Metformin – Overview
What is metformin?
Metformin, also known as Glucophage (the generic version), is one of the most common diabetes medication used to treat Type II diabetes. Millions of people, almost 1 in 10 Americans, suffer from this disease. It is a chronic medical condition characterized by elevated glucose levels in the blood due to insulin resistance.
Metformin can be combined with other medicines, such as hormone insulin, to help patients with Type II diabetes gain a better glycemic control. Getting proper treatment for diabetes is important. If left untreated, many complications can arise and your health condition can further deteriorate. There are many complications that can occur including problems with your vision, kidneys, and nerves. Diabetes can also lead to other serious health problems such as stroke, heart disease, heart failure, heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, liver disease, and end stage kidney disease…
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Metformin – Overview
What is metformin?
Metformin, also known as Glucophage (the generic version), is one of the most common diabetes medication used to treat Type II diabetes. Millions of people, almost 1 in 10 Americans, suffer from this disease. It is a chronic medical condition characterized by elevated glucose levels in the blood due to insulin resistance.
Metformin can be combined with other medicines, such as hormone insulin, to help patients with Type II diabetes gain a better glycemic control. Getting proper treatment for diabetes is important. If left untreated, many complications can arise and your health condition can further deteriorate. There are many complications that can occur including problems with your vision, kidneys, and nerves. Diabetes can also lead to other serious health problems such as stroke, heart disease, heart failure, heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, liver disease, and end stage kidney disease.
Metformin: How to use it
Medical professionals will prescribe Metformin initially at its lowest dose of 500 mg once a day with meals. It will then be titrated up to twice or three times daily with incremental increases in dose of Metformin to target the correct dosage depending on the severity of the disease. It's best taken at the same time each day.
Metformin is freely soluble in water. The bioavailability of Metformin is approximately 50%. Metformin is largely excreted in the urine and demonstrates a half-life of approximately six hours. Since it is primarily excreted in the urine, the half-life of Metformin is usually longer in kidney disease.
Metformin: Side effects
Common side effects of Metformin include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach upset or stomach pain. Other adverse effects include fatigue, weakness, muscle cramping, muscle pain, shortness of breath, chest pains, metallic taste and dizziness. A serious side effect includes a condition called lactic acidosis. People with kidney disease should avoid taking Metformin. It is also recommended to avoid drinking alcohol when taking this medicine.
Other warnings to keep in mind when taking Metformin:
Lactic acidosis, can be caused by a buildup of Metformin resulting in symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness, and weakness.
Hypoglycemia. This can occur when Metformin is taken along with strenuous exercise, a poor diet, or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
Weight loss. The most common reason for this is thought to be because it causes a reduction in appetite.
Anemia. Decreased vitamin B12 levels can be a consequence of long-term treatment with Metformin. The mechanism is currently thought to be multifactorial, including altered intestinal motility, bacterial overgrowth, and reduced absorption of vitamin B12. Metformin can also reduce the amount of hemoglobin levels carrying oxygen in the blood.
How Does Metformin Work?
Metformin helps to bring down the levels of glucose in the body by decreasing the absorption of glucose and the amount of liver-produced glucose. It also increases the body's response to insulin.
In a non diabetic person, the natural insulin produced by the organ pancreas works as a key to unlock the doors for glucose to enter in these types of cells. These cells need and use glucose for energy. Glucose is another name for sugar.
In a diabetic patient, however, the insulin is not able to unlock the doors for the glucose. Why? There's been build up of too much fat inside these cells. The fat comes from the dietary fat we consume in our diet. The fat inside these cells actually blocks the insulin for unlocking the doors. This is where you get the term "insulin resistance" or decreased insulin sensitivity.
The glucose or sugar is then locked outside of these cells. They have no where to go, but back into the blood stream, where they do not belong. This causes all kinds of problems and also starves these cells of their energy. This is how diabetes happens.
Eating animal products and processed foods are the main culprits in causing fat to accumulate inside our cells which leads to the insulin resistance explained above.
Diabetes symptoms include:
• increased urination
• increased thirst
• unintentional weight loss
• blurred vision
• numbness or tingling in hands or feet
• fatigue or weakness
• dry skin
• sores that heal slowly
• more infections than usual.
Metformin helps to decrease the basal glucose levels by turning down the liver's production of sugar and decreasing the absorption of sugar from our digestive system. Insulin secretion is generally unchanged with Metformin. Metformin can be used in combination with insulin, glipizide (Glucotrol), glimepiride (Amaryl) and glyburide to keep the sugar levels down in our blood. Metformin can also be taken together with the drug dapagliflozin to form Xigduo and with canagliflozin to form Invokamet.