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Comment by Joyfield | Hacker News Reader

But holy DAMNED does it give diarrhea. (Diabetic here, not using it since a couple of years)

Yeah, but only to 20% of those who try it. For them, there's a slow release version, but I don't think it's widely available - I tried finding Glucophage SR in Europe with no success!

Anyway, I'm among the lucky 80% of those without side effects. I'm not diabetic; I take it for biohacking reasons.

"I'm not diabetic; I take it for biohacking reasons."

Did you just say to your doctor, "Hey, doc, I'm trying to live forever here, can you hook me up with some metformin?"

I often wonder about this, when it comes to folks using drugs for off-label purposes. I know there are doctors that are amenable to prescribing things like anti-depressants on patient request, but a diabetic drug seems a harder sell.

Many anti-aging doctors prescribe it to non-diabetics. I personally buy it in Eastern Europe without a prescription with no issue. I know all the side effects such as potential Vitamin B12 deficiency, lactic acidosis, etc.

You can buy Glucophage SR and Metformin SR online in the UK pretty easily, google and it's in the first 10 results.

They don't ship to the US, and the price is not a nickel per pill either!

~100 pills go for 20-30 GBP (depending on the brand, and strength), that's 20-30p per pill, it's not a nickel but it's not much more expensive (it's about a quarter on the lower end) and this is from online pharmacies without a real prescription (it's a self filled form "consultation") these usually take a premium since they know you aren't ordering those because an actual doctor prescribed them for you.

I'm pretty sure if you are actually prescribed these for diabetes by your GP you'll pay a fraction of that cost under the NHS.

Was that Metformin by itself or was it formulated with Glyburide?

I had the same side effects, but that's ok because I'm actually T1, not T2.

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