Metformin’s side effects absolutely suck. Metformin is a drug mainly prescribed for diabetes, PCOS and insulin resistance.
That’s it you just take it set it forget it but none of us ever forget it because that first time you take metformin like i can’t even explain well i guess i’m gonna have to explain what it was like for me hey guys mila clark buckley the hangry woman here and today we are talking about ways to help settle your stomach when you take metformin something we all go
Through when we start taking this medication it’s something we all hear about before we even get prescribed to this medication and it’s uncomfortable so i have some tips that have helped me in the past and that have just been really great before we get started if you like videos about diabetes be sure that you give this video a thumbs up and you subscribe i
Love meeting new people with diabetes and just knowing that i’m not the only one living this out there i personally have latent autoimmune diabetes in adults which is a slow progressing form of type 1 diabetes it was initially misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes so i don’t find a lot of people like me out there but in general i just love meeting people with diabetes
And just like us all learning together and learning how to make the best of this kind of situation with our health also if i sound kind of stuffy i’m sorry i have been getting over a cold and i just sound awful and hoarse and stuffy and sick so forgive my raspy like gross sick voice hopefully i’ll get better soon but the voice is what it is at this point all
Right with all that let’s dive in so first i want to address what metformin actually does because that is always a question about what it is people say that it helps insulin resistance which is true people say that it’s a weight loss drug which is not exactly true but weight loss can be a side effect of taking metformin there are all kinds of things said about
It but what metformin actually does is it decreases the production of glucose that’s coming from the liver so your liver sometimes will dump glucose into your bloodstream metformin stops that while also decreasing glucose absorption in the intestines and then it also improves your insulin sensitivity so if you’re insulin resistant like me i have pcos so i have
Really terrible insulin resistance and sometimes like the insulin that i inject or the insulin a little bit of insulin that my body still makes like does not get used efficiently and we have type 2 diabetes your body does not use insulin that you produce efficiently at all with its insulin resistance and so metformin really helps with that insulin sensitivity and
Helping your body absorb insulin more efficiently so that your blood sugars stay level metformin’s usually kind of the first line of defense when you find out that you have diabetes so for a lot of us metformin was the first medication that our doctors tried for us rather than insulin or a semiglutid like ozempic i have a video a few videos on ozempic what that
Does i’ve been taking it for a while it’s been pretty good for me but um usually metformin is the first the first type of medicine that you’re prescribed it’s in pill form so it’s relatively easy to take relatively easy to remember to take you don’t have to deal with needles you don’t have to deal with all these other supplies you just you know take it once
Or twice daily depending on your prescription and depending on the dosage that your doctor determines for you and then that’s it you just take it set it forget it but none of us ever forget it because that first time you take metformin like i can’t even explain well i guess i’m gonna have to explain what it was like for me but i started metformin about five
Years ago when i was diagnosed in 2016 it was thought that i had type 2 diabetes so my doctor said let’s put you on metformin we know you have pcos so you have insulin resistance metformin’s gonna help you let’s go through that whole process we did that the first day i took a metformin first few hours i felt fine about 12 hours later i was vomiting my stomach
Had like the most terrible cramps i’ve ever had i i mean like to be frank and tmi it was coming out of both ends like it was not good for me it just was it made me never ever ever want to take this medication again it felt like food poisoning like it just felt completely awful and i was like i can’t do this i don’t want to do this like i don’t care if it helps i
Don’t want to feel like this and mind you i had no warning about these side effects i didn’t know that this is what it was i was just told like you know here’s this pill you’re gonna take 500 milligrams once a day you’ll be great no it was not great it was one of the most awful experiences of my life so getting that out of the way i kind of learned ways to help
It settle a little better in that initial stage and i learned some of these tips from other people i also learned some from my pharmacist which was really great and a lot of these did work after that initial first day when i felt completely awful so i’m going to share what i’ve learned with you please always do consult your doctor if you have any questions about
The medications that you’re taking i’m just sharing from my experience and hoping that it prompts you to ask questions and prompts you to get more information but you know please don’t take what i say as the golden rule i’m just kind of sharing what worked for me and what kind of helps it settle especially when you’re in that first place in that first stage of
Taking metformin so first things first take your metformin with food it says this on the label of your metformin do not take this medication on an empty stomach that’s actually going to make it worse it’s going to agitate your stomach a lot worse so be sure that you eat make sure that you eat first give it some time to settle and then you can take your medication
Just helps to coat the lining of your stomach and helps to ensure that like you’re not getting that like big hit from the medication um i always find taking it with food or like after like right after i eat maybe like 10 15 minutes after i eat is always really helpful and helps it settle and i don’t get those like crazy stomach gurgles anymore which you don’t
Want that it’s it’s fabulous there is also an extended release version of metformin so if you’re currently on like the regular metformin ask your doctor about the extended release formula of metformin to be put on that what i really appreciate about extended release is that it does exactly what it says it does so it extends the release of the medication so
