Stroke after withdrawal of metformin

Pluto46 · 2021-01-20 17:03:19

I lost my Dad last year and its fair to say the last few years of his life were a living hell due to a catastrophic stroke which he lived with for 4 years but rendered him unable to speak or move. Something that has been playing on my mind a lot is this happened not long after he was taken off Metformin. He had come to live with me and I suppose I managed his diet better than he had himself and, as a result, his blood tests were very good, however, I believe (with hindsight) this was in no small part because of the Metformin and not in spite of it. The GP, however, decided to take him off it and I did not question it. I now feel this was the wrong decision and he was not assessed holistically. Due to a previous stomach ulcer and the risk of bleeds, he was not considered suitable for aspirin and would have been a stroke risk due to his Type 2 diabetes. From what I have read since Metformin does offer some protection against stroke and, given its minimal cost, I am now questioning the logic in taking him off it given aspirin was not recommended (due to the previous ulcer) or any other alternative to minimize stroke risk . Shortly after coming off the metformin, he had what I thought was a minor stroke at home but A & E did a scan and insisted it was just a water infection . They admitted him for obs and hours later (in the middle of the night) he suffered a huge stroke from which he never recovered. I have been given access to his notes however, only in short form, so a lot of things are batched in groups and do not give a clear sequence of events. I feel if I try and discuss with the GP they will feel I am trying to implicate them. I just wondered if anyone with more experience could shed any light on the circumstances and see if there is any grounds for my concerns. I am not looking to blame anyone - it just seems to be something I need to reconcile in my own mind - part of the grieving process, I suppose

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Life-limiting illness

This thread has been deleted

We've taken this down at the request of the OP.