Do I have diabetes or not?

[rosserk]

Good morning everyone

To begin with I would like to thank Eurobuff and Elizabeth for their support and encouragement in helping me move forward with my quest to get my health back on track. I think I would have given up the fight if it hadn't been for your support. Thank you!


Yesterday I finally went to see a different Doctor at my local surgery.

I went armed with my meter and printouts of all my readings over the last three months. Which he studied in great detail, to my amazement!

He agreed there's something very wrong going on with my blood sugars which need looking into ASAP. He has ordered a barrage of tests which includes a glucose tolerance test and a test for Lada at the Hospital and will be making a referral to a specialist as soon as the tests are all completed, even if the tests rule out diabetes. Throughout the visit which was well over half hour long he quoted the WHO guidelines and explained many of the things I was told on the forum. He also told me a number of things about recent findings in diabetes, which was encouraging, he agreed with a lot of the information I was told on the forum. He was actually singing from the same song sheet as many of the forum members.

He said an A1c test does NOT rule out diabetes
A 'normal' healthy persons blood sugars will 'seldom' go above 7.8 and will return to pre meal around the two hour mark
Normal fasting blood sugars do NOT rule out diabetes
Persistent 'Spikes' above 7.8 are not 'normal' and should be looked at because they are damaging particularly if BS do not return to post meal readings at the two hour mark
Two readings above 11.1 regardless of when they were taken 'are' a diagnosis of diabetes. As I have had dozens of readings above 11.1 it is highly likely I am diabetic, even allowing for the margin of error in lab results compared to meter readings.
There are many different types of diabetes which all act differently and he mentioned Lada as a possibility.
The extreme lows are worrying and there has to be an explanation for them, which needs investigating. I don't seem to have the lows as often as I did at the beginning but he was concerned I was taking 900mg of Gabapentin three times a day (a massive dose) which can cause low blood sugars so he told me to stop taking them immediately, which I'd recently done anyway.
He also said 'continue' taking my blood sugars and gather all the information I can because it was excellent evidence that the Endocronologist will look at and it will help lead to a diagnosis.
He told me not to mess with my diet at the moment and to continue as normal because he doesn't want a sudden change in diet messing with the results particularly the GTT.
He agreed only eating twice a day would lower the A1c test but already there is an upward trend in the readings which he thinks will likely continue. Stopping the Gabapentin may also mean the numbers will increase.
He apologised for the problems I'd had with the diabetic nurse and said none of what happened was my fault and any issues should not have been addressed with me.
I told him I'd been advised stress could affect my blood sugars and asked if it was possible I could just be suffering from stress which has impacted on my blood sugars. He said not to the extent he was seeing in my readings.

It is a huge relief I now have someone taking me seriously and willing to work towards a solution to get my health back on track, I almost gave up!

 

[misswhiplash]

@rosserk Good news! Well done for persisting and I hope the diagnosis is swift and easy!

 

[Rillum]

That's such great news! It must be a huge relief to be taken seriously and have the situation addressed in detail. Congratulations! I hope they can help you fast.

 

[rosserk]

That's such great news! It must be a huge relief to be taken seriously and have the situation addressed in detail. Congratulations! I hope they can help you fast.

Thank you it's not quite as scary now I have a Doctor on board.

 

[Kerry48]

Hi everyone I am a confused newbie desperate for some advice to stop me going around in circles!

It's complicated so apologies in advance.

Several weeks ago a friend who's diabetic tested my blood glucose because according to her symptoms I was having were classic of someone with type 2 and I had been unwell and getting progressively worse. A random test was 7.6 and I hadn't eaten anything for at least three hours. I had a glucose monitor I purchased for my father that he didn't use so bought some test strips and starting testing my blood sugars regularly. I have had fasting levels of 15.2, 12.1' 10's and 11.2 and one at 25.0 and another at 26.5, which I thought indicated something wrong with the monitor. My sugars go up after I eat and don't start to come down until 2.5 hours after I have eaten. I have a constant headache, and difficulty focussing because my vision keeps going blurred, hot flushes, nausea and I drink constantly, my lips are permanently chapped. I wake every night about 3am and feel really poorly, I am constantly exhausted. On Sunday the 15th I felt really ill when I woke up and decided to go to the local drop in my blood sugar was 15.3 when I woke up it was 12.6 when I went to sleep and I had a really restless night.

I took my iPad where I had stored all my BS in an app and showed it to the doctor who said straight away with BS that high you are definitely type 2 diabetic, the BS were over a three weeks period. He gave me Metformin and told me to go to my local surgery and have a blood test. The surgery were not happy and said they were amazed he had diagnosed diabetes and I shouldn't be testing my blood sugars. Anyway after a war with the nurse they sent me to another drop in centre to have a blood test, the results have come back Hba1 5.6 HB a 1 c 38. I had a blood test for something else back in February and they did the same tests then which came back random BS 7.8 HBa1c Normal. They are apparently all normal and she has told me to stop taking the Metformin and stop testing my blood sugars, she said people with type two diabetes wouldn't test their blood sugars and I was wasting my time because the monitors can give false readings?