You’re not hit with all of that medication at once it slowly absorbs into your system over time so you’re not getting that like initial kind of like gut punch when you take the medication so if you’re currently on like the regular version of metformin i want to say it’s metformin hcl it’s okay to go ahead and ask your doctor if they can switch you over to the
Extended release version and that may ease some of your side effects especially some of the gi side effects and when i say gi i mean gastrointestinal i sometimes throw out acronyms and then i’m like oh yeah i should explain what those are next up do not skip doses of your medication this is true for all medications the more frequently and more regularly you take
Your medications the better they’re going to work that’s just how medications work sometimes you can forget sometimes you maybe go on vacation you accidentally leave your pill box at home you go out to dinner and then you come home and you know you forget to take your medication because you’re so tired you just go to sleep and forget to do it happens to all of
Us it’s you know not the biggest deal in the world you want to make sure that you ask your doctor about how to catch up on that dose if you need to catch up on that dose or if you just go to the next one definitely depends on the medication it’s definitely a question for your doctor but it happens skipped doses happen but with metformin it is really important
That you take your medication consistently because skipped doses can bring on all of those side effects again i have been there i have skipped a couple of doses because of some of those reasons i’ve listed before i either forgot just slipped out of my brain and forgot to do it i was out somewhere late and when i got home i was tired i went to bed i woke up the
Next morning i was like oh crap i forgot to take my medicine all kinds of these things can happen and you don’t want to skip those doses because it kind of like resets things for you and then you may feel those symptoms all over again so be sure to be as consistent as possible with your medication take it with you if you have to take it with you do whatever you
Got to do to make sure that you get those doses in every single day and you’re doing it consistently so that those symptoms don’t come back to you i also have a natural nausea remedies video that you can check out that is just a great one to have in your back pocket but you can also use things like berberine that are going to help ease your nausea so ask your
Doctor like if you’re taking it and you’re noticing that after a couple weeks you are still experiencing these symptoms and it’s still really bad and it’s hard for you to even like make it through the day ask your doctor what they can give you to help ease that nausea so that you don’t have to deal with those symptoms but there are some remedies like ginger or
Peppermint i love lemon water like things like that that kind of just like soothe and ease my stomach when i am having a stomach ache from some of my medications and so those things work really well but you can always ask your doctor for other solutions that can help with nausea so you’re you’re not having to go through that and deal with that in addition to
Having to deal with diabetes and last thing is that your body will eventually get used to it so those first few days first few weeks probably feel like hell but once your body gets used to the medication you’re not going to experience the same side effects and you just have to give it some time and i know that that is really hard there’s i don’t think a single
Person in this world who has two weeks to just be at home and like sit near the toilet to wait for these symptoms to subside and that’s why there are other options like nausea medications or you know whatever your doctor can give you to make that feel better but just give it time because it does really help with that insulin resistance and with ensuring that
Your liver is not doing as much of that glucose dump into your system but it also is a helpful diabetes tool even though it does have those really awful side effects and it seems like a lot of diabetes medications do like when i started taking ozempic that was one thing that i noticed was that like i had gotten over those symptoms of metformin because i had been
Taking it so long and then when i started ozempic it was like having that all over again and i was just like i cannot do this like i don’t want to do this again why are all these medications like this and it’s it’s just the side effects like that’s just kind of how it is and unfortunately these medications do help us but it kind of hurts in the beginning it kind
Of sucks so hopefully these tips are tips that you can utilize in your first few weeks of taking metformin please do let me know in the comments down below if this was helpful to you and if this is something that you can utilize i would love to know any other tips that you know about taking metformin and kind of easing those side effects for you and what i love
About this community like here on youtube is that you guys always share your stories you always share your other tips you always fill in the gaps on things that i have missed or i haven’t said in my videos and i love that so much and so you know i always appreciate your feedback and i always appreciate you sharing what you know because it helps somebody else in
The long run you guys all read the comments all the time and comment to each other and so it’s really great to see you know everybody having that ability to want to share their knowledge about living with diabetes and helping other people to not have to go through this as badly because diabetes sucks and like taking the medication sucks having to remember to take
The medication sucks paying for the medication sucks going to the doctor sucks it all sucks like there’s not a single person in this world who’s like i love living with diabetes like if we didn’t have to have it we wouldn’t have it and so it’s always helpful to know that there are these tools for us and things that we can use like this and there’s a community
Around us that can be really helpful to getting us the answers we need okay guys that’s it for this video thank you so much for watching don’t forget to like and subscribe and i will see you guys in the next one take care of yourselves bye you
Transcribed from video
How I avoided metformin side effects with PCOS & Diabetes (patient's perspective) | The Hangry Woman By The Hangry Woman