Metformin could treat gum disease and help with healthy aging, study claims | Hacker News Reader

Metformin could treat gum disease and help with healthy aging, study claims

medicalxpress.com

35 pointsalwillis20 comments

Metformin seems like the wonder drug. Reduces long covid chance, protects muscles, used in every anti-agers supplement stack, and now can help with gums.

Seems like something non-diabetics may want to consider?

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-metformin-a-wonder-dr...

https://healthcare.utah.edu/press-releases/2023/07/common-di...

How does one get a prescription for preventive use? Just talk to your doctor?

Psychiatrist. They love experimenting.

YMMV. Sometimes you have to shop around.

In the USA you can use any 15 minute prescription website nowadays.

I just asked my GP during a regular physical and they wrote me a script for whatever dose I wanted.

Since it’s dirt cheap, not a controlled substance, and safe without any drug interactions I think my doc didn’t really care. And I think 90 days of 2grams a day was like $3 without insurance. I remember thinking how it’s cheaper than aspirin or Tylenol.

If you're uninsured or don't want to go through your insurance for whatever reasons, Costco has $29 consults with a nurse practitioner or physician assistant. Have them send the Rx to your local Walmart and you can get 90 days worth for under $10.

Will they actually provide a script for preventative use / gum disease?

I can't say with certainly, but a family member says they were able to get a Levothyroxine Rx without a TSH test.

It pisses me off that this cannot be brought without prescription. My doc would not give it to me for off label use. It should be able to take metformin and lower my health insurance premiums for being proactive.

I see it available on alldaychemist.com - a site that ships from India for those with a more DIY approach to medicine. I've used them sometimes but I do wonder about the quality, though I assume they're sourcing from the same generic drug makers as everyone else. I can say that the beta blockers I've bought from them certainly have the desired effects at least.

Thanks. Is there a forum or chatroom for for this topic where I can verify which online provider is trusted.

FYI: There's a large clinical trial of Metformin taking place [1]. My understanding is one of the goals is to make Metformin more easily available if the trial pans out. In lots of countries (currently not the US or the EU), Metformin is available without a prescription.

[1]: Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) Trial—https://www.afar.org/tame-trial

Yes, there's quite the buzz about it but it's not necessarily the savior we hope it to be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPdkuriBEzo

He's a reasonable doc is is interested in health and longevity but is rather conservative in his assessments.

Attia and Huberman appear to be cautious as well: https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-lab/journal-club-with-dr-p...

2/3 cited are practicing doctors, and Huberman is, well, Huberman.

I’m all for changing one’s mind on something, but I get skeptical when they all follow the same position around the same cycle/time of “social media hype”.

Attia for example changed his mind on fasting too recently. When that’s what arguably made him famous (see Limitless with Chris Hemsworth for example).

The argument of doubling down on exercise in place of metformin seems a bit extreme for example. Most of us do not have the privilege to do so even if we’re quite active.

I am on it for Type 2 for a few months and it sometimes is not very pleasant, but it beats the effects of having uncontrolled high blood sugar.

For me it really fucks up your gut biome on occasion - the running to the toilet incidents has reduced in the beginning since I changed my diet to low carb but there are still some odd days where I can't stray too from home.

It's not perfect:

Men’s use of diabetes drug just before conception is linked to a 40% increase in birth defects, study finds

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/28/health/paternal-metformin-use...

N = 1, but I’ve been taking 1700mg of metformin (in two split doses of 850mg) for five years.

I was able to get the prescription from my doctor by presenting evidence and the rationale and design for the TAME trial.

He was comfortable with this due to the strong safety history of the drug. Insurance covers it (though it’s very cheap anyway) and I pay nothing out of pocket. I live in Canada and also have private insurance through work.

I had some gastrointestinal issues initially, but they weren’t serious, and my body adapted fairly quickly as they want away. I tried taking metformin while doing an 18:6 intermittent fast and gastrointestinal symptoms returned, so I won’t be doing that again.

There is some debate about the benefits and risks of metformin, but so far I haven’t experienced negative side effects of concern to me. I’ve had various tests over the past five years—blood, urine, body composition, etc.

As for the TAME trial, while there have been positive developments, I’m now doubtful it will ever actually run. I have a prediction market on Manifold right now that shows a 25% chance it will be listed on clinicaltrials.gov by the end of the year.

I’m not trying to promote the market (the main benefit to me is more market participants hopefully means better forecasting), but if anyone’s interested, it’s here: https://manifold.markets/SimonSmith/will-the-targeting-aging...

How would an Australian get some?

In mice

Reply on news.ycombinator.com