Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of
your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
I am 52 years old and have had
hypothyroidism
for the last two years which is controlled with medication. However, I have put on excessive weight in the last year (10 kg [22.2 pounds]) and my metabolic rate is very slow. Hence, I am not responding to various diets. I have not been successful, and my main problem is that I feel excessively sleepy and
fatigued all the time.Could this be a reaction with the thyroid drug?
My doctor put me on
Riomet
[metformin]
to prevent
insulin
resistance
and to help me lose weight. Would this work?
Answer
Metformin is approved for use in
type 2
diabetes. It is also frequently used off-label for
PCOS
and sometimes in pre-diabetes.
However, I am unaware of any recommendation for use in patients with
thyroid disease and obesity.
I'd suggest you ask your physician for clarification of why he/she
thought that metformin would be of help. Since metformin does have
significant side effects, I'd be hesitant to use it off-label unless
there are scientific studies that support its use — you might ask
for the titles of such articles and look them up yourself at
PubMed.
wwq
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