type 2 diabetes
Posted , 6 users are following.
i was told i have this 6 weeks ago on metformin tabs 500 twice daily,have no appatite,is this normal
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1 like, 6 replies
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Notes on type 2 diabetes
80s_Girl frank_00777
Posted
It took me a while to get used to the tablets, once I did my appetite returned, albeit smaller. 6 weeks is still really early to get used to being on medication. Not to scare you, but it can take a couple of years to get used to the diagnosis. It may take a couple of weeks more to get used to the tablets, but your appetite will return.
Take care, and good luck.
robert86335 frank_00777
Posted
clivealive frank_00777
Posted
Please be aware all readers of this thread of the risk of vitamin B12 deficiency in people who take metformin.
Vitamin B12 (also known as cyanocobalamin or cobalamin) plays many important roles in the body, such as keeping your blood cells and nervous system in tip top shape.
Absorption of Vitamin B12 is a very complex process and Metformin can reduce this as noted as a "side effect" on the leaflet enclosed with the tablets.
Spindles clivealive
Posted
I totally agree about the B12 deficiency. I was diagnosed with Type 2 twenty one years ago even though I have never been overweight and am still not overweight so believe I am a late onset Type 1 or even 1.5. I was put onto various tablets including Metformin and after eight years progressed to insulin and Metformin but my appetite was never very good most of the time. I read that Metformin was given to overweight women to suppress their appetite so couldn't see how I could benefit from Metformin. Last year I started to feel VERY tired and my appetite decreased so much that I was eating toddler size meals. I had a blood test done and it was found that my B12 was below the "normal" levels. I had a course of B12 injections and was told to wait for six months before having another blood test and am awaiting the results at the moment. What I did try to increase my appetite was to stop my Metformin for a few days - it was miraculous - I actually had hunger pains, something I hadn't had for years. I stayed off the tablets for about two weeks and had to increase my insulin slightly but eventually went back onto the Metformin but as I am due for my annual diabetic check I will bring this up with the nurse and hope that I can stop taking them as I don't see the point of taking something that lowers B12 which means regular injections to boost it back up.
clivealive Spindles
Posted
I'm coming at it from a different direction to you as I've had Pernicious Anaemia (which is a form of B12 Deficiency) for 45 years and so am on injections every three weeks for life.
It was only on being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes last year and put on 4 x 500mg Metformin that on reading the leaflet that came with the tablet that I noticed the detrimental effect it has on B12 levels.
Of course I am not affected as I get my B12 from injections.
Vitamin B12 can only be obtained naturally from eating foods such as red meats, fish, seafoods, eggs, poultry and dairy products and Metformin affects the absorption of B12 leading to the deficiency you experienced last year.
When your "at the end of six months" blood test is due, please ask to have your Folate (B9 or folic acid) level checked too, as this is essential to process the B12.
B12 deficiency can also be caused by many other reasons, age, poor diet, gastric surgery, surgery or dentla treatment involving nitrous oxide, other medications including antibiotics, antacids, some contraceptive pills, other illnesses such as Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gluten enteropathy (celiac disease), or any other disease that cause malabsorption of nutrients. Other autoimmune disorders (especially thyroid disorders such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease) Type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, lupus, Addison’s disease, ulcerative colitis, infertility, acquired agammaglobulinemia, or a family history of these disorders.
You and your doctor need to take the above into consideration when assessing your B12 results as it may well be that you will need injections for the rest of your life.
I am not a medically trained person but having "lived" with B12 Deficiency issues for 45 years I know how devastating it can be and also how simply it can be resolved. My doctor gave me two years to live in 1972 unless I either ate raw liver, three times a day, or had B12 injections. I chose the injections and I'm still "clivealive" at 75.
I wish you well for the future
Spindles frank_00777
Posted
Update: I went to my annual diabetic review and told the nurse that I had been naughty for a couple of weeks last year when I stopped taking the Metformin to see how I got on. I told her that the effect was miraculous, my appetite returned straight away and I felt much better so she told me to stop taking them! After years of being on Metformin and having no appetite and having a B12 deficiency I am hoping that I don't need to go back on them. I inject myself four times a day with insulin so will adjust that if needed but so far, over the last four days my sugar levels have been lower than they were when I was on the Metformin. I am not overweight and never have been so I think that prescribing an appetite suppressant like Metformin seems a bit odd and really hope that I can show that I have been pumping those tablets into me when I didn't need to.