I did consider the monitor could be wrong so I tested my teenage daughter and my husband and it doesn't give high readings for them just me!

I have no idea what to do now, has anyone had a similar experience yes you are diabetic opps no you're not. I just ate some cereal two hours ago and my blood sugar was 6.7 and two hours 20 minutes later it was 8.4. I am really confused any advise would be appreciated

Hi everyone I am a confused newbie desperate for some advice to stop me going around in circles!

It's complicated so apologies in advance.

Several weeks ago a friend who's diabetic tested my blood glucose because according to her symptoms I was having were classic of someone with type 2 and I had been unwell and getting progressively worse. A random test was 7.6 and I hadn't eaten anything for at least three hours. I had a glucose monitor I purchased for my father that he didn't use so bought some test strips and starting testing my blood sugars regularly. I have had fasting levels of 15.2, 12.1' 10's and 11.2 and one at 25.0 and another at 26.5, which I thought indicated something wrong with the monitor. My sugars go up after I eat and don't start to come down until 2.5 hours after I have eaten. I have a constant headache, and difficulty focussing because my vision keeps going blurred, hot flushes, nausea and I drink constantly, my lips are permanently chapped. I wake every night about 3am and feel really poorly, I am constantly exhausted. On Sunday the 15th I felt really ill when I woke up and decided to go to the local drop in my blood sugar was 15.3 when I woke up it was 12.6 when I went to sleep and I had a really restless night.

I took my iPad where I had stored all my BS in an app and showed it to the doctor who said straight away with BS that high you are definitely type 2 diabetic, the BS were over a three weeks period. He gave me Metformin and told me to go to my local surgery and have a blood test. The surgery were not happy and said they were amazed he had diagnosed diabetes and I shouldn't be testing my blood sugars. Anyway after a war with the nurse they sent me to another drop in centre to have a blood test, the results have come back Hba1 5.6 HB a 1 c 38. I had a blood test for something else back in February and they did the same tests then which came back random BS 7.8 HBa1c Normal. They are apparently all normal and she has told me to stop taking the Metformin and stop testing my blood sugars, she said people with type two diabetes wouldn't test their blood sugars and I was wasting my time because the monitors can give false readings?

I did consider the monitor could be wrong so I tested my teenage daughter and my husband and it doesn't give high readings for them just me!

I have no idea what to do now, has anyone had a similar experience yes you are diabetic opps no you're not. I just ate some cereal two hours ago and my blood sugar was 6.7 and two hours 20 minutes later it was 8.4. I am really confused any advise would be appreciated

Hi, I am a type 1 diabetic, not type 2. However, my mom is a type 2. She is 5ft 1 and 7.5 stone, never been overweight in her life. But she has pancreatitis. She “borrowed“ my old blood test monitor as she used to use it on me when I was a child, and my Father who also had type 1. So with 50 years worth of experience with type 1 , you can safely say that she knew her stuff. Her readings were going the same way as you described, but also going to 3.5 and collapsing. She was told the exact same thing by a nurse at the GP practice…. Stop doing blood tests. She felt understandably unsure about this, and continued to test herself.
she eventually starting showing hba1c levels of 9 and over, and was put on metaformin, but she had to argue all the way. it sounds like you are working your way to type 2, but there can be other reasons than lifestyle and weight. As for the hba1c being normal, I can get that too, but in reality my sugars have been spiking up and down. It’s just the line in the middle of it runs at that average. It doesn’t mean that you have been at a perfect line all along.
As said earlier by someone, I am no Doctor, I can only tell you our experience.
Hope this helps.

 

[HSSS]

Hi, I am a type 1 diabetic, not type 2. However, my mom is a type 2. She is 5ft 1 and 7.5 stone, never been overweight in her life. But she has pancreatitis. She “borrowed“ my old blood test monitor as she used to use it on me when I was a child, and my Father who also had type 1. So with 50 years worth of experience with type 1 , you can safely say that she knew her stuff. Her readings were going the same way as you described, but also going to 3.5 and collapsing. She was told the exact same thing by a nurse at the GP practice…. Stop doing blood tests. She felt understandably unsure about this, and continued to test herself.
she eventually starting showing hba1c levels of 9 and over, and was put on metaformin, but she had to argue all the way. it sounds like you are working your way to type 2, but there can be other reasons than lifestyle and weight. As for the hba1c being normal, I can get that too, but in reality my sugars have been spiking up and down. It’s just the line in the middle of it runs at that average. It doesn’t mean that you have been at a perfect line all along.
As said earlier by someone, I am no Doctor, I can only tell you our experience.
Hope this helps.

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