Anonymous

3 years

PCOS Metformin Dosage

I am 22 year old female, who has PCOS and am also obese (89kg and 163cm). I went to a gynaecologist last year, and I was prescribed Metformin 500mg (1 tablet every night) and oral contraceptive ‘Loette’ (21 tablet strip, each contains 20 mcg Ethinyl Estradiol and 100 mcg Levonogestrel). I was 90 kg when I started taking these medicines and by the time I had my net appointment with the doctor (3 months later) I have lost about 3kgs, and my other symptoms of PCOS (fatigue, hirsutism, and hair loss) had some improvements too. But after the 3 months, my weight slowly started to gain back, along with all the improvements I had slowly vanished too, and now I’m back where I started again. Basically the Metformin 500mg per day has not been changed for the past 1 year, and I think it might be the reason why the changes did not stay. I am also 100% sure there were no major lifestyle changes that happened during this 1 year. My lifestyle is naturally very healthy (little to no junk/fast food, little to no sweets/sodas/cakes, 30 minutes yoga 6 days per week, and around 7 hours of sleep every night). I lost weight and gained the weight back when there was no major/minor lifestyle change in my daily life. So until today I have been taking Metformin 500mg, 1 tablet per day, which I would like to increase to 2 tablets per day. I would like to know, is it okay for me to do it (I did not have any adverse/side effects when I started taking it newly btw). Is it advisable? What should I look out for? And considering I am taking Glucophage XR 500 mg, shall I take 1 in the morning and 1 at night, or can I take both at night?

Greetings!

Thank you for your question. I understand your worries regarding your condition.

It is better for you to seek medical advice from your gynecologist to be on a safe side. Many things could affect your conditions of PCOS. Even you think that your lifestyle has not been any changes, but you might want to check for other thing such as hormones, other diseases, or blood test that might be a cause to your resistant of improving symptoms.

Hence, i do not suggest you to take the medicine in different doses as prescribed. Eventhough you didnt experience any side effect yet, there must be a reason why your doctor prescribed that much. Again, i hope you can discuss about your problem with your doctor first. I am very sure she knows the best plan for your health.

These are some common side effects of metformin that you should be worried of:

  • heartburn.
  • stomach pain .
  • nausea or vomiting
  • bloating.
  • gas.
  • diarrhea .
  • constipation.
  • weight loss.

Seek help from a gynaecologist to lessen your worry regarding your condition.

Please click on this link (DoctorOnCall) to speak with our doctors online. We assure you that our conversations are kept in confidentiality unless additional consultation needed with other medical parties. Thank you

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