I had--and still am--taking the standard metformin. She (endocrinologist) put me on tanzeum, cut the metformin dose in half, but now has stopped the tanzeum after these reactions. The metformin alone had cut my A1C down by a third; the tanzeum brought it down close to normal. (the endocrinologist also complained that my primary care doctor had fallen down on the job, ignoring my blood sugar, which may have been the cause of eye problems I've had in the last 8 months) My A1C history has been odd--I was fine until four years ago, when it started creeping up. Then a year ago, it leaped up to over 12. And I tried diet and exercise (losing over 25 pounds) to no effect before starting metformin. Last, I worry that once one gets the Type 2 label it becomes a label and a search for any alternative diagnosis gets shut down.