Metformin for PCOS? Anyone tried?

[Unitedtemperature124]

Doctor has recommended metformin as am quite overweight, weigh 80kg and am 5’3. Has anyone tried? There’s a lot of mixed reviews online ranging from people feeling much better and it being carcinogenic 😬😬 would appreciate any advice for PCOS in general too x

I tried this but I don't know if it worked. I did the Patrick Holford low GL diet and also ended up having a procedure to clear my tubes out. The op worked straight away. But it was probably losing some weight too that helped.

It worked for me for the first year and I also followed a healthy diet(no junk, no sugar). Lost 13 kgs on it and kept if off for a long while. But I felt rubbish on it. Never got rid of bloating specially at night and it was horrible. Eventually I stopped it and preferred to live with the weight. I am back to the same weight where I started.

I had the runs so bad with metformin.

@converseandjeans I’ll definitely look that diet up. Thank you

@Literallyfedup I’m 20 and my weight bothers me a lot, I’d really like to look nice and feel confident for once. If you don’t mind me asking, when you stopped did the weight come back immediately or because of a more relaxed approach to diet and gradually? I’m hoping if I stop taking merformin say 6 months after starting I can maintain a more healthy weight?

@catnoir1 oh no! Sorry to hear. Did you stop taking it?

I lost my weight in the first year and lost some more in the 2nd year-total of 13 kgs. Most of the weight loss was in the first year. I was on Metformin 500mg 3 times a day and Diane 35 for six months initially. After I stopped taking Metformin from 3rd year onwards my weight was constant , I gained a kg before my periods but lost it afterwards. It was in the same year I started slacking diet wise but not much. I was walking for 2 miles a day. I started gaining weight in the 4th year; I had a persistent ovarian cyst which ruptured on its own but created a lot of hormonal imbalance. I gained around 7 kgs this year but kept that weight for another 5 years. After my adenomyosis worsened and I got another persistent cyst I gained another 6 kg in the last few years. So eventually I have gained all 13 kgs back.
My surgery nurse advised me to eat half a grapefruit when I first started Metformin as it increased the absorption and makes weight loss easier. I did eat it for first 6 months. I can't say if it is actually true or just some old wives tale. Just passing on the info I received, though I did read it on internet that grapefruit does increase absorption of medicine so should be avoided with drowsy medicines- so who knows!!!

@Literallyfedup oh no i’m so sorry to hear you were poorly, i hope you’re much better now and i suppose good health matters more than anything 😊 i think i will request metformin as i’d love to lose the excess weight but not sure doctor will be happy to give it to me!

My advice would be to increase the dosage slowly. If you move too quickly to the recommended dose you will suffer with diarrhoea quite badly. I didn’t take it to lose weight but to help with fertility. The only thing that helped to lose weight was the fact that if you ate anything greasy, you ended up with the runs! So it does encourage you to eat more healthily if nothing else! Good luck.