Compounding Metformin for Use in Functional Medicine.

The most common reason for metformin incompliance is due to its side-effect profile. Metformin can cause issues with the gastrointestinal tract and result in nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating, or vomiting. The size of the metformin tablet, which is quite large, is another reason for incompliance. Compounding pharmacists can prepare a topical formulation of metformin, which helps eliminate the unwanted gastrointestinal side effects, as well as eliminate the incompliance due to the size of the tablet. The transdermal use of metformin also allows the patient to take a much lower dosage compared to oral metformin. An oral liquid formulation can also help resolve the issue of swallowing a large tablet for those patients who are diagnosed with dysphagia.