Metformin, The Conclusion

Tuesday came round and I called the GD nurses to discuss this whole "I'm not taking Metformin" thing, and left a message asking for them to call me back. Mid afternoon I got the call. It wasn't Zoe, my GD nurse, but her counterpart. She had my notes in front of her though and she knew I was calling about whether or not I would consent to taking the medication.

I explained very quickly why I wasn't happy with it.

First off that it wasn't licensed yet. She assured me it had been used safely for years with no reported problems but I just explained again that I wasn't willing to take that risk with my child.

And secondly, that I disagreed with the doctors opinion that I needed it in the first place given that the other GD nurse Zoe, the GD MW, dietician, and consultant where all happy. He was basing his prescription on a handful of days with untrustworthy blood sugar results.

She asked who I had seen and I described him to her. "Oh, him" she said with a sign and a tone of voice that spoke volumes "He's the registrar" (step up from doctor, training to be a consultant). She asked which blood sugars he had considered too high and I told her it was he bed time blood sugars, which had only been recorded as higher because they had been taken hours earlier due to me being tired and going to bed up to 2 1/2 hours early. I told her on these days they were over 5.5 by 0.1 or 0.2. I heard her confer with someone else in her office and came back to me saying "we don't need your bloods to be 5.5 or below at bedtime.... how were they after your evening meal?" My reply: well within the required limit. She sighed again.

And the conclusion to all this? Well, as long as I am eating properly - she was very worried that I might not be eating properly in an attempt to reduce my blood sugars - then there is no reason why I should take the Metformin if I don't want to.

It seems clear to me that this Registrar has his own agenda regarding Metformin and I am not going to be a part of it.