![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
LF doctor opinion
Something didn't sound right to me.
http://community.livejournal.com/pcosupport/578106.html?nc=1
The commenter writes that she takes breaks from Metformin to "detox for [her] liver's sake". Now, what I thought about how Metformin works is that it actually decreases the stress on your liver. Met changes liver function so it's not producing as much glucose, reducing overall blood sugar which eases the strain on the insulin-producing pancreas. Now, you shouldn't drink very much while on Met, because the liver won't process it as well or correctly, and having liver disease is a definite contraindication for taking it. But is there any medical advantage at all to taking a break to "detox" from Met? Personally, I take a break from time to time, but that's simply an aversion to swallowing large pills and it being so easy to get out of the habit of taking them daily.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bluekitsune? jvinocur? jfrands? Feel free to chime in, I'm looking at you folks for commentary. (vetgirlbeth, your input would also be valued if you care to comment on diabetes medications in non-humans :)) My apologies if I forgot any other members of the medical community.
http://community.livejournal.com/pcosupport/578106.html?nc=1
The commenter writes that she takes breaks from Metformin to "detox for [her] liver's sake". Now, what I thought about how Metformin works is that it actually decreases the stress on your liver. Met changes liver function so it's not producing as much glucose, reducing overall blood sugar which eases the strain on the insulin-producing pancreas. Now, you shouldn't drink very much while on Met, because the liver won't process it as well or correctly, and having liver disease is a definite contraindication for taking it. But is there any medical advantage at all to taking a break to "detox" from Met? Personally, I take a break from time to time, but that's simply an aversion to swallowing large pills and it being so easy to get out of the habit of taking them daily.
bluekitsune? jvinocur? jfrands? Feel free to chime in, I'm looking at you folks for commentary. (vetgirlbeth, your input would also be valued if you care to comment on diabetes medications in non-humans :)) My apologies if I forgot any other members of the medical community.
no subject
Just about any paragraph with that word except in referrence to a place to come down from alcohol should be ignored. It has no physical meaning. The idea that your kidneys or liver need to be detoxified is created by the mistaken notion that they act like literal filters that collect garbage. The liver uses enzymes to slice and dice things until they are small enough for the kidney to actively excrete them. It does though also process and store glycogen and is instrumental in procesing lipids, as well as having endocrine and exocrine functions, some of which we don't understand at all.