Metformin Dosage

Metformin is a biguanide class of medication used for treatment of type two diabetes and sometimes for treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome. The mechanism of action of metformin for lowering blood sugars is that it reduces the process called glyconeogenesis in tissues like the liver and muscles, and so lowers the release of sugar into the blood stream from those tissues. An advantage of metformin over the older class of drugs called sulfonylureas is that it is not often a cause of abnormally low blood sugars, but rather simply prevents blood sugars from getting too high.

Meformin dosage is usually started at 500 mg twice daily, and can be raised as needed and tolerated up to a maximum metformin dosage of 3000 mg daily. Most patients tolerate even high metformin dosage regimens well, but especially at the higher metformin dosage diarrhea, bloating and other bowel symptoms are more commonly encountered. Metformin is available in a sustained release once daily metformin dosage regimen. This product is felt to have a lower incidence or gastrointestinal side effects than immediate release metformin.

A rare and often fatal side effect associated with the use of metformin is lactic acidosis, it is when high amounts of lactic acid produced muscles but the body is unable to remove it as quickly. This is more likely in patients with renal insufficiency, and generally metformin is not used in patients who have an elevated serum creatinine indicating renal insufficiency. A key advantage of metformin is that it does not induce weight gain, which is very important for patients with type 2 diabetes where obesity is often a key factor in leading to the emergence of their diabetes. Learn from our utimate library on Metformin side effects and drop a comment below about Metformin dosage if you feel like it.