Hey all, this is Eric Christensen, the host of the Real Life Pharmacology podcast. I've got a great

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Here's the podcast. Today I'm going to break down metformin for you. With its mechanism of action,

it reduces hepatic glucose production. That is the primary mechanism of action. I think the most important

one that you need to remember. Oftentimes, if you're doing an exam, you might have kind of a matching

type situation or a multiple choice. This one is very unique in that it reduces hepatic glucose production.

It is from the class of medications called biguanide, which maybe I shouldn't say medications

because metformin is really the only one that is available.

Of course, this is a diabetic medication by reducing liver glucose production. We reduce

blood sugar. We can help improve A1C. We can help manage our patients with diabetes.

Major, major, major, most common side effects.

Stomach upset.

So nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Maybe diarrhea being the most prominent there.

So you definitely need to watch out for this

when patients first initiated. You're going to have to look

at each patient individually, see how bad those stomach upset problems are, and work with patients,

because it is a first-line medication in diabetes, very, very common medication for sure.

So with that, make sure that the starting dose is appropriate.

Another little trick or quirk that I've seen come into play is sometimes patients will tolerate the extended release a little bit better as far as

stomach upset and that type of thing. So that might be a potential option if the immediate release

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