HEALTH · FAMILY CAREGIVING

My Husband Took Metformin for 11 Years. A Pharmacist Finally Told Us the One Thing Nobody Mentioned.

It was written in the prescribing information the whole time. Here is what I learned about metformin and B12, and the 30-second habit now sitting next to his blood sugar meter.

By Deborah K., caregiver and wife of 34 years · Updated Oct 2026

I keep the pill organizer in our house. I'm the one who fills it every Sunday night, seven little lids, morning and evening. I know Tom's prescriptions better than he does. I have driven him to every appointment since 2015, the year his doctor put him on metformin.

So when I tell you I missed something for eleven years, I want you to understand I was not a careless wife. I was a very careful one. Nobody told me. And from what I've read since, nobody tells most families.

It started with a conversation at the pharmacy counter

Last spring I was picking up Tom's refill. Same pharmacy, same bag, same metformin. The pharmacist on duty was new, a woman about my daughter's age. She scanned the bottle, looked at the screen and asked me something no one had asked in eleven years.

He's been on metformin a long time. Has his doctor ever checked his B12?

I said I didn't think so. She nodded like she had heard that answer a hundred times. She told me metformin may lower B12 levels over time, that it's in the prescribing information, and that the American Diabetes Association recommends considering periodic B12 checks for people on long-term metformin. Then she said the sentence I still think about: 'It's on the leaflet. Most people just never read the leaflet.'

I had read that leaflet. Or I thought I had. That night at 2 a.m. I sat at the kitchen table with my reading glasses and the folded paper from the bag, and there it was.

What I had been blaming instead

Here is the part that stings. For a couple of years Tom had been dragging by mid-afternoon. He'd skip the second walk with our dog, Biscuit. He'd sit down after lunch and the TV would win.

I had a list of reasons ready. He's 68. He retired. The summer was hot. The new mattress. His sugar. I blamed everything in the house except the one thing nobody had ever put on my radar.

I'm not saying B12 was the whole story. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not going to pretend to be one. But I was furious that a fact printed on his own prescription paperwork had never come up once in eleven years of appointments.

Then I went on the diabetes forums, and I found out I wasn't alone. The same sentence came back again and again, from people all over the country: nobody ever mentioned it.

Step one was the doctor. Step two was harder.

I called Tom's doctor the next morning and asked for a B12 check at his next visit. She agreed right away, and honestly she seemed glad we'd brought it up. She also said what I already knew: don't touch the metformin. It's doing its job. Metformin is one of the most trusted medications in the world, and I want to be very clear that nothing in this story is about stopping it.

The harder part was the daily routine. I went to the store and stood in front of the vitamin aisle for twenty minutes. Here's what I found.

• Big tablets. Tom already takes six pills every morning. He looked at the size of one and said, 'Absolutely not.'
• Cheap forms. Most store-brand B12 uses cyanocobalamin and folic acid, forms the body has to convert before it can use them.
• B12 on its own. B12 works alongside folate, B6, B1 and B3, and most bottles ignore the rest of the team.
• Made for everybody. Not one bottle said a word about metformin.

I didn't want another pill fight at the breakfast table. I wanted something he would actually take every day without me standing over him.

What I finally found: drops made around one specific fact

A woman in one of the forums mentioned Olyra Active B12 Drops. I looked them up expecting another generic bottle. Instead, the first line on the page was about metformin. The whole product is designed around the one fact the pharmacist told me.

Here is what sold me, as the person who fills the pill organizer:

• 5,000 mcg of methylcobalamin in every dropper, the active form of B12 the body uses directly, without a conversion step.†
• Methylfolate instead of folic acid, plus B6, B1 and B3, so the whole B team is in one dropper.†
• Drops under the tongue for 30 seconds. Nothing to swallow, nothing to crush, no extra tablet in an already full organizer.
• It helps maintain healthy B12 levels and supports nerve health and natural energy.†
• It sits alongside his routine. It never replaces anything his doctor gave him.

And there was a 90-day money-back guarantee. Ninety days, not thirty. That told me the company understood that B12 support builds gradually, not overnight.

Our first three months, week by week

I kept notes, because that's who I am. This is our story, not a promise. Every person is different.*

Week 1. The bottle went right next to his blood sugar meter, so he sees it every morning when he checks. Fill the dropper, under the tongue, count to thirty while the coffee brews. He said it tasted mild, slightly sweet. No argument. In our kitchen, that alone was a small victory.

Weeks 2 to 4. It became automatic. I stopped reminding him. Around the fourth week, Tom mentioned out of nowhere that his afternoons didn't feel as heavy.* I didn't say anything. I just wrote it down.

Month 2. Biscuit got his second walk back. Not every day, but most days. Tom said he had more get-up-and-go, and he started doing the crossword again after lunch instead of falling asleep in front of the news.*

Month 3. We went to his appointment with the questions from the free guide that came with our order. His doctor talked us through his B12 and said to keep doing what we were doing. Keep the metformin, keep the routine. For the first time in a long while, I left an appointment feeling like I hadn't missed anything.

I'm not asking for magic. I just want to know I'm not ignoring something that was printed on his paperwork the whole time. Now I'm not.

Why I'm writing this

Millions of Americans take metformin. Behind a lot of them is someone like me: a wife, a daughter, a son, the person who fills the organizer and drives to the appointments. If nobody told me in eleven years, I'm guessing nobody told a lot of those families either.

So here is my two-step advice, the same advice the pharmacist gave me. First, ask the doctor to check B12 at the next visit, and keep taking metformin as prescribed. Second, if a simple daily B12 routine makes sense, make it one that's actually easy to keep.

The offer I used (and what it includes now)

I ordered the 3-bottle pack the morning after that 2 a.m. kitchen-table night, because a 90-day supply matched the 90-day guarantee. When we came back for more, I switched to the 6-bottle pack, because it unlocks every gift, including the 7-day pill organizer. Tom's whole morning now lives in one place.

One honest note: the free-bottle bundles are a launch offer, and the company doesn't say how long they will run. If it's gone when you click, the single bottle is still there, but I'd check first.

About the authorDeborah has looked after her husband's daily routine since his type 2 diagnosis in 2015. She writes about what she wishes someone had told their family sooner. She is not a medical professional: always talk to your own doctor.

Try Olyra Active B12 Drops Risk-Free for 90 Days

• Buy 2 Get 1 FREE: 3 bottles, 90-day supply, $69.99 instead of $179.99 (you save 61%), plus the FREE Metformin & B12 Guide ($19.99 value) and FREE Shipping
• Buy 3 Get 3 FREE: 6 bottles, 6-month supply, $104.99 instead of $359.99 (you save 70%), with all 3 gifts: FREE Metformin & B12 Guide, FREE 7-Day Pill Organizer and FREE Shipping
• 5,000 mcg active methylcobalamin + methylfolate, B6, B1 and B3 in every dropper
• Helps maintain healthy B12 levels†, one dropper a day, nothing to swallow
• Subscribe and save 20%, skip or cancel anytime in one click
• 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee: not happy for any reason, contact support and get a refund. No complicated forms, no pressure.

Check Availability → 90-day money-back guarantee · Secure checkout · Cancel anytime

†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Olyra is a dietary supplement and does not replace any prescribed medication: keep taking metformin as prescribed and talk to your doctor before starting any supplement. *Individual results may vary.