Newbie with questions
Hi all! Glad to have found this place. Quick background - For many years now, I've struggled with irregular periods and difficulty losing weight, despite dieting and exercise. Doc regularly checked blood glucose level, since Type 2 Diabetes runs in my family, but it has always come back good. Early menopause isn't unheard of for the women in my family, so eventually it was decided that that must be what was happening. I was done having children anyway so I wasn't too concerned about it after that was determined to be the cause, other than still wishing I could lose the weight. Then, about 3 - 4 years ago, other symptoms started popping up - mainly signs of high androgen levels. Of course, I didn't recognize it for what it was - just realized I was plucking/waxing way more than most other women I know. Also started noticing more central weight gain and skin tags. Between moving across the country temporarily for Dh's job, then moving back home, I missed a couple of annual checkups with my doc. When I finally got back in to see him and pointed out these changes, his first thought was IR. Did a fasting IR level and it came back at 19.9 (fasting glucose came back fine as always).
I haven't seen my doc again yet - will see him in 3 months - so I'm not sure how high that really is. Seems there's a lot of discrepancy between various sources about what is normal. But it's obviously high enough to warrant my doc to prescribe Metformin ER. Currently I'm on 500mg daily at dinner.
Can anyone tell me how high my level actually was/is? Is 19.9 on the low end of high? Moderately high? Also, is 500mg once a day a normal dose of Met? Most things I've read indicate starting at 500mg then slowly, over a couple of weeks, working up to twice or 3 times that. My doc hasn't given any instructions to increase my dose at all. Also, how quickly do people usually notice a difference after starting Met?
Thanks!
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Happy to have you here at 3FC.