Symptomatic Hypoglycemia During Treatment with a Therapeutic Dose of Metformin
Abstract
BACKGROUND Metformin has a longstanding reputation as the first-line treatment for glycemic control in the setting of diabetes mellitus type 2. A contributing factor to this reputation is metformin having a low risk of inducing hypoglycemia compared to other oral hypoglycemics or insulin. There are no case reports of hypoglycemia while on conventional or therapeutic doses of metformin. This case report is of a patient who developed symptomatic hypoglycemia while being treated with a therapeutic dose of metformin. CASE REPORT A 58-year-old man with history including diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, and schizoaffective disorder was dismissed early from work due to symptoms of severe weakness, confusion, diaphoresis, dizziness, shortness of breath, palpitations, and a sensation of feeling hot. Continuous glucose monitoring revealed hypoglycemic episodes up to 4% of the time. The hypoglycemic events appeared to occur primarily between midnight and 7 A.M., with the second likely time frame being between 7A.M. and noon. Within 2 weeks of discontinuing metformin, there were no further "attacks", and the chronic daytime fatigue and somnolence significantly improved. CONCLUSIONS This case report suggests that there is a risk of symptomatic hypoglycemia with therapeutic doses of metformin. Although advised to be taken with meals to avoid gastrointestinal upset, patients should also be educated to take metformin with meals to reduce the risk of metformin-associated hypoglycemia.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.