Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Community

My husband takes Metformin for his diabetes. When he first started it, his stomach was tore up. He found out that if he eats before he takes the medicine, the nausea does not happen. Hope this helps.

my doctor prescribed me 1000 mg, so to avoid symptoms,

was cutting my pills in half (500 mg pills), so,

week 1: i was taking 250 mg per day week 2-3: i went up to 500 mg per day.. week 4: i went up to 750 mg (a pill n a half) week 5: starting taking the full 1000 mg (500mg in morning and 500 mg in the evening)

(my doctor said it was ok for me to do this, so check with Your doctor to make sure its ok, if you decide to try it)..

worked my way up and always eat at least 15 minutes before taking it.. stay away from greasy and sugary foods.. for me was aggravating the nausea... Too much salad causes extreme diarrhea (even still now....lol) so if i eat salad i make sure im home eating it and not on a date or in a restaurant...lol..

For me, i found a low carb diet worked best with Metformin and its horrible side effects..lol so far so good, i lost 45 lbs now!. no side effects (of course unless i eat a bowl of greens..lol) ..

good luck to you

im on 1500mg a day... it was tough like the first month, but my body eventrully got used to the medication and now i have little to no side effects...

good luck

how long did it take you to lose the weight?

I have been on it for about 3 weeks now and I have had the same side efffects. I work at a hospital so I have asked around about what would help. Turns out it can bottom your sugar out and can make you experience nausea, sweats and dizzyness. So now I eat a bunch of smaller meals and it seems to help.

Hey - i have just started taking metformin again, (i stopped last year as the side effects were so bad) and i am feeling very nauseous and tummy achy!!) i agree with everyone else though, it is best to start on a low dose - i just built up to a 1000mg on week 2 and next week will be up to 1500mg a day.

know its horrid, but stick with it as it really does work - when i was on it last for over a year, within 3 months of taking it i got my peroids back and conceived!

the side affects are supposed to go by week 4.

Good Luck xx

I am on metformin for about a month now for pcos and I am trying to get pregnant. Recently I have had a glass of wine and got very nauseous (twice). I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this???

Hi. Anytime i eat or drink anything that has a high level of sugar in it hurts my tummy! I now have to stay away from high sugar food..

Just started taking Metformin today....hoping for the best..

I've been on met for 10 years for PCOS with insulin Resitance.

Yes I have experienced it ALL.

Booze is bad. Faty and greasy foods are bad. Sugar is bad. Carbs is bad. I have nothing to live for now.

I found that if I take my pills with a glass of milk or oatmeal, it helps a LOT.

and if ithe S/E are really bad, you can ask your dr about the extended release version which has better reports on the S/E (I know it helped me, not to mention not having to remember taking the pills several times a day)

and yes, working your way up helps too, and the S/E do get better after a few months. I'm to the point now that I get gas and diareah when i have greasy foods only.

Here's the good: I lost almost 40 lbs without really trying within the first 2 years on it. I also have more energy. And my cycles went from 6 months + to less than 40 days within the first 6 months. And not to mention I have Insulin Resistance, and my Insulin levels have been acceptiable for many years, when my Dr said I would be diabetic within 10 years when I was dx with IR, before a difrent dr gave me the Met.

One thing you may not know -- Don't take suplements that have B6 or 12 or Folic Acid within 2 hours of taking your Met. The Met will bond with the Bs and you wont get the full benift of either. I didnt learn that till I was dx with a B 12 defeciency, even while taking a one a day. but I was taking it at the same time as my Met. I move the one a day to lunch, and kept the met at breakfast and now am fine.

oh and yes eating small meals multiple times a day (6 small vs 3 large) helps.

I try to loosly follow a diabetic diet plan and it helps a lot.

I am actually taking metformin extended release. The side effects are minimal but longer to show results.

I had never heard that about the B vitamins and met! I have been taking my morning met (1000mg) with my prenatal vitamin and a Vitamin B supplement becuase my energy levels were so low now that my calorie count has dropped with a new diet from doc... but it wasn't helping! Thank you! I will most definitely remedy that situation!

I weened on pretty quickly... 500mg first week, 1000mg second week, 1500mg third week, 2000mg fourth week and stayed at that. Through the entire process I my stomach was very upest. I was nauseous pretty much all the time during the day, and was waking up sick throughout the night! I stuck with it and have been at my 2000mg dosage for about a week and a half now and things are getting much better (as far as the nausea goes). It does get better!
On another positive note, along with the metformin I've been on a 1200cal/day diet for the past 5 weeks and I went from 208 lbs to 193 lbs. So even the weight loss help is kicking in fast! Before the metformin it was nearly impossible for me to loose any weight regardless of the diet I tried.