This is about Glucophage and its side effects, in response to Heather Michelle’s article Glucophage: Treatment for Insulin Resistance. This is my first hand experience taking Glucophage, the side effects I experienced and how it made me feel. I have insulin resistance; it goes along with my PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I had done all the research that I could on treatments for PCOS and the insulin resistance so I wasn’t surprised when my doctor suggested I try Glucophage. I had read all about the side effects that I could have from taking the Glucophage. I knew all about how some people have an upset stomach for a few weeks after they start the Glucophage. I also understood there could be a severe side effect known as lactic acidosis, although this was rare.
I just wanted something that was finally going to help my body act like it was suppose to. As Heather Michelle stated in her articleGlucophage: Treatment for Insulin Resistancepeople dealing with insulin resistance can also throw off the other hormones in the body causing other problems. This is the case with me. The doctor said if I went on the Glucophage it should help my body use the insulin it produced better and that will make my other hormones get stabilized. So I was all for this since we were trying to conceive I needed my body to work right.
I started the Glucophage on a Monday Mg once a day to start then I would slowly increase the dosage as my body became adjusted .The first week I felt OK taking it, I had the occasional upset stomach but I thought that was normal and would most likely go away in a few weeks. So the next week the doctor said I could take Mg a day. I would take one in the morning and one in the evening. This was not working out like I thought; I was spending a good it of my day in the bathroom with diarrhea. Again I figured this was a Glucophage side effect that would most likely get better once my body adjusted to the new dose. So I stayed at the Mg of Glucophage for three weeks. I wasn’t really feeling any better about the medicine but my doctor thought that I would be OK by upping the dose to 1500 Mg’s. So I agreed – all I wanted was my body to behave like it should. I wanted to be able to lose weight and be able to have another baby.
The first day I took the 1500 mg of Glucophage I could hardly get out of bed I felt so sick. All I could think was it would get better my body is just taking longer to get adjusted to the medicine. I had talked with several other women taking Glucophage and they were doing just fine. So each day I would try to swallow those nasty pills, they smelled so bad I could hardly stand it. They caused me to have a terrible taste in my mouth all the time, so Icebreaker mints became my best friend. I was always so tired all I wanted to do was sleep, which wasn’t going to happen – I had a toddler running around. I can remember trying to get her to take a nap so I could join her. My child is one that doesn’t need much sleep. I bet she could go on four hours a night so needless to say I never got many naps. I felt like a walking zombie.
The doctor did some blood work and said everything looked fine that it was safe for me to continue taking the Glucophage, or I could try another medicine. He made sure to inform me that Glucophage had the best results in treating insulin resistance though so I stuck with it. I continued taking the Glucophage for 9 months. During this time I was sick almost every day spent far too much time in the bathroom, and I never lost any weight. I was barely eating. Food sent me in a run to the bathroom. I tried taking the Glucophage at different times to see if it would help. It didn’t. I had no energy to even attempt any exercise. I felt terrible.
Finally one day I came to the conclusion that I had to quit taking the Glucophage. I couldn’t handle feeling so bad all the time and it wasn’t helping me at all. I still had all the problems associated to the PCOS. I couldn’t leave the house unless I knew where a bathroom was at all times. So I quit taking the Glucophage and in a few weeks I started feeling better. I have not tried any other medicines for fear of the same thing happening. If I had seen some improvement I might have continued suffering through the Glucophage side effects. I had heard of many women that couldn’t handle the Glucophage side effects and I thought they were just exaggerating. Boy was I wrong.
