First time having a patient with diabetes

[Tammy90]

Hello, I have a patient tomorrow and she has type 2 diabetes and is taking metformin 500mg bid with meals.

I just wanted to make sure, but my primary nurse will have to take her blood sugars before i can give her her metformin with her breakfast right?

becuase if it happened to be a 3, we obviously wouldn't be giving her metformin?

how do you know exactly when to not give metformin?

is 4 to low as well to give it?

also, to clarify, normal blood sugar is 4-7 mmol/L

please and thank you!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

This is an honest question- if you are giving meds as a student, why can't you check her blood sugar?

As a student I was not able to take CBGs, but I was able to give insulin. Since taking the blood sugar is technically a lab procedure, you had to be certified by the lab to perform the procedure. They would not allow students to become certified. Does that make any sense? No. That was how it was though.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

Metformin doesn't cause hypoglycemia like insulin does. I wouldn't hold it in any case unless their blood sugar is very very low. Metformin works to stabilize hormones (it affects the entire endocrine system not just the liver). It is sometimes prescribed off label to people without diabetes (like me for a short time), and it doesn't cause a drop in blood sugar.

[loriangel14, RN]

I am diabetic and I take Metformin. I don't hold it even if I have a low BS.Metformin will not cause a low BS.

Even at work if a patient's BS had been stable and they are on oral meds we don't always take their BS.

[MendedHeart]

I take Metformin for PCOS,.I never check my blood sugar, I am not Diabetic. I take it twice.a day. Its good to take with food only because of GI side effects.