February 16, 2002
Pills for Diabetes
Question from Dallas, Texas, USA:
I am a 27 year old woman just diagnosed with type�2 diabetes, and take Glucophage twice a day. The problem is that throughout the day I feel sick to my stomach, and I have a headache all the time. I feel like I’m about to vomit all the time. The mere smell of food makes me sick. What can I do to get pass the sick feelings?
Answer:
With the initiation of Glucophage [metformin] therapy, it is not uncommon to have gastrointestinal side effects, which include nausea and loose stools. The symptoms tend to go away with time.
If you have these symptoms with initiation, they may relieved by decreasing the dose and only gradually increasing it over time. Talk to your physician about this. It is common enough that your physician should be familiar with the symptoms and can modify the dose to improve your symptoms.
JTL
