Metformin users...help me.

emiannie

Okay, so I'm starting it back up.  Remind me...do the symptoms (explosive poo) subside after a few weeks as your body gets used to it or is this a side effect I'm gonna have to just live with forever? 

Also, how did you take yours to help with the poops?  I was taking it all at once before bed to "sleep off the effects"...that wasn't working...I was still pooping like mad when I got up.  So the new OB recommended taking 500mg with breakfast and 500mg with dinner.  I took it with breakfast and pooped my brains out.  It's been in my system for less than 3 hours and I've pooped twice...a lot.

So what was your trick?  Davez said taking Imodium...I forgot it at home this AM...so I'll try that tomorrow.  Any other tricks of the trade?  Oh and I'm on the extended release kind if that matters.

qtpa2t

My symptoms never subsided.  They lessened if I basically ate no carbs and no salad, but that was really hard.  Immodium definitely helped.

SkypekWithoutAC

If you JUST started it back up, I'd cut down to just one 500mg per day and take it at night. Give that 1-2 weeks, then add the second pill. Upping the dose gradually seems to help. Other than that, just be aware of your trigger foods (lettuce and greasy foods for me!) and wait it out...it usually takes me about 2 weeks to be mostly over it, and I still get random bouts from time to time.

DavezWife

chart your pattern... I swear I have a VERY specific one... and know when to pop that HALF an imodium, and when to take a colace with my meds at night.

FWIW, I take 1000 in AM, and 1000 at night, and have had less side effects than taking 2000 at once... and I am NEVER hungry for supper. (score!)

 

pandabearlover

I take 1500mg 3x a day, right before a meal.  The first week, I took 500, then the 2nd week, 1000, then the full does at 3 weeks.  It definitely helped me with the poops.  I also eat a lot of salads and avoid carbs.  

But even now, over a month in, I still have some issues. 

orange682

I take 1500 mg (ER) right before bed.  I always wake up with the runs, but my stomach is usually better immediately afterwards.  I have issues from time to time, but thats all tied to what I eat (greasy, carbs, too much lettuce). 

When I started I took 500 mg for a week, then increased to 1000mg the next week, and then 1500 mg the following week. It took a while to increase my dosage, but it def cut down on the stomach issues.   

Mrs.Babbsy

I don't miss that stuff!

I never had it go away and it depended on what I ate.

 I also took it a night.

 

GL

dana316

I have to start it super slow, and I was never able to take the lunch time dose...because I was a visiting hospice nurse and I refused to have poop issues while on there road.

I do fine if I start with the breakfast dose only for two weeks, then add the supper dose...and take it with plenty of food.

 

Temp159135562506975

titrate your dose up - ie) start with 500/day, then 1000/day... then 1500/day - going about a week or a few days with each new dose. this will help.

I split up my XR dose- even though it's not necessary I felt it helped with the met gut better.

i took 2 immodium when i took my met, too.

avoid carbs -they make you poop a lot more.

it sucks.

emiannie

Thanks ladies!  I'll just do 500 mg this week and up it next week.  I'm also gonna stock up on immodium.  :-)