[SecretAgent]

I saw the endocrinologist on Wed. She prescribed Metformin. I got the Rx filled, but have not not taken it yet.

for several months now, I have had pain and discomfort on my right side, back and front. I have been suspicious that it is a kidney issue. 2 weeks ago I had blood and urine tests, for the kidney. I do not know the results.

I wrote my primary care doc a letter yesterday, asking about the results and if it would be ok for me to take the Metformin. Have not heard back.

I called today to try to get a same day appointment because of the back pain, a long term cough, and ear pain. The nurse informed me my doc is on vacation this week, but I can see his partner today, but only for the ear pain.

I am going to try to ask him if it is ok for me to take the Metformin, but if he refuses to answer me, I will have to make a decision to take it or not. I am worried that if I have an unknown kidney problem that I would cause some serious damage. I am also worried about the blood sugar right now, because it is pretty much staying around the 140-150 mark. Sometimes it will go down in the 120s, but mostly it's near the higher end.

I have an appointment with my own doc next Thursday. Hopefully he will read my letter on Monday and respond, but at this point, I am not sure. The nurse might have read the letter and maybe she won't give it to him. I am so waiting for her to retire already. She is driving me crazy.

So, any idea about what can happen if I take the Metformin if there is a possibility of kidney problem?

Thanks!

 

[jwags]

Did the Endo know you were having these problems. I'm surprised you don't have the results of the lab test, yet. I know most of our labs have results back to the doctor within a day or two. They may be sitting in a folder on someone's desk. I know they don't recomend metformin if you already have kidney disease. As far as your numbers go are you eating low carb? If you want to hold off on the metformin until your doc comes home, do it but try to manage your carbs to keep bgs a little lower.

 

[SecretAgent]

I don't know if the endocrinologist knows about the kidney test. I'm not sure if the lab sent the results to her as well as primary (primary ordered that test.) it did not occur to me to ask as I did not know about those issues wi Metformin until I got the Rx.

I have been eating low carb for two weeks now. The day before I started, my number was 242, the day I started low carb I was able to get it down in the 130-140 range. I cannot get it any lower with low carb. I am also making sure to add fat to my diet. I've been eating a lot of cheeseburgers (no bun, of course), eggs, no-carb cheese, and low-carb veggies.

I am eating about 20 carbs a day. I am tracking it with Diabetes Buddy app for my iPad. There were a few days that I only ate 5 carbs for the whole day and the numbers still did not come down.

I'm just so confused and now worried. I feel awful. I'm on my way to the doc now, so hopefully he will check the lab results for me.

Thanks!

 

[Patdart]

Have faith, your numbers WILL drop. It took me some time to really get them in the line, but I could see them dropping as time went on. I eat between 20-30 a day and I'm getting really good numbers now. The one number that is so frustrating is my FBG, but lately even it has been dropping most days. I believe I had to use up the stored carb fat on my belly before things dropped in line. It took me a long time to get into this shape and didn't miraculously overnight!

 

[SecretAgent]

Thanks. I just got back from the doctor and pharmacy. The doc was very nice and he even looked at my glucose tracking on my iPad, checked my chart for the kidney function results (normal) and talked about the Metformin (even though the nurse insisted that I was only there for my ear!) He told me to go ahead and start taking the Metformin today, so I will.

 

[jwags]

I'm glad your tests are normal, did he have any idea about the pain? Maybe you just pulled something. As far as low carb it may take awhile for your body to adjust. Also one of the things the Metformin will do , is to limit some of the spikes in the liver. I found that in the beginning especially when I cut back on food I would get huge liver dumps. I couldn't get my bgs close to 100 until I upped my metformin to the maximum. Now the metformin may take awhile to build up in your system, so be patient.