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Diabetic. Taking Humulin. Had Eye Surgery Done. Is Metformin Safe To Lower Blood Sugar Level?

Posted on Fri, 12 Apr 2013

Question: My father has been a diabetic for 20 years and is on Humulin 7030. Two weeks ago, he had eye surgery for a detached retina and has to be on bed rest 50 minutes for every hour (walking allowed for 10 minutes). Today, after eating two wholewheat sandwiches and a bowl of oatmeal (unsweetened), his blood sugar was checked 2-3 hours and read at 480. Because our private doctor was closed for the weekend, I went to the pharmacy and they prescribed Metformin. Will that lower the blood sugar?

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (2 hours later)

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

Metformin is a good oral anti-diabetic drug and it lowers the blood glucose in most patients. However, it has a slow onset of action and the complete effect may take 1-2 days at least.

For immediate effect, a small dose of insulin injection(such as actrapid) may be taken.

Please get back if you require any additional information.

Best wishes,

Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology)
Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad,
My personal URL on this website: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar
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Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar