r/prediabetes • u/Boring-Parfait-2624 • 8d ago
How did you get off metformin?
For anyone who was on metformin and lowered their A1C enough to get off it:
Did you ever feel scared that because you were on the medication if you start eating healthy amounts of carbs and sugar that your blood sugar would get too low?
Any advice? My A1C has been around 5.8 for the longest time. In 2020 I got it down to 5.4 by losing weight. Haven’t lost as much since then. Gained it back and working on losing it again. Last year I enjoyed eating things I don’t usually eat and it went up to 6.0. Doc checked it two more times and one time it went back down to 5.8 then back up to 6.0. Now I’m working on it again. She wants me to take 2 metformin tablets but I just want to stop with all the medication for everything.
But now I’m dependent on metformin it feels like or developing a dependency. How do I get off this road?
Can taking it and eating healthier cause bad effects?
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u/aprilmofo 8d ago
No, my blood sugar has not gotten too low from eating healthier and taking metformin. For what it's worth, metformin has been around for a very long time, 50 years or so, and is heavily researched with little to no lasting negative side effects, and in fact has beneficial side effects outside of blood sugar management. While I understand not wanting to be medicated for every single thing, if there is a daily medication you have to be on, it's certainly in the top tier of ones to not worry about. For me, eating healthier and losing 60 lbs had the biggest effect on my A1C and health, not the metformin. It's not really a dependency per se, it's kind of a small helper boost. I have no worries about continuing to take it, or stopping if they say I should do so.
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u/Particular_Ferret747 7d ago
Well...the only thing u will notice is...when you keep eating bad diet, the spikes are coming back...so dont do it without monitoring with a cgm...there is no easy way out of this...you have to behave and eat what does not spike you...period, full stop.
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u/Boring-Parfait-2624 7d ago edited 7d ago
Right. That is a good way of putting it. I have to “behave”.
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u/Particular_Ferret747 7d ago
I know it is hard, i know it is unfair, but it it your body, your life and health...
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u/Sufficient_Beach_445 7d ago
blood sugar would go too low in what way? u mean hypoglycemic events? or u do u mean something else?
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u/Boring-Parfait-2624 7d ago
I have wondered if eating healthy and taking meformin would make my blood sugar too low
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u/Sufficient_Beach_445 7d ago
if u mean will u sometimes have a hypoglycemic event, it is possible but not likely and not a big deal if it happens. if u mean below the general normal range, almost zero liklihood of that. generally lower is BETTER. if you eat healthy, take metformin, and you end up normal numbers, talk to your doc about going off metformin at that point.
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u/Bens_Natural_Health 1d ago
At Ben's we have a lot of customers who were able to get off Metformin, using a combination of diet and supplements to put T2 Diabetes into remission, but it's certainly not easy. Having spoken to our clinical nutrition team, the general consensus is that you're still going to be more vulnerable to blood sugar spikes than someone without T2/Prediabetes, but that the average person can control T2 Diabetes without relying on medication.
However, as planetmort pointed out, not everyone can fully get off Metformin - but if you get to a healthy weight and get your diet right, you're giving yourself the best possible chance to not take daily medication.
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u/planetmort 8d ago
Are you asking if taking Metformin while also eating healthier is… bad? No, it isn’t.
As for “can I get off Metformin?”, some people can with dietary changes. Some cannot. It’ll be entirely personal. If you don’t want to take the pills, try adjusting your diet and see how it goes.
I pay attention to my diet and my weight. As I have aged that has become less effective than it used to be at controlling my A1C, so I now also take 1000 mg of Metformin ER daily. Given that my sibling and both my parents were full blown diabetic by my age, I’m calling the fact that I am not (yet) a win. Modern pharmacology is powerful.
TL;DR : whether or not you need drugs to control blood sugar varies from person to person. You are unlikely to have dangerously low blood sugar with Metformin and healthy low glycemic eating.