Your Metformin Use

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

I know some of you guys are on Metformin. I want to know:

  1. Why?
  2. What is it doing for you?
  3. What’s the goal? Forever or some short term thing?
2

Theoretically the goal is to improve insulin sensitivity and will ultimately suppress appetite.
This drug is almost natural because it is extracted from a plant with minimal processing to remove the toxicity in its natural state.
I heard a lot of positive things about it there are numerous studies.

However some studies show it can cause some decrease in endogenous testosterone and thats why I do not use it.

Jay Campbell for example is a fanatic about it and says it should be in the water supply :smiley:

3

Are you on TRT?

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4

  1. Because I am prediabetic (genetic coupled with bad diet for too many years of my life) and my insulin sensitivity is not the greatest. That in turn has made it EXTREMELY difficult to burn fat down to less than 17%. I’m hoping that it will give me the means to be able to overcome that dilemma, and also keep me from crossing the prediabetic line into full fledge type 2.

  2. So far, my fasting BG has not been above 108 (was hovering in the mid 120’s) since starting the 1000mg/day dosage. Fat burning has seemed to slowly start moving again, albeit not at an incredible rate by any means, and it still takes a lot of work.

  3. The goal is to not get diabetes. The term will depend on what my next A1C reveals. If I look REALLY good (my A1C, not my body lol), I may try to drop it for a while and see what happens. I don’t want to be on it for life, but if keeps me out of the danger zone I’ll continue for as long as I live.

5

I’m on TRT. 185 mg (more or less) a week. two shots.

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6

Thanks. The question was for @vonko1988 though. I hit reply for him but it put it out as general.

7

Here’s my issue. Every male member of my father’s family has Type 2 diabetes. I have always had an A1C between 5.3 and 5.6. In January it was 5.9, and yesterday it came back at 7.5. The January test was in the US, yesterday was in Central America. I was getting other stuff done and decided to just throw that one in for the heck of it. So now I’m worried. I am getting it done again Thursday at a different lab to compare.

9

I was reading that last night, which is why I’m running it again at a different lab.

2 Likes
10

This. I am curious about this. I’ve had a heck of a time losing fat for years. I cut to compete in the Lightweight division (ProAm) in Strongman. 45 mins to an hour of interval cardio on the treadmill at incline of 10 every day and keto diet and after 4 weeks I had lost the 5 lbs that I lost the first week. That was it. I had to do a retarded diet on top of everything else to make that 105 kg cutoff for LW, and that was only with 15 lbs of dehydration before weigh in. Didn’t know total test of under 300 was low. Now I’m addressing the test levels and I still don’t lose weight. And I have a pretty clean diet.
What is the plan with the Metformin? Use it for weight loss and then see where you’re at without it? It’s OTC here, but I’m anti taking anything that I don’t have to.

11

Im not thats why I didnt like it can reduce endogenous t

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12

This sounds eeeeeerrriillllyyy familiar!! lol

I think fat loss would be a welcome side effect, but my main purpose is to keep diabetes at bay. I think the fat loss will come easily as soon as all systems are functioning properly. The older we get, the more it seems like we have to FIGHT the body to get everything back in line. We have to teach our bodies how to re-define it’s homeostasis setpoints. It sucks brother.

Have you had A1C testing lately? Keep a check on BG levels? Those would be your first indicators.

13

That’s the concern. My father and all of his brothers are type 2, but they all drank too much and didn’t exercise. My paternal grandfather had it also, and we think his father as well. It’s a big sudden shift in A1C.Going to a different lab Thursday and see what they say.

14

Sorry about that. I missed that post.

I think that we can live as clean as we can, but when it comes to fighting genetics, you have to break out the big guns. I think you would be doing yourself a favor by starting metformin as a preemptive measure.

I have it all the way around. Family hoistory of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, poor gas mileage, you name it. All I can do is eat as clean as possible, take the supplements that make sense (Vit C, Vit D, CoQ10, Fish Oil, etc…), limit the drinking to a couple on the weekend only, and work my ass off in the gym. The rest I have to trust Defy Medical to help me out with.

I tried several dietary methods to reign it in, including keto (which works great btw for lowering BG because of the elimination of carbs). The problem with keto, at least for me, was that my cholesterol went through the roof, even though I was eating mainly good fats. They say that it will level out with keto ina year or so, but with my history of heart disease, it’s a chance I’m not willing to take.

15

I felt like a dick quoting it, but it was easier than re-typing it. Honestly, I’m a little leery in part because Jay Campbell is so pro-Metformin.

16

I totally understand that. Anytime anyone touts something as THE big thing, it gives me a pause. I hadn’t heard of Jay Campbell before I started it, and still don’t know much about the man. I prefer to read case studies,the experiences of those who are in the ditch with me, and watch my own reactions to determine what’s best for me. I give way less credence to those who would profit from the information that they are trying to pass on to me.

I’m sure that it won’t hurt you (barring some unknown allergic reaction that I haven’t yet heard of), it could really only help. It would be a pretty safe bet to give it a trial run.

17

You should probably get a C-peptide test as well. That will determine if your pancreas is still making insulin. Helps distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

18

I’ve been taking 500mg 2X a day for a couple months now. I’ve noticed changes in hunger (appetite isn’t as crazy as it once was, so it’s easier to lean out), and I had GI issues at the start that quickly subsided. That’s about it. Not positive I will continue it, but I hopped on because of Jay’s rave reviews, because it’s easy to obtain, and because supposedly it works wonders for longevity.

19

I take metformin and Victoza due to being diabetic. My family history has screwed me on that one. One year I was fine, next year I went for my check and my A1c was over 8 and I had a fasting glucose of over 300. All my doctors have said there is nothing I could due to prevent a sudden onset like that, it was purely genetics. Bad lifestyle is only a risk factor and lifestyle changes produce smaller jumps in a year.

It does keep my appetite down a little bit and the Victoza makes me nauseous if I eat too many carbs (weird but kind of beneficial side effect).
Through these medicines and good diet I have gotten my A1c back to 5.2 (normal level).

I don’t know if I would use as a supplement if it wasn’t medically necessary for me.

20

Are doctors usually more lax about prescribing metformin?

21

I used it for a few months. Long before I ever heard of Jay Campbell. My wife has also been using it for about a year. Didn’t seem to effect her too much either way.

I couldn’t tolerate the gastrointestinal side effects. Even the slow-release wasn’t much better.
I probably don’t need it but I do get a bit of chromium and lipoic acid to help with insulin sensitivity. I test insulin quite a bit too and if it’s ever high, I’ll go back on.

I’ve heard Met can impact igf-1 and interestingly, I’ve read you can get resistant to igf just like you can to insulin. So perhaps that’s what explains some of the studies where igf-1 is negatively implicated, but admittedly, this isn’t my field.