Metformin Nightime Nausea Help?

Hi Folks I am wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks regarding avoiding nausea while on glucophage/metformin. I am on the medication for PCOS. I also have Celiac and Crohn's disease so I am on a strict gluten free diet. I first started on Metformin in September 2007. I had no major issues with it until this past fall. I started getting nauseous everyday around 4 pm. It would continue all night long completely hampering me from eating any snacks or dinner. It got so bad that I could not even stand the smell of food (much like when you have a nasty stomach virus). It felt like my food was not moving past my stomach and would just sit there for hours and it would resolve temporarily with Reglan but would come back the next day. My GI did a gastric emptying study which was normal. What drives me nuts is that I am perfectly fine in the morning and have no issues eating breakfast. Anyway, I stopped the meds in January and I have felt great off of them except that all my PCOS symptoms are rearing their ugly heads again. My endo started me on extended release metformin which I have been on for the past two days and again...nighttime nausea. I do take the pills with food. I am wondering if it is caused by some kind of hormone shift or not eating at the right time. If anyone has any tricks that may help with this I would love to hear what they are as I am getting less and less inclined to stay on this awful med.

Thanks!

Veebo,

Hi, I understand how you feel. I take, or rather took Metformin for Type 2 Diabetes (just diagnosed March 16, 2009), I started out on just 500 mg. a day, and went up to 2000 mg. a day.  I just talked to my Dr. yesterday and told him abou my nausea issues..He changed me to Metformin XR...I have only taken it once, but so far not as bad...Maybe you should ask about it for you...

Good Luck,

Me.

Veebo,
I only wish I could borrow your symptoms! Night time is my hardest time to stay on track and when most of my control issues appear with over indulgences. If I were you I'd tailor my eating schedule to the med for a while and just eat my food before noon. My husband only eats once a day, has for over 30 years and he's just fine. Try it and see if it works?

Hi Veebo, I am not on meds, so other members here who are can give you the best advice for them, but what has struck me in your post is the amount of carbs you've been eating.  Food like the rice crisps and potato chips will keep your blood sugar high which in turn will increase the need for meds.  The yogurt and walnuts have protein and fats (from the nuts anyway if the yogurt is fat-free) and shouldn't give you as bad a rise.  Good snacks for diabetics or anyone with high blood sugar would be cheese, nuts, sugar-free or plain yogurt, eggs or even deli-style meat slices.  I'm not sure what diet restrictions you have because of Celiac and Crohn's but if you reduced the amount of carbs, I know the blood sugar would be lower.  As you know, testing is the best way to see how your blood sugar reacts to the food you're eating.  Good luck. 

Hello,

So my awake hours were good yesterday...no real nausea.   However, I had awful night sweats and chills and middle of the night nausea.  I am starting to think that I just simply can not tolerate the metformin anymore.  Low carbs did seem to help yesterday so I am going to do it again today.  As a side note I do not have diabetes so low carb is not really a mandate for me.  I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and I am taking the metformin to help balance out my hormones (it does wonders).  My blood sugar is actually normal so I always try to eat some carbs while taking metformin in an effort to keep it from going low.  Either way low carb can be beneficial to those with PCOS since it is often accompanied by insulin resistance (which I do not have).  I came seeking help from the diabetic board since I figured you folks would know better than anyone the way in which these meds impact your body.  I appreciate all your responses :)

Thank You 

Hello everyone!

I am so glad I found this posting! Ive been on metformin ER for about a month now, and ive gradually moved up to 1500mg per day for Insulin Resistance, and I have had the absolute worst nausea. And whats worse is that it is all day long, the smell of food repulses me, but i have to take it with food, which in turn makes it worse. It ges so bad at night that I cant sleep, and my doc says its relatively normal. Ive cut down my carbs tremendously, but I will admit Ive been slacking a bit lately. I am going to try and snack on low carb foods and see if that helps....Thanks all!!