vaginapagina | Metformin Questions

You're viewing

vaginapagina
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

syntheticklust.livejournal.com posting in

I was diagnosed with PCOS on Thursay and I started Metformin on Thursday night. Is it normal for the side-effects to come and go? For those of you who have been on it, how long was it before you got your first period on the medication? Did it help with the cycle length?

Xposted

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

geminigirl

When I first started it, I found that the side effects did come and go a bit depending on what I ate. It took some time to figure out what my body's limits on the medication were.

My first cycle on Met was 28 days. After that they settled into 34 day cycles until I got pregnant with my first daughter. I had her, nursed her, (stayed on Met while pregnant and nursing both my kids) my period came back, I had two cycles total (so they never regulated again.) and then got pregnant again. I just had my first period in about two years last week and so it'll take a while before they get regular again unless I decide to try for another baby before that happens.

Some things that I've learned in four-ish years on Metformin that were never told to me when I first started is that in addition to making diet changes (lower carb or lower GI depending on what works for you, along with higher fiber and higher protein) fiber supplements are very important-they help with a lot of the gastrointestinal side effects from the medication (I like FiberCon, but there are a lot of options.) Also, vitamin B and calcium supplements-for some people, Metformin can affect the absorption, so supplementing appropriately may be important.

Good luck with it.

From:

syntheticklust.livejournal.com

Thanks. I have cut out almost all soda ( which is very hard ) and am only drinking water. Which I have noticed has helped. Though we went out to eat today so I am sure it will kick my butt tomorrow. My doctor made it seem that I was going to have to be by a bathroom a lot of the time. I am just worried that the dosage is not enough.

From:

paraxeni.livejournal.com

Not everyone gets the GI side effects. I did, but my partner never did.

With regard to your other query, it depends on a lot of things. Met isn't a cycle-regulating drug, it just addresses insulin resistance. So when your period resumes/normal cycling starts, very much depends on how severe your IR is, and what your body considers to be ideal conditions (in terms of weight, insulin levels, hormone levels/function) for cycles to resume.

ETA - dosages start small and are increased on the basis of need. Starting met at the maximum dose can be very dangerous, so usually people start on 500-1600mg per day, and the dose can be adjusted up to the max at the prescriber's discretion.

Edited Date: 2011-01-24 01:54 am (UTC)

From:

geminigirl

Although with PCOS, there seems to be evidence that even without IR, it can help with cycle regulation by interrupting the estrogen-testosterone cycles. I've had no IR with PCOS, been on Met for four years and other than the typical disruptions for pregnancy/nursing, I've been cycling regularly once I started Met.

From:

paraxeni.livejournal.com

No, I know that, I'm well aware of the uses of drugs like metformin in PCOS management, - but metformin wasn't ever designed to act on the menstrual cycle, so there's no set of definite outcomes or effects. Some people get nothing out of metformin at all, be it regular or XR, high dose or low dose. Whether someone has insulin resistance or not doesn't change the fact that it's what metformin is designed to do - address insulin resistance. The Pill was designed to prevent pregnancy, that was it's sole purpose. Yes it can help with PMDD, skin problems etc. but HBC wasn't designed for that purpose.

The pill - you know that's going to always automatically override cycling, prevent pregnancy etc. because that's what it was designed specifically for.
Met doesn't have that advantage because although it can affect menstrual cycles, that wasn't it's original function. Sure there's some available data now (as opposed to 13 years ago when I started it) but there's always going to be more data available (or even just anecdotal evidence) when talking about the purpose a drug was designed for, rather than an off-label usage.

All I'm trying to point out is that there is no set guide to what happens when, unlike there is with drugs designed for cycle regulation/hormonal imbalances, her endo/gyno should've explained all of that.

Edited Date: 2011-01-24 02:50 am (UTC)

From:

paraxeni.livejournal.com

Also, because I've edited the other one enough (sorry, morphine) although my partner got perfect 29 day cycles for a while, that stopped and couldn't be brought back despite altering her dose/formulation/timing.

I got anything from 3 days to 103 days between bleeding, then lost too much weight and developed lactic acidosis. It was only when I stopped the metformin that my periods started again, and then stopped! It was a merry-go-round, to say the least. I miss it, in a way, but death wasn't welcome in my schedule so I had to junk the met :D

From:

geminigirl

You didn't start the full dose all at once, right? You started at a low dose and are stepping it up? I found the first week at the lowest dose wasn't bad, but the second week was very tough. I don't recall what happened after that.

Some people find the extended release doesn't cause the bathroom effects that the regular does. Others find the opposite. I'm on the regular tablet-the extended release made me more ill. Sadly, I'm one of those people for whom the gastro side effects never went away, though they've slowed down and become manageable.