
The Pros and Cons of Metformin for Diabetes
Metformin is #7 on the doctors’ hit parade of top 10 prescription drugs. Each year the number of prescriptions increases substantially. Last year there were 87 million metformin prescriptions dispensed in U.S. pharmacies. That does not count combo products that include metformin in their formulation such as Glucovance, Invokamet, Janumet, Kombiglyze XR, Metaglip and Synjardy, to name just a few. Metformin is clearly the #1 drug for diabetes and because the number of people with diabetes keeps going up, prescriptions for metformin are skyrocketing. That’s why readers of our syndicated newspaper column and visitors to this website are so desperate to learn more about metformin for diabetes.
How To Know If Metformin for Diabetes Is Right for You:
Here is a typical letter from a reader:
Q. I crossed the line a month ago from normal blood sugar to type 2 diabetes and was put on metformin. I hate taking drugs. What can you tell me about metformin?
Thank the Old Wives:
A. Metformin is one of the oldest and most well-studied diabetes medicines. It probably comes as a shock to most prescribers to learn that their favorite diabetes drug is available thanks to the old wives.
Practitioners of folk medicine discovered that French lilac (Galega officinalis) helped control the symptoms of a condition associated with “sweet urine.” An article in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (Oct. 15, 2001) noted:
“In medieval times, a prescription of Galega officinalis was said to relieve the intense urination accompanying the disease that came to have the name of diabetes mellitus [now
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