food. I made the mistake of taking it on an empty stomach last time I was on it and regretted that decision for days! You should be able to find a pill cutter in the pharmacy section of most stores. That may make your life easier for the next couple weeks!

@Dellagirl5316 any idea why the iron pill helps? I haven't heard of that but I'm open to anything! Is it still working to manage your symptoms after being on it for so many years?

@cyn_love I know EXACTLY how you feel about that fluctuation...people always thought I was exaggerating when I said I could gain 5 pounds overnight and take 2 weeks to lose it, but nope I hope that metformin has some awesome benefits for you too! Every body is different, but sticking to a low carb plan for several months and taking metformin, I lost about 20-25 pounds and was able to get pregnant without any medical intervention. My ob did call me a unicorn though, so maybe that isn't common. He did tell me when I got my IUD out that with PCOS, losing 5% of our bodyweight can basically cause a "system reset" and get ovulation working correctly again.

@cyn_love You may not have the same experience with the 5% That sounds HORRIBLE. Of course they didn't believe you. Doctors always assume they know our bodies better than we do even though we live in them 24/7. I quit going to the doctor for YEARS because it was always about my weight. If I went in for a cold, I was lectured about my weight... So many don't understand that with these endocrine issues, we can and DO gain so much so fast. It's a shame that more doctors aren't knowledgeable. I guess it's considered a speciality? I feel like all doctors should at least understand that each patient is different, each body is different, and under all the fat, we are ACTUAL PEOPLE who deserve respect and care. Even when I was pregnant with my son, I was just a fat pregnant person to them instead of a pregnant person who also happened to be fat. Every appointment (and I had a lot of them with the early onset gestational diabetes), they'd literally celebrate weight loss and lecture me for any gain. They didn't believe my food log when I gained, but apparently it was accurate when I lost weight? Idk. I'm scared of getting pregnant again too because of that kind of stuff lol. I didn't get to be excited or enjoy my first pregnancy at all because I was always so stressed about the doctors. One of them even gave me a pamphlet to a weight loss clinic

@cyn_love Love that movie!

Maintaining is SO hard because we have to be in "reduction mode" 24/7. There is no real maintenance phase where we can reintroduce old habits/foods and do fine. Our bodies are actively working against us. I lost 50 pounds about 10 years ago. Stopped trying so hard and ended up gaining 100 over the next few years. Oddly I've easily maintained my 300-315 weight without trying People who have never experienced this particular struggle don't have the capacity to understand that it's not as simple as just eat healthy and exercise. It's not like 5-10 pounds they gain and lose easily every few years. My mom (who has been thin her whole life and basically one half of my body size since I was in high school) literally told me today "I lose 5 pounds easily every time I cut out sugar" as if that is the answer to all of my problems lol. She means well, I know, but don't they all?

cyn_love wrote: »

@sollyn23l2 You're right. I don't expect to lose 100 lbs and be able to fuel my body with fast food like the old days without consequence. But I do think that PCOS creates more of a fast track to regain than someone without PCOS.

Absolutely, it can definitely make it more of a challenge.

kristenchapman525 wrote: »

@sollyn23l2 I didn't mean go back to the old ways. I just meant be less strict and structured. Many people can do that successfully. With PCOS, if I even blink twice at a cookie, I gain a pound. Do you have PCOS? Insulin resistance? Diabetes?

@cyn_love that's a start! Do what feels best for you. You can always make adjustments, up or down, as you go. I have found that reducing carbs helps me a lot. Definitely something I try to be mindful of. I typically try to stay under 150 or so. That's about what they had me doing when I had gestational diabetes.

That's what I'm saying. Being "less strict and structured" results in going back to old ways. It's human nature. You have to maintain the structure if you want to maintain the loss. Difficult, for sure.

kristenchapman525 wrote: »

Lots of people can be LESS "strict and structured" and still maintain their weight loss. I don't understand why you're arguing that point? Do you really believe that the average person maintaining without PCOS has the same difficulty as someone maintaining with PCOS? You're comparing apples to oranges. Maintaining is difficult for everyone. It is ESPECIALLY difficult with PCOS because our bodies are ACTIVELY fighting against us. The average person's body isn't doing that. If you just want to acknowledge that maintaining is hard in general, sure, yes, it very much is. But this is a metformin group where many people with PCOS will come to discuss that and I would prefer if we were allowed to have our opinions of our own experiences without them being downplayed.

Nobody's downplaying it. You do you. I was agreeing with you that yes, it's difficult. This is an open forum, not a private one. Like I said, yes, it's difficult, there's no denying that.