Metformin for insulin resistance during pregnancy

[Rachel_81]

Hi!

I am new here. I am hypothyroid and have been consulting an endocrinologist where I live (Portugal).

I am so far very happy with my doctor, I feel that my thyroid issues are well taken care of and feel healthy for the first time in, well ever.

My blood sugars have been creeping up over the last year and are now at 105 mg/dl after a 12 hour fast and 145 mg/dl after a 1 hour glucose test.

I am now 9 weeks pregnant and my endo prescribed me Metformin 750 at dinner and 750 at breakfast. I have been on it for 2 weeks with hardly any side effect. My doctor said she believes I will just keep increasing and may end up with gestational diabetes so the Metformin is to help prevent this. I eat healthily and have a BMI of 22.

Yesterday I had an Obstetrician appointment and she told me to stop the Metformin, that policy in Portugal is to not prevent gestational diabetes but to treat it if it occurs and that they dont give pregnant women Metformin so I'd have to use insulin.

I am unsure who to listen to.

Does anyone have an opinion/advice?

Thank you in advance!

[Gambit62]

personally I'm not a great fan of metformin because of the potential impact on absorption of B12.

However from a quick search of sites tat I'd trust to have some scientific rigour it would appear that there aren't any specific problems with metformin during pregnancy (aside from a high incidence of some unpleasant side-effects. In fact it seems to reduce the risk of preterm delivery in treating PCOS patients. eg

diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-med...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

royalberkshire.nhs.uk/patie...

It is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. if you are aware of a history of gestational diabetes in the family then that could be an indicator of a MODY variant of diabetes - which is closer to type 1

diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-di...

[Rachel_81 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you Gambit 62,

I am still nervous about taking it but have tried exercise (gym, 3 times a week) and practically eliminating carbs with no success.

I will ask my doctor if I can come off it and just wait and see what my sugar levels do, and only go back on if they continue to rise.

Thank!!!

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It is better to go for insuline rather than taking metformin because metformin could affect the child's gastrointestinal system , which would get reflectd in some other after many years .

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Introduction of any acid in any form is not good for the fetus.