Miracles with Metformin

M

Miss1128

0
Has anyone experienced weigh loss or decreased appetite with metformin? I take this for insulin resistance.

Also, I have had a better experience with one manufactures version than another. Has anyone ever noticed this as well?


I know how this medication works by inhibiting the liver from pouring out more glucose into bloodstream and making the body for sensitive to its own insulin. Less insulin in the blood stream means less craving and less storage of adipose around the midsection.


Thanks
 
I was on Metformin for PCOS, and it did nothing for me. On the contrary, I increased weight and struggled more to get it off when I started taking it, and had a few other side effects as well. That said, it turned out afterward that I am not insulin resistant at all, and wouldn't have needed it in the first place - go figure.


So I am guessing if you really are ir, it'd help you. Decreased appetite would make perfect sense, it wouldn't stop any 'storage' of anything though. You're basically right about how Metformin works, and it is perfectly possible for one 'brand' of Metformin to work better for you than another. I see that with medication all the time, even though both supposedly have the same ingredients, one works better than the other. If you found one that works well for you, stick with it.


I wouldn't include the word 'miracle' here though. Metformin merely helps your body to do what it should be doing on its own in the first place, and Metformin alone will not make you lose weight, and there are side effects to be considered with long term use. Having a look at a low GI diet might help your body a lot more than the Metformin.
 
A little off topic, but if you view my profile, you can see my thread on PCOS.


Purely FYI, I use cinnamon as my insulin sensitizer and it has worked like a charm (a surprise, a miracle) for me. I lost almost 4 lbs the first week adding it to my exsting diet and exercise regime (which, for the prior two straight months of intensive effort, had only led to weight gain) (a pretty undeniable cause and effect relationship, given how quickly the cinnamon worked), and then averaged 2.5lbs/week lost for about the next month. It's now almost 3 months later since taking cinnamon, and I'm at a perfectly healthy weight (in the 120s at 161cm). I can choose to stop losing weight at any time now, and just maintain, if I want. But, I've decided to get back to my super-thin, pre-IR weight, just to see how that feels. So, at ths rate, I'll still have another couple of months of low cal. dieting and 1-2 hrs of daily exercise to achieve that "goal". But, without learning about my PCOS-related IR, and that cinnamon could be a natural insulin sensitizer, I guarantee I'd still be above my starting weight, and contemplating starvation...or worse. I was killing myself with exercise and a strict diet at various points throughout the past 6 years (and, in particular, August-October 2012), to no avail (often gaining weight, in fact) only to be told I was lying about how little I ate or how much I was working out. Entirely on my own, I learned about PCOS-reated IR and cinnamon, and began losing weight from THE DAY I began taking it, and basically felt like telling all those inexpert folks to suck it. Wahoo!


Well...there's more detail how this all came about in my PCOS thread. ;-)


I have never tried Metformin or chromium for IR.
 
Jody, I meant to ask you this before - how do you take the cinnnamon, and where did you get it from? (I mean, drugstore or pharmacy or something else?) I tried our normal health-shop where you can get everything from protein powder to vitamins and sunflower seeds, but they just gave me a blank stare. And does it come in capsule or pill form? I had the vision of just chucking a pile of cinnamon on my food every day, but I am sure that is not how it works.....*lol*


Just asking because low and behold, after I forced my GP into putting me on a three day blood sugar monitoring test instead of just making one test, it turns out that I don't have full blown IR, but things are definitely not working as they should either. I don't want to get back on the Metformin, so I am looking to try alternatives first.
 
Hi, San! The thing with cinnamon is that it was discovered quite by accident. IR folks in a study were found to have better fasting glucose levels if they happened to eat apple pie. (Happening to eat apple pie was purely a coincidence, from what I read.) Researchers eventually discovered it was the cinnamon in the apple pie that was actually doing the trick. With more studies isolating cinnamon in the diet, it was clear that consuming cinnamon will help normaluze fasting glucose levels in those with insulin resistance.


So, yes, you can just add actual cinnamon to food and drinks.


Myself, though, I take a cinnamon supplement I buy at the grocery store. It's also available at most pharmacies I've checked (but just more convenient to pick-up with the rest of my groceries.) However, there is just that one manufacturer, in my area. (i.e. all my local shops sell the same brand.) There is more variety online.


The one I buy is the cinnamomum cassia variety. I would love to try the cinnamomum verum variety, but can't find it locally. Still, the one I'm taking works just fine.


I take 3,000mg/3g per day. Twice I've tried reducing it to 2g, but my weight loss halted during those days. So, for now at least, I have to stick with 3g.


The only real concern I've read about, in terms of long term use, is blood thinning. I even read that some women stop taking cinnamon during their periods. So, you can imagine how curious I was when the time came for that first period. Funny enough, it was the shortest and lightest period ever. I've now had three periods since starting cinnamon; all shorter and lighter than usual. So...


Once I get to a weight I want to stay at, I'll play with lower dosages, and see what happens. But, to my knowledge, lots of people do take the cinnamon from the spice rack and just add it to food and drinks, for the same result. I didn't want to grow tired of the taste of cinnamon (plus, I don't eat/drink too many things which are conducive to adding cinnamon), and I wanted an exact dosage. That's why I went with capsules. I generally take 3 500mg capsules with breakfast and three with dinner. I have done 2/2/2 breakfast/lunch/dinner...which is probably physiologically better, but I've just found it easier to do twice a day. I will either skip my dosage or reduce it if I do eat oatmeal with cinnamon or a chai tea that is heavy on the cinnamon, for example.


A bottle of 100 capsules lasts me about 16 days. It's usually about $15 per bottle, but I did recently score a few on sale at half price.


I hope that helps! :)
 
I have heard about the benefits of cinnamon as well. Thinking about talking with doctor about stopping metformin anyway. Not helping with weight loss as much as I thought. Infact, i have been out at least a month and still losing weight just fine.
 
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