Patient was educated on precautions to be exercised while taking Metformin as follows:
- Do not take metformin with alcohol. Both metformin and alcohol can independently contribute to increased production of lactic acid and induce risk for metabolic acidosis in the body. Taken together, they can complement each other, to increase this risk significantly. Be aware of symptoms of metabolic acidosis, such as, rapid shallow breath, increased heart rate, fatigue, headache, confusion, and stomach upset with nausea and vomiting. Staying hydrated with intake of fluids as recommended and observing compliance with recommended dietary plan can help prevent development of metabolic acidosis.
- Metformin can take some time, about a week or ten days, to fairly adjust to your body, before improvement in blood sugar control and stabilization of blood sugar readings is noticed. So, do not discontinue taking the medication without your physician’s consult, as you failed to see the desired result immediately after taking the medication.
- Observe compliance with taking your daily blood sugar readings, as recommended. Log maintenance of all the blood sugar readings helps for a comparative feedback, as to how well the drug is helping control the blood sugars. This can help your physician make necessary changes on your medication dose and suggest other treatment measures to help your blood sugar numbers fall into the target range. Also, observe compliance with any other regular diabetic lab work ordered, such as, hemoglobin A1c, which tells how your average blood sugars have been doing over the past 2 to 3 months.
- Notify your doctor, if the blood sugar continues to be high, despite compliance with metformin intake as recommended. This can assist your doctor with revising the dose of metformin or adding another medication to help better control your numbers on blood sugar. Also, notify your doctor regarding any continuing or worsening unpleasant side-effects of metformin use, so that, your dosage on the medication could be revised.
