Metformin is one of the go-to medications in the management of Type 2 diabetes. Despite its popularity, several questions surround its safety. In this video, I answer 3 of those questions.:
Hi folks welcome back my name is quick why i’m a pharmacist in today’s video i’m going to be answering three very common questions about metformin that i seem to be getting over and over again so i figured i’ll answer those three questions once and for all so without much i do let’s dive straight into it and the first question is can metformin cause kidney damage
Well if you have healthy kidneys and you’re taking metformin chances are that metformin will not be a problem for you metformin has not been known to cause kidney damage in people who have otherwise good functioning kidneys metformin only becomes a problem for people who have moderate to severe kidney damage now this is the thing metformin is excreted by the
Kidneys or when you take metformin it is the kidneys responsibility to get rid of it so if you already have a kidney that is not functioning at an optimum level then what happens is that the body is not able to get rid of the metforming effectively now this leads to the buildup of setting substances in the body and one of them is lactic acid and which also leads
To lactic acidosis which is a very serious condition and in very rare cases can even be deadly so rule of thumb here there are actually some guidelines as to people who are good candidates for metformin now you probably haven’t paid attention to this but whenever you receive your lab report there is a particular number on that lab report it’s called the gfr or the
Glomerular filtration rate this measures that how quickly or how effectively your kidney is filtering out stuff ideally we want you to be above 60. if you are above 60 then that means that you can take metformin no questions asked nobody even blinks an eye if you are between 45 and 59 yes you still can take midforming but the recommendation is that there should be
More frequent checks on your kidney to make sure that everything is okay once you drop below 40 45 so between 30 and 44 then those adjustments for metformin should be taking place your doctor should be looking at you and even deciding to begin with whether you are even a good candidate or whether there are better alternatives for you apart from metformin if your
Doctor thinks that you still need to take metformin in that instance then he would have to make those adjustments the recommended maximum dose for people that fall in that category is thousand milligrams of metformin now if you go below 30 then meforming becomes contraindicated in that case your kidneys are not filtering out stuff more effectively enough for you
To be able to take medforming so just a quick tip there if you’ve never paid attention to it now when you get your lab report just take a look at that gfr and see where you stand number two does metformin cause cancer the straightforward answer is no medforming is not known to cause cancer matter of fact metformin has been documented in some instances actually
To reduce the risk of developing certain cancers and metformin may also even be used as an adjunct in treating setting cancers now an adjunct medication is a medication that is given not necessarily to treat a particular condition but they will they find out that when you add that medication to for example in this case they cancer the real cancer medications the
Cancer medication tends to work better so med forming in certain cancers may actually even be added as an agent i guess the the the story or the the rumors about metformin causing cancer came about you know back i think two or three years ago in 2019 there were several recalls of metformin and this was not due to the metformin itself being bad but it was due to
The fact that certain lot numbers from certain companies were found to contain a contaminant ndma which when taking in large quantities over a relatively long period of time may be potentially carcinogenic so that i believe is the exodus of a lot of the rumors about metformin causing cancer all things being equal all those affected lots should have been removed
From your pharmacy so you shouldn’t be receiving any of those slots so um metformin is not documented to increase the risk of cancer number three does metformin cause liver damage no the straightforward answer is no metformin does not cause liver damage the only problem comes about when somebody already has a pre-existing liver condition so for example they have
Liver cirrhosis in that instance people with such liver problems have a slightly elevated risk of developing lactic acidosis like we talked about and since metformin also by itself can slightly increase your risk of developing lactic acidosis when you increase when you combine those two um situations then you are at a relatively higher risk of developing lactic
Acidosis so even though people with liver problems can take metformin generally there’s a little bit more monitoring you need to be a little bit more cautious you and your doctor need to be paying a little bit more attention just to make sure that you’re not developing lactic acidosis or there is no buildup of any metabolites in your body that may be harmful to
You so quick short answers to these three questions that i’ve been getting over and over again on your screen now as a medication review that i did on metformin that talks about minimizing the side effects take a look at it i’m sure you’re going to enjoy it thank you so much for staying through stay blessed i’ll catch you in the next video
Transcribed from video
How Metformin Affects The Body | 3 Common Metformin Questions By Pharmacist Conversations