In this episode, I discuss a medication known as metformin (Glucophage).
Hey everybody welcome back to drug talk as always am your host garyx amble see erica discussing crucial information about the medication known as metformin its brand name is glucophage we stick around for the duration of the video we’ll touch on the mechanism of action or how this medication works we’ll talk about indications or reasons we will prescribe this
Medication to a patient will touch on precautions and warnings as well as contraindications or reasons we would not be able to prescribe metformin to a patient finally we’ll finish off this video by talking about examples of dosing as well as side-effects before i get started if at any point during this video you find the information to be valuable please consider
Leaving a like on this video as it really helps me get this information out to other people and helps grow this channel as well just keep in mind that this channel is for information purposes only and not to be used as a source for recommendations we are personal healthcare first let’s talk about how this medication works so metformin is an anti hyperglycemic
Agent it improves glucose tolerance in patients with type 2 diabetes it lowers both basal and post prandial plasma glucose by decreasing hepatic glucose production and intestinal absorption it improves insulin sensitivity by increasing peripheral glucose uptake and utilization metformin does not modify insulin secretion but now that we know how this medication
Works let’s now take a look at indications or when we would prescribe this medication to a patient so the most common time we see this medication prescribed is in type 2 diabetes there’s also an off-label indication that it can be prescribed to treat polycystic ovary syndrome now before somebody was to use metformin there are some contraindications that they must
Clear the first contraindication will be if somebody had a hypersensitivity or allergy to metformin or any other component of the formulation it would also be contraindicated in patients with severe renal impairment although if some physicians may still choose to give a small dose and would lastly be contraindicated in acute or chronic metabolic acidosis once a
Patient has cleared the contraindications and is going to be prescribed metformin and start using it there are some precautions and warnings that there should be made aware of so first off four precautions it should be noted that hipparchus states such as acute congestive heart failure may increase the risk of lactic acidosis use with insulin may increase the
Risk of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar and hypoglycemia may occur with insufficient calorie intake or strengthened with exercise there’s an increased risk in the elderly population patient should be made aware that low b12 levels may occur and we should avoid the use of this medication in patients with evidence of hepatic or liver disease due to an increased
Risk of lactic acidosis and caution should be used in patients undergoing surgery now after patient is made aware of the precautions and warnings and they start to use metformin they can expect to receive their dose orally let’s now take a look at examples of dosing so first off in type 2 diabetes the initial dose would typically be 500 milligrams orally twice
Daily or 850 milligrams orally once daily the dose can be adjusted in increments of five hundred milligrams weekly or eight hundred and fifty milligrams every two weeks if needed the typical maximum dose would be two thousand two hundred and fifty milligrams per day and should be noted here that doses over two thousand milligrams per day may be better tolerated
If given in three divided doses in polycystic ovary syndrome 1,500 to 2,000 milligrams may be given orally in divided doses now as with all medications there are some side effects or adverse reactions that patients may experience while using that foreman so i’ll go over some of those here now so diarrhea may occur in 53% of patients using the immediate release
Formulation while it may only occur at ten to thirteen percent of the time in patients using the extended release version of metformin flatulence may occur twelve percent of the time and seven percent of patients may experience indigestion malabsorption syndrome may happen up to ten percent of the time and up to seven percent may experience nausea up to twenty
Six percent of patients may experience vomiting asthenia or abnormal this may happen around 9 percent of the time and around 6 percent of patients may experience a headache some more serious but rare side effects would be lactic acidosis or hepatitis that’s all we talk about today with metformin or glucophage as always a very thankfully at the time you can watch
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Transcribed from video
Metformin | Pharmacy Breakdown | Dosing and Side Effects | Precautions and Warnings By Drug Talk
