hi... a poster on a newsgroup I subscribe to mentioned her doc gave her Glucaphage to lose weight. She did not indicate that she had a problem with blood sugars. Forgive my lack of knowledge, but does this sound right to you? Can a doctor merely prescribe this for weight loss alone? Thanks in advance for your replies.

Um, no ... in the past few years glucophage has been prescribed to women with polycystic ovary syndrome as the research is showing that the syndrome is correlated to insulin resistance. So, take glucophage and the symptoms of PCOS can sometimes be relieved. One of the symptoms of PCOS is weight gain. Other symptoms include absent or irregular menstrual periods, hirsutism (unwanted hair growth), infertility, as well as others.

I went on glucophage for PCOS and experienced no weight loss. 6 months later I went off the medication and started Atkins ... that worked for me.

My guess is that the person who posted is PCOS and the meds were prescribed for that (one symptom being overweight).

I suspect that Wendy is correct in why it was prescribed, but to answer your generic question, at least in the U.S., a physician can prescribe any medication for any purpose. If I remember correctly, this is called an 'off schedule' use or something like that. As the side effects of drugs become known, they aften get prescribed for the side effect. This is how a lot of drugs get accepted for other use. For instance, it's how Viagra came to be used for the purpose everyone knows about - that is NOT what it was developed and approved for. But the observed side-effects led to its being prescribed off-schedule.

Glucophage (metformin) is often prescribed for Type 2 diabetics who are also obese. Other oral antihyperglycemics (drugs which will lower the blood sugar) work by stimulating the pancreas to pump out more insulin. Insulin will cause fat to be STORED, and also inhibits the burning of body fat for fuel. On the other hand, glucophage helps cells to be more sensitive to insulin; therefore less insulin is produced and released into the bloodstream. Less insulin means less fat is stored, and more body fat can be burned. For persons with a diagnosed insulin resistance problem, such as PCOS or diabetes .. then glucophage can indirectly help with weight loss.

Double-blind studies show no effect in non-diabetic, non-insulin resistant subjects. BaileyWS and WBahn are right .. it's likely this person experienced weight loss as an indirect effect of the glucophage, but it would have been prescribed for some other reason.

Doreen

Compucat,

Hi! From my own experiences with my endrocronologist prescribing Glucophage (for PCOS), he explained that the drug will not help someone if they continue to eat foods that spike insulin (many carbs). Therefore, the drug can only do so much to potentiate insulin. He said that a person had to control their sugar/carb intake when taking the drug in order to get a positive result. Therefore, the person who lost weight probably modified her diet substantially (which led to weight loss). However, the potential side-effects (severe gastrointestinal distress & renal acidosis) of the drug can be dangerous as well.

Betsy

My ex boyfriend was on glucophage for diabetes. He was fat the whole time.

Was he low-carbing and/or exercising?? As was pointed out in a previous post .. if a person continues to consume excess carbs, and/or does not exercise, then excess insulin will be produced .. and any benefit from the glucophage will be lost, unfortunately

Doreen

I can't help but wonder.

If they prescibe this drug and then tell you that it won't be effective without restricting your carbs and exercising, how frequently have they told their patients to FIRST restrict their carbs and start exercising and THEN see if the drug is still needed?

I have had a problem with acne, facial hair and irregular periods for as long as I can remember. No one has suggested PCOS. I dont really want to take medication as the problems are not very severe. Luckily I did not have a problem getting pregnant.

I wonder if LCing will help improve my acne and decrease facial hair? Hard to believe it would.... I already got the early period as I have read is common on LC. Next one is due soon... roughly on time give or take a few days.

Akiwican

Believe it or not, some doctors actually DO prescribe Glucophage to help their patients loose weight. I've had to take it for diabetes and can say that it hasn't seemed to do much for helping the weight loss even though my doctor assured me that it would; I'm still loosing at a snail's pace. I've also heard of it being prescribed for PCOS since the syndrome does often involve hyperinsulinemia. I'm considering asking my doctor if I can discontinue the Glucophage as I've cut to a half dose and am still having my blood sugars be a bit low in the morning (80 or so). Amazing to say considering that when I started, my blood sugars were averaging 250 with my morning readings sometimes actually being higher than my bedtime readings (something referred to as the "dawn effect"). Fortunately, I haven't had any adverse affects from the drug other than my blood sugar sometimes being a bit on the low side, but why take something you don't need?

Wow, I was so happy to find this post!!
Today my doc took me off of a diuertic (sp?) that was for symptoms of PCOS. He also took me off Avandia but doubled my dose of Glucophage. Since I haven't lost any weight yet I'm hoping this will help that out. I'm also hoping that the Glucophage will take over with the PCOS where the other drug left off. It was nice to see that at least Glucophage doesn't HINDER weight loss like I suspect the Avandia was.
Thanks for sharing your info!

Bill, I'm not a dr but ... the prescribing info that's posted at Rxlist.com states that glucophage is to be used when the Type 2 diabetic patient cannot achieve blood sugar control with diet and exercise alone. So it's my understanding that it's NOT prescribed until diet and exercise has been tried and is unsuccessful. Of course, we all know what is the current diet promoted by the ADA for diabetics .

Doreen

Thanks for the info.

It sounds like its a series problem (series in the technical sense). You have to have BOTH in place in order to get results without the drugs - try dietary control first and try the RIGHT dietary control. Unless both are done, the drug is probably being prescribed more often than necessary.

But, the general impression I'm getting is that the medical community is slowing coming to grips with the negative impact of all the high carbs. Perhaps in a few more decades....

uh, bill...where the money in THAT?

My doc keeps handing me free SSRIs to aid in weight loss--I told him that I don't have out of control behaviors with eating, so they couldn't possibly help, but he keeps saying to try them. Docs hand out these things to women like they were the miracle cure for everything from a fat butt to a drunk husband. (xuse me, must go review my stock portfolio while I'm thinking of it )

Razzle: BTW: What's an SSRI