Metformin and Type 1

[jvoyles]

My daughter is 13 and Type 1 for 4 years. She has needed a lot more insulin in the last year due to puberty, I guess. Her A1C has still been 6.8-7.1, so the increased need is valid to keep her blood sugar in line. At her most recent dr visit, the endo recommended a complete change in her basals to a mostly flat rates and less insulin overall. She wanted to reduce basals due to weight gain and flatten them due to lows. But I have had to increase the amounts back up because she was running too high. She needs what she needs.

My daughter is very active and we try to eat a healthy diet but she is constantly hungry. She is not overweight but is in the "at risk for being overweight" category and has gained about 10 lbs without growing much.

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and if they were prescribed Metformin (glucophage) and if it helps with Type 1. Also, what was the medical reasoning for prescribing it?

Thanks Jana

[cydnimom]

I have never used metformin, but have know other T1s who have because of insulin resistance. Just because you are T1 doesn't mean that you won't develop insulin resistance just a T2 does.

When you are a teen the growth hormones going through your body do cause great insulin resistance and thus the reasoning of doctors to include an insulin sensitizing drug such as metformin.

Insulin is also a growth hormone and in great quantities can cause weight gain and in the least will not allow you to lose weight as effectively. Doctors like to see a person only using a certain amount of insulin based on your size (a percentage) I can't remember how they calculate it, but you should ask her endo. If you go over this percentage then they think there is some insulin resistance going on for some reason (perhaps in your daughter's case its the growth hormones) and they like to create more insulin sensitivity for this period by using other drugs temporarily. They don't like to increase the insulin dose because this causes more weight gain and it becomes a vicious circle with more insulin resistance caused by weight gain.

Plus the fact that a teen girl does not want to gain too much weight and are very self concious about themselves - you don't want them to fall into an eating disorder.

Ask her endo more questions. Ask if they have any other patients on this regime and specifically the side effects of these drugs, because I believe for some people they can make you feel pretty yucky (stomach wise).