#metformin

[glittergroovy]

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[mindblowingscience]

Common Diabetes Drug Linked With 'Exceptional Longevity' in Women

Not only can the drug metformin help to effectively manage type 2 diabetes, but it may also give older women a better chance of living to th

Not only can the drug metformin help to effectively manage type 2 diabetes, but it may also give older women a better chance of living to the grand old age of 90, according to research published in 2025 – thanks, it seems, to a variety of anti-aging effects. Scientists in the US and Germany used data from a long-term US study of postmenopausal women. Records for a total of 438 people were selected – half of whom took metformin to treat diabetes, and half who took a different diabetes drug, sulfonylurea. While there are some caveats and asterisks to the study, those in the metformin group were calculated to have a 30 percent lower risk of dying before the age of 90 than those in the sulfonylurea group.

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[lgbtranswoman]

People who have recently found out that they have type 2 diabetes, or others who are prescribed this medication, and are about to take glucophage/metformin

If you are not prepared, you will shit yourself

The first 1-2 weeks you're on it you'll have tummy aches and you'' sometimes find yourself about to have explosive diarrhea with a 30 second timer to find a toilet.

Sincerely, someone who has started/stopped that medication multiple times unwillingly due to financial issues.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Metformin shown to prevent long COVID across risk groups in multiple randomized trials

Multiple randomized clinical trials and electronic health record studies now show that metformin, a widely used and well-established medicat

Also preserved in our archive

[the-kryomancer]

when the shit yourself medication almost makes you shit yourself

[your-lovely-ghost]

Broooo doc says the cysts on our ovaries are poly! Good for them ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[macgyvermedical]

Hey babe, wanna hear something hot? *whispers* history of metformin

Ok okay I'll talk

So metformin is commonly thought of as the most boring of diabetes drugs. Like, everyone who has ever thought about maybe having type 2 diabetes is taking it unless it gives them diarrhea, and even then their doctor still probably wants them to take it. But it's a first line because it's old, it's cheap, it doesn't often cause hypoglycemia, and it has relatively few side effects compared to other diabetes drugs. Also, like a lot of older drugs, it does way more than it says on the packaging. And a lot of stuff we're still learning about.

In order to talk about metformin, we have to talk about a plant called goat's rue. Goat's rue is a plant native to Europe, Africa, and Asia, and currently grows just about everywhere. In ancient times it was used as an anti-parasitic, a plague remedy, and to relieve the excessive urination caused by what might have been diabetes. In 1918 it was found to contain a chemical called galegine, which did lower blood sugar. Galegine as an anti-diabetes medication is probably too toxic to use long term. However, with a few chemical tweaks, it could become a drug that lowered blood sugar without the toxic effects. Metformin was born.

Metformin came out in 1923 and is a type of drug called a biguanide. it's actually the only type in it's class still available as an anti-diabetic agent, because the other drugs in it's class that came out in the 1920s and 30s caused lactic acidosis and liver problems (similar to the types of reactions seen with galegine), and were taken off the market.

Metformin (and pretty much all oral antidiabetic agents in development at this time) didn't do well initially, probably because they came out the same decade as insulin, and insulin was a lot more effective at treating any kind of diabetes.

It fell out of use extremely quickly, and didn't get picked up again until the 1940s, when US access to antimalarial drugs was cut off, just as a war in the pacific was ramping up. Metformin was evaluated as an antimalarial during WWII, and while noted to have some anti-malarial properties (particularly as a malaria preventative) it also was noted to significantly lower blood sugar in diabetic patients- while not lowering blood sugar very much at all in non-diabetic patients.

This effect, rather than it's antimalarial properties, was what got scientists really interested. Unfortunately, it would not be until 1957 in France that metformin had its first major studies to determine that it did, indeed, work against diabetes. Metformin lost the race to the "first" (successful) oral antidiabetic agent by a year, to a different drug that was found while looking for a new antibiotic- Diabenese.

Metformin became a commercial success in France, while Diabenese became successful in the United States. Metformin would actually not be approved for use in the US until 1995.

But now we get to talk about what metformin does and why it's so freaking cool.

Type 2 Diabetes- lowers A1C (a measure of blood sugar control) by 1-2 full points

Prevents/reverses weight gain due to antipsychotics

Prevents and treats malaria

Makes the flu shot work better

Decreases severity of respiratory illness and complications related to the flu

Changes gut microbiome for the better

Regulates periods and reduces other symptoms in people with PCOS

Lowers risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer

Lowers risk of dementia

Lowers risk of stroke

May increase lifespan

[snarp]