Hi to you all.
I have a few questions to ask about diabetes and whether or not my symptoms indicate that I may have diabetes. I’ll start at the beginning.
I am male and 62 years old. I have a twin brother. Our father was diagnosed with diabetes about 10 years before he died at the age of 90. He never really had significant issues with his diabetes, but then he wasn’t the sort of man who would talk of his ailments anyway. Many times I would notice that one moment he would be fine and alert, say if he was sitting and watching TV, and suddenly he would look as if he’d physically and mentally crashed. By that I mean he’s slump lower into his chair or his head would drop forward a little, his eyes would seem to glaze over, his face muscles would sag and his tongue would loll out of his mouth. He just seemed to go from normal to senility at the drop of a hat and maybe ten minutes later return to normal again. I could never understand why this happened and put it down to his old age. I didn’t think then that it may have been linked to his diabetes (if it was at all). He never talked about this so I assumed it wasn’t too distressing for him.
Roll on a few years and I seem to be getting similar symptoms. I keep crashing physically but, more worryingly, mentally too. This has slowly been getting worse over the past few years and I’ve had many examinations and tests but my doctors say they can’t find anything wrong with me other than possibly stress. I’d rather anyone replying to this post would assume it’s not stress because my symptoms seem to be happening to a pattern that has nothing to do with whether I’m stressed out or not. At the moment my symptoms are getting to be really difficult for me. I can go from being 100% mentally alert to feeling like a baby. My vision, which always worsens when this happens, and my mental capacity make me feel like I’m in a total daze. I can feel full of energy and for no reason I can think of, suddenly feel really tired. It’s as if I have a dimmer switch in my brain and someone keeps turning it on and off. I have no other physical symptoms. Sometimes it seems that there’s a connection to mealtimes. Last night, for instance, I ate lentil soup with added nothing other than carrots, onions. Within 20 minutes I’d crashed. An hour later I was OK again. From the many blood tests I’ve had over the past couple of years, no doctor has told me that I may have diabetes.
Now, my twin brother (who lives in another country) has Parkinson’s Disease and has an array of symptoms, as is the norm with Parkinson’s. But he has some symptoms that are difficult to put down to this illness alone. He often seems to mentally and physically crash too. This week he was admitted to hospital with extreme fatigue, blurred vision, confusion and talking difficulties. After having a variety of tests and a CT scan (that shows his brain is fine), he’s now been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Again, over the past few years and even very recently, he’s been having regular blood tests and has never been told he has a diabetes problem until being hospitalised. But the diabetes symptoms seemed to have been there all along (or were they something else?). He says now that diabetes would explain quite a lot of his symptoms and he’s hoping some of his problems will now become more controllable.
Up until now, our worry has been that perhaps we are both beginning to experience some of the mental problems that come along with Parkinson’s. This is very frightening. I’ve been told that I don’t appear to have Parkinson’s. So could it be that our symptoms are more to do with diabetes than anything else? Is fluctuating mental capacity a part of diabetes? Is this intermittent crashing out a part of diabetes? If so, how can it be tested or proven? How can I go to my doctor and tell him that this may be my problem. He puts everything I say to him down to stress. Are adrenal levels a part of this? What should I do now?
Thanks to anyone who has a comment or may offer advice.
I have a few questions to ask about diabetes and whether or not my symptoms indicate that I may have diabetes. I’ll start at the beginning.
I am male and 62 years old. I have a twin brother. Our father was diagnosed with diabetes about 10 years before he died at the age of 90. He never really had significant issues with his diabetes, but then he wasn’t the sort of man who would talk of his ailments anyway. Many times I would notice that one moment he would be fine and alert, say if he was sitting and watching TV, and suddenly he would look as if he’d physically and mentally crashed. By that I mean he’s slump lower into his chair or his head would drop forward a little, his eyes would seem to glaze over, his face muscles would sag and his tongue would loll out of his mouth. He just seemed to go from normal to senility at the drop of a hat and maybe ten minutes later return to normal again. I could never understand why this happened and put it down to his old age. I didn’t think then that it may have been linked to his diabetes (if it was at all). He never talked about this so I assumed it wasn’t too distressing for him.
Roll on a few years and I seem to be getting similar symptoms. I keep crashing physically but, more worryingly, mentally too. This has slowly been getting worse over the past few years and I’ve had many examinations and tests but my doctors say they can’t find anything wrong with me other than possibly stress. I’d rather anyone replying to this post would assume it’s not stress because my symptoms seem to be happening to a pattern that has nothing to do with whether I’m stressed out or not. At the moment my symptoms are getting to be really difficult for me. I can go from being 100% mentally alert to feeling like a baby. My vision, which always worsens when this happens, and my mental capacity make me feel like I’m in a total daze. I can feel full of energy and for no reason I can think of, suddenly feel really tired. It’s as if I have a dimmer switch in my brain and someone keeps turning it on and off. I have no other physical symptoms. Sometimes it seems that there’s a connection to mealtimes. Last night, for instance, I ate lentil soup with added nothing other than carrots, onions. Within 20 minutes I’d crashed. An hour later I was OK again. From the many blood tests I’ve had over the past couple of years, no doctor has told me that I may have diabetes.
Now, my twin brother (who lives in another country) has Parkinson’s Disease and has an array of symptoms, as is the norm with Parkinson’s. But he has some symptoms that are difficult to put down to this illness alone. He often seems to mentally and physically crash too. This week he was admitted to hospital with extreme fatigue, blurred vision, confusion and talking difficulties. After having a variety of tests and a CT scan (that shows his brain is fine), he’s now been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Again, over the past few years and even very recently, he’s been having regular blood tests and has never been told he has a diabetes problem until being hospitalised. But the diabetes symptoms seemed to have been there all along (or were they something else?). He says now that diabetes would explain quite a lot of his symptoms and he’s hoping some of his problems will now become more controllable.
Up until now, our worry has been that perhaps we are both beginning to experience some of the mental problems that come along with Parkinson’s. This is very frightening. I’ve been told that I don’t appear to have Parkinson’s. So could it be that our symptoms are more to do with diabetes than anything else? Is fluctuating mental capacity a part of diabetes? Is this intermittent crashing out a part of diabetes? If so, how can it be tested or proven? How can I go to my doctor and tell him that this may be my problem. He puts everything I say to him down to stress. Are adrenal levels a part of this? What should I do now?
Thanks to anyone who has a comment or may offer advice.
