Terminal illness is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time.he six-month standard is arbitrary, and best available estimates of longevity may be incorrect. Consequently, though a given patient may properly be considered terminal, this is not a guarantee that the patient will die within six months.
1 Stop metformin if the eGFR is below 30 ml/minute/1.73m2.  Prescribe metformin with caution for those at risk of a sudden deterioration in kidney function and those at risk of eGFR falling below 45ml/minute/1.73m2.
The most common side effect of metformin is diarrhea. Diarrhea caused by metformin will often go away after the first few weeks of therapy, but sometimes it will not. Luckily, there are ways to decrease this side effect. To avoid or minimize diarrhea the dose should start low and be increased slowly by 500mg per week. It may take a month to increase to the correct dose. Starting on a higher dose or increasing the dose too quickly may cause diarrhea. Another alternative is to take the extended release form of metformin.