Metformin Therapy*

Today, you have been prescribed metformin to treat your diabetes. The tablets are 500 mg each.

Metformin tends to upset the stomach and can cause abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, but these side-effects can often be prevented if the dose of metformin is slowly increased and if it is taken with food.

Please take your metformin tablets as follows:

WEEK	DOSE
	BREAKFAST	LUNCH	DINNER
1	½	0	0
2	1	0	0
3	1	0	1
4	2	0	1
5 onwards	2	0	2

If you are not tolerating the metformin, do not increase the dose.

If you were tolerating the metformin until you increased the dose, go back to the previous dose.

*This is a copy of a handout I use in my office. It is NOT meant to be a definitive document on metformin therapy.

NOTE: Remember to read my disclaimer.