Taking metformin with other medicines and herbal supplements

Cautions with other medicines

There are some medicines that can affect the way metformin works.

If you're taking any of the following medicines, your blood sugar levels may need to be checked more often and your dose changed:

• steroid tablets, such as prednisolone
• tablets that make you pee more (diuretics), such as furosemide
• medicines to treat heart problems and high blood pressure (hypertension)
• male and female hormones, such as testosterone, oestrogen or progesterone
• other diabetes medicines

Your doctor may need to make a small change to your metformin dose if you have just started taking contraceptive pills. This is because contraceptive pills can change how your body handles sugar.

Mixing metformin with herbal remedies and supplements

There's not enough information to say that complementary medicines and herbal remedies are safe to take with metformin. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy and prescription medicines. They're generally not tested for the effect they have on other medicines.