Metformin is a powerful drug known to reduce blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes treatment. Metformin also known as Glucophage is the drug of first choice among doctors for type 2 diabetes treatment involving overweight and obese people and also those with normal kidney function.
As an oral anti-diabetic drug Metformin reduces blood sugar levels by controlling the amount of glucose produced by the liver and also by metabolizing the sugar present in the liver and blood. Thus Metformin makes it easier for the body to utilize the low levels of sugar present in the blood in an efficient and effective manner.
Due to this very reason Metformin is beneficial for people with weight issues and people who are insulin resistant. Since Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) a condition found in women is related to insulin resistance, Metformin can prove to be beneficial in the treatment of PCOS among women.
It has been observed that a normal woman ovulates in a regular cycle of 14 days with menstruation occurring in 28 days. However in PCOS which affects nearly 5-10% women the body produces more than one egg in a cycle resulting in anovulation, irregular periods, hyperandrogenism leading to infertility. PCOS today has been found to be one of the major reasons for infertility among women today.
PCOS women have also been found to have cardiovascular risk factors as similar to people with metabolic syndrome. This is mainly due to insulin resistance syndrome present in PCOS women, which if left uncured or untreated can lead to type 2 diabetes after the of 40 in as much as 40% of the cases.
In such a scenario oral anti diabetic medicine Metformin with its ability to reduce blood sugar levels and improving metabolic functions of the body can be extremely beneficial in the treatment of infertility among women with PCOS.
Metformin acts by lowering the tissue's ability to resist insulin thereby allowing muscle and adipose cells to utilize glucose at normal insulin levels. The drug by lowering the absorption of sugar by the intestines, decreases production the production of hepatic glucose, without causing hypoglycemia in either normal or patients with type 2 diabetes.
Metformin thus by controlling blood sugar levels, increasing metabolic function can help ease some of the chief symptoms of PCOS such as weight gain, insulin resistence, sluggish metabolism, irregular menstruation etc. So this type 2 diabetes treatment drug can effectively treat infertility among women with PCOS by correcting the very underlying cause of insulin resistance found in these women.
The recommended dose is 500 to 1,000 mg per day.
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