Diabetic. On Metformin, Victoza And Atorvastatin. Have Uncontrolled Diarrhea. Medication?

Posted on Tue, 2 Jul 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 2 Jul 2013 Answered on

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I am a diabetic,on metformin (2000mg), victoza (1.8mg) , atorvastatin (40) and losartan (20). About every 3 months I get a bout of uncontrolled watery diarrhea. I take Imodium and it lasts a few hours. It makes it difficult as I don't have other symptoms, no notice, no bloating, no gas nothing, just watery diarrhea that I can't control. Difficult to work or travel as I don't know when or if it will occur. what could it be? can it be stopped, is it the medication? everyone I've asked (drs. say they don't know but don't do any tests. I am traveling to Europe in October and very worried about this.
thank you

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (1 hour later)

Ask you doctor to test for a rare condition called VIPoma. It causes profuse watery diarrhea.
The blood test should be for levels of VIP (Vaso active Intestinal Polypeptide)

Metformin and Victoza can cause diarrhea too but I agree with your observation that this is sporadic. Usually if medicine side effects occur they are persistent till the drug is stopped and re-occur upon re-introduction. You may wish to try this too ie go off victoza for a couple weeks and see if the diarrhea goes away. Then go back on it to see if the the diarrhea returns. If you cannot conclude anything from this exercise then try the same experiment with metformin

The challenge in your instance is that the diarrhea episode occurs every 3 months.

A gastroenterologist might be able to help you find an answer

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar