19 Years Old, Worried about Type II

[RuinedMyHealth]

Hey guys, this may turn into a rant, and so I am sorry in advance, but I'm very upset with myself for allowing this to happen.

I am 19 years old, a healthy weight, don't drink and don't smoke tobacco. However, I have been showing the telltale signs of Type II diabetes for the past few days - a dry mouth, increased need to urinate, and oral thrush. I could put the persistent dry mouth and urination down to anxiety, as I'm really quite anxious naturally. However, the oral thrush is a dead giveaway, and makes me think that it is definitely Type II. I have a blood test on Monday to see if it definitely is, but I'm already preparing for the worst case-scenario.

After coming to university, I entered a deep depression, and my diet went out the window. I wasn't eating proper meals regularly, ignored my body's need for vegetables, and was resorting to snacking on junk food to keep me going. After doing some research last night, I became aware of the hugely important role of magnesium in our body, and realised that I must not have been getting nearly enough of it. Magnesium is vital for the proper digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, and although I was eating a lot of carbs, I didn't have the magnesium to match it. Combine this strong depression with a horrible diet and it leads to a complete apathy. An apathy that I'm only beginning to get out of, really. So the horrible, vicious cycle continued, and I kept on down the road of self-destruction. I was literally eating myself to death. I walked, and continue to walk, for a few miles each day, but even then, this could not have saved me.

I am so disappointed in myself. I have ruined my health at 19 years of age, and there's no way back from this now. Even a well-controlled diabetic diet is less beneficial than a healthy diet in a normal person. I'm so ashamed of myself that I lack the independence to feed myself properly, to the point where I have ruined my health, after 18 years of my family looking after me well. I really don't know how I'm going to react to the 'official' diagnosis on Monday, as it really will mark a turning point in my life, and one which isn't for the better, but for the worse - both in regards to self-image, which I have always struggled with, and physical health.

I'm sorry that this turned into a huge rant, but I really am ashamed of myself that I let it get to this point. I will also have to tell my parents, and they will have to live with the reality that their son ate himself to death.

 

[AdamJames]

Hey guys, this may turn into a rant, and so I am sorry in advance, but I'm very upset with myself for allowing this to happen.

I am 19 years old, a healthy weight, don't drink and don't smoke tobacco. However, I have been showing the telltale signs of Type II diabetes for the past few days - a dry mouth, increased need to urinate, and oral thrush. I could put the persistent dry mouth and urination down to anxiety, as I'm really quite anxious naturally. However, the oral thrush is a dead giveaway, and makes me think that it is definitely Type II. I have a blood test on Monday to see if it definitely is, but I'm already preparing for the worst case-scenario.

After coming to university, I entered a deep depression, and my diet went out the window. I wasn't eating proper meals regularly, ignored my body's need for vegetables, and was resorting to snacking on junk food to keep me going. After doing some research last night, I became aware of the hugely important role of magnesium in our body, and realised that I must not have been getting nearly enough of it. Magnesium is vital for the proper digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, and although I was eating a lot of carbs, I didn't have the magnesium to match it. Combine this strong depression with a horrible diet and it leads to a complete apathy. An apathy that I'm only beginning to get out of, really. So the horrible, vicious cycle continued, and I kept on down the road of self-destruction. I was literally eating myself to death. I walked, and continue to walk, for a few miles each day, but even then, this could not have saved me.

I am so disappointed in myself. I have ruined my health at 19 years of age, and there's no way back from this now. Even a well-controlled diabetic diet is less beneficial than a healthy diet in a normal person. I'm so ashamed of myself that I lack the independence to feed myself properly, to the point where I have ruined my health, after 18 years of my family looking after me well. I really don't know how I'm going to react to the 'official' diagnosis on Monday, as it really will mark a turning point in my life, and one which isn't for the better, but for the worse - both in regards to self-image, which I have always struggled with, and physical health.

I'm sorry that this turned into a huge rant, but I really am ashamed of myself that I let it get to this point. I will also have to tell my parents, and they will have to live with the reality that their son ate himself to death.

First and most importantly, I think it's important not to be hard on yourself. If we all ate the food that we see in advertisements all around us, on TV and bus shelters, we'd be eating junk food. You are not evil, you are just a product of the society you were born in, doing what seems normal to a lot of people, and frankly, a lot of people get away with it! The day that you mug an old woman to steal her cheeseburger is the day you should feel shame about what you eat. Until you get to that point, just see it as knowledge: you've learned what isn't healthy for you, now learn what is - morality isn't even part of the equation.

Secondly, wait for the diagnosis before you start building a plan of action. It may not be what you think.

Thirdly, if it is diabetes, of any type, you've come to the right place. If it's Type II as you suspect, then hopefully you've caught it early enough to be able to make huge changes - most people on this forum have done wonders in turning things around.

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi, at your age type 2 diabetes is rare and not a death sentence, you are just feeling anxious and worried. About 2/3 years a ago my son, who is older than you, talked about symptoms similar to yours, I tested his blood on my machine and he was within range, but I advised him to see his GP asap. He was diagnosed with very high cholesterol ( which shocked us) and was put on medication. He is fit, a healthy weight, walks a lot and a vegetarian too. I wish you all the best, if you do have a medical condition it can be treated and monitored. Remember, we are on this earth a very short time, so try to make the best of it, our health is so important.
Good luck.

 

[Dark Horse]

Dry mouth and increased urinary frequency can be caused by anxiety; dry mouth can increase the risk of oral thrush (as can the use of antibiotics or asthma inhalers). Although it is sensible to rule out diabetes, it would be quite unlikely for a 19-year old of normal weight to develop type 2 diabetes, no matter what they've been eating, so wait for your test results before worrying about a diagnosis.

The diet of a quite a lot of people goes rapidly downhill when they go to university, it's a difficult time so don't beat yourself up about it. Unfortunately, it's a vicious cycle - poor diet can worsen mood which then makes it harder to choose healthy foods. If you want to try improving your diet, there is some advice from the mental health organisation, Mind:- https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/food-and-mood/#.Wtw7C-jwbrc

There may be counselling available at your university to help you with depression/anxiety. If not, try your GP.

In the unlikely event that you get a positive diagnosis, come back and you'll get lots of advice and support.

 

[Phoenix55]

1) Stop panicking. Stop looking back, and do something about the now and future. Improve your eating plan for today.
2) Diabetes is not a death sentence and those of us living with type 2 feel a lot healthier on our new diet plan than we did before.
3) Moving from home to university is always a difficult time, concentrate on your studies and making new friends. Learning to live independently we all make mistakes, the trick is not to repeat them too often.
4) If, ( it is a big 'if') the diagnosis on Monday is diabetes, then you have come to the right place for advice and support.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Sent you a hug because I am sorry to hear that you are so down on yourself basically for failing to be perfect. This 'failing' is something that we will occur throughout your life because you are human and your anxiety is doing you more harm than good as you kick yourself for what you did wrong (eating badly or jsut like most people your age do) and simultaneously worry about the future (which may or may not include a type 2 diagnosis).
What choices can you make right now to feel better right here and now? I would suggest that consulting Dr. Google may be making this anxiety worse which then may cause you to feel stressed thus making symtoms and
I can think of different reasons why you have your symptoms e.g. taking antibiotics or being run down. What is stopping you from eating a more balanced diet so that you can occasionally indulge and enjoy some cake? Do you have your family around to talk these worries through or are you worried that you've failed them too.
Magnesium is a key mineral in our diet but unless you never eat vegetables or drink lots of fizzy drinks and caffeine there is probably no cause to supplement!

 

[Mbaker]

Food is such a dictator of health, so whatever your results you might want to incorporate some of the eating habits adopted by well controlled Type 2 diabetics. For example replacing rice and pasta will only do good, as will cutting back on products high in refined sugar.

 

[RuinedMyHealth]

Hey guys, I understand what you are all trying to tell me, and I agree, I'm not "evil" for letting my health get to this point, just an idiot.
For reference though, I just had some fat-free-low-sugar yogurt with almonds, raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. This is a pretty healthy breakfast, I would say, for most people. But just a while after finishing it, I needed to pee. This is where the anxiety comes in - I am worried about Type II, and so I expect my symptoms to persist, and so they do - I have known to cause this to happen to myself in the past. However, if you look at the situation from a non-anxiety point of view, surely this can only be caused by diabetes?

I just keep stressing out about it, it's all I can think about day-in-day-out

 

[TooManyCrisps]

Wait until you get your test results before you panic. I think your anxiety is not letting you see things straight. When you talk to the GP please tell him/her about your anxiety. There may be something they can do.

Being at uni is stressful. I have a 19 year old son in his first year at uni. He's having a really good time but he knows some people on his course are struggling with being away from home, new situations etc. You might be able to access some psychological support through student services. There's no shame in it.

I hope you get good news from your tests.

 

[Antje77]

Hi, and welcome on the forum. First, it's impossible to eat yourself a way to diabetes in a year. I'm sorry you're feeling so low. Why not make an appointment with your GP about that and ask for a blood test for diabetes and vitamins and stuff as well.
Good luck, hope life will get a bit more sunny for you soon!

 

[catapillar]

Type 2 diabetes in a 19 year old who isn't morbidly obese would be very unusual. It's also fairly uncommon for type 2 diabetes to be symptomatic with your symptoms of excess thirst and excess urination. Type 2 diabetes is silent with the diabetes being picked up when a blood test for some other complaint is performed.

I'm assuming you moved to university in September, so 7 months of not eating properly? Type 2 diabetes doesn't develop in 7 months, it takes a lifetime.

You don't have any blood sugar readings, you don't have a hba1c yet you seem convinced you have type 2 diabetes. At the moment your conviction is for no good reason. It's much more likely stress and anxiety is causing you to focus on normal levels of thirst and urination, turning normality into a medicalised issue.

Have you actually had oral thrush diagnosed by a HCP, or is that a self diagnosis too?

 

[AdamJames]

Hey guys, I understand what you are all trying to tell me, and I agree, I'm not "evil" for letting my health get to this point, just an idiot.
For reference though, I just had some fat-free-low-sugar yogurt with almonds, raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. This is a pretty healthy breakfast, I would say, for most people. But just a while after finishing it, I needed to pee. This is where the anxiety comes in - I am worried about Type II, and so I expect my symptoms to persist, and so they do - I have known to cause this to happen to myself in the past. However, if you look at the situation from a non-anxiety point of view, surely this can only be caused by diabetes?

I just keep stressing out about it, it's all I can think about day-in-day-out

Monday isn't a long way away - I presume you mean tomorrow? If a big element of your anxiety is uncertainty, then at least you will hopefully get some respite tomorrow when you see the doctor and get some feedback as to what is going on, and then you can form a plan of action.

While nobody can diagnose you I am curious about the dry mouth and urination. You say it's only started in the last few days, and also this morning's breakfast was 'healthy' (and also quite low carb). Have you in the last few days changed your diet, especially reducing carbs? That wouldn't explain the oral thrush (if that's what it actually is) but could explain the dry mouth and urination if you are going into ketosis.

 

[Resurgam]

I am so disappointed in myself. I have ruined my health at 19 years of age, and there's no way back from this now. Even a well-controlled diabetic diet is less beneficial than a healthy diet in a normal person.

Yeah right - or in other words - utter nonsense.
I have had to eat low carb foods to maintain a healthy weight since my early 20s and I am 67 now - the same diet keeps my diabetes under perfect control and I feel great - except for the twinge in my knee which I have to put down to kick starting heavy motorbikes.
If you eat all the delicious foods which are low carb lots of salads and other low carb veges - even if, like me, you could be a full blown diabetic, doctors and nurses will be bewildered and you should have no problems.
Of course eating low carb has been dismissed as a fad diet for a couple of hundred years - so maybe think yourself lucky that you found out about it even earlier than I did. Not only is it beneficial in diabetes, it also helps maintain those things which men feel are important, particularly as they get older and heavier - my husband is a few years younger than me - but I get my bus pass checked quite regularly, as I don't look my age, and I don't feel any need to trade him in for a younger model.

 

[Jester 2]

Hey guys, I understand what you are all trying to tell me, and I agree, I'm not "evil" for letting my health get to this point, just an idiot.
For reference though, I just had some fat-free-low-sugar yogurt with almonds, raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. This is a pretty healthy breakfast, I would say, for most people. But just a while after finishing it, I needed to pee. This is where the anxiety comes in - I am worried about Type II, and so I expect my symptoms to persist, and so they do - I have known to cause this to happen to myself in the past. However, if you look at the situation from a non-anxiety point of view, surely this can only be caused by diabetes?

I just keep stressing out about it, it's all I can think about day-in-day-out

The more you stress about it the worse it will get. if I was you wait till you have seen your doctor. You never know you could be worrying about it for nothing. If you do get diagnose it could be hereditary like myself. Its not the end of the world. Good luck.

 

[Freema]

well you can have some other kind of condition than type 2 diabetes, the symptoms you tell about could also be from for instance a urine tract infection...which is easily cured or some other infection in your body
or eating so little amounts of salt/sodium that water is flushed out of ones body.or eating too high levels of salt/sodium.. all things is a balance..too little too much.... it is important not to be fanatic in any direction, the body can manage very much....I see you are very interested in being healthy, wait to see what your GP finds, after all we know so little and they are there to do the diagnosing..

or something else going on, maybe you don´t have type 2 diabetes, please don´t be so specific in your worries, always go to the GP and tell of your worries, many young persons do worry very much of their health, but sometimes it is more a symptom of one not really thriving and then focus can be towards all kinds of body symptoms instead of going out using ones body every day as it is meant to and go out and take big bites of the cake of life...

 

[Freema]

by the way oats is one of the best magnesium source we have .. in normal average foods, so that problem is easily solved even when being a young maybe rather poor person.. and to a non diabetic person it is also healthy with the very high amount of fibres and good for intestines balance too, and for a healthy skin due to niacin an important vitamin B
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/oats#section5

 

[Dark Horse]

Hey guys, I understand what you are all trying to tell me, and I agree, I'm not "evil" for letting my health get to this point, just an idiot.
For reference though, I just had some fat-free-low-sugar yogurt with almonds, raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. This is a pretty healthy breakfast, I would say, for most people. But just a while after finishing it, I needed to pee. This is where the anxiety comes in - I am worried about Type II, and so I expect my symptoms to persist, and so they do - I have known to cause this to happen to myself in the past. However, if you look at the situation from a non-anxiety point of view, surely this can only be caused by diabetes?

I just keep stressing out about it, it's all I can think about day-in-day-out

The symptom of excess urination which can be associated with diabetes is more accurately described as polyuria (production of very large volumes of urine even if fluid intake is restricted). Some people confuse this with urinary frequency which is when the urge to pee occurs more often than usual but urine volumes are normal. The latter can be due to irritation by something like urinary tract infection or prostatitis. If you are experiencing urinary frequency, see your GP.

Even if you are producing more urine than normal, this could be something as simple as having a dry mouth so drinking more therefore needing to pee more.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Hey guys, I understand what you are all trying to tell me, and I agree, I'm not "evil" for letting my health get to this point, just an idiot.
For reference though, I just had some fat-free-low-sugar yogurt with almonds, raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. This is a pretty healthy breakfast, I would say, for most people. But just a while after finishing it, I needed to pee. This is where the anxiety comes in - I am worried about Type II, and so I expect my symptoms to persist, and so they do - I have known to cause this to happen to myself in the past. However, if you look at the situation from a non-anxiety point of view, surely this can only be caused by diabetes?

I just keep stressing out about it, it's all I can think about day-in-day-out

Posting this to you for Food For Thought or why the wrong foods can be very bad for your sad or anxious thoughts! Also I think calling yourself 'RuinedMyHealth' is a self inflicted own goal. We are what we tell ourselves we are.

 

[RuinedMyHealth]

Monday isn't a long way away - I presume you mean tomorrow? If a big element of your anxiety is uncertainty, then at least you will hopefully get some respite tomorrow when you see the doctor and get some feedback as to what is going on, and then you can form a plan of action.

While nobody can diagnose you I am curious about the dry mouth and urination. You say it's only started in the last few days, and also this morning's breakfast was 'healthy' (and also quite low carb). Have you in the last few days changed your diet, especially reducing carbs? That wouldn't explain the oral thrush (if that's what it actually is) but could explain the dry mouth and urination if you are going into ketosis.

I actually have been eating nowhere near as much carbs as usual - I have barely eaten any carbs since the start of the week, really. I looked up the side effects of ketosis, and increased urination (and dry mouth as a result) is very common. I am going to try to eat more carbs today - at least until I need to fast - and then go on a walk later on, and see how I feel. Hopefully this clears these symptoms up. Thank you for bringing this up, it's put my mind at ease a bit at least

 

[AdamJames]

I actually have been eating nowhere near as much carbs as usual - I have barely eaten any carbs since the start of the week, really. I looked up the side effects of ketosis, and increased urination (and dry mouth as a result) is very common. I am going to try to eat more carbs today - at least until I need to fast - and then go on a walk later on, and see how I feel. Hopefully this clears these symptoms up. Thank you for bringing this up, it's put my mind at ease a bit at least

If it turns out to be as simple as that (entering ketosis), then I had a heck of a time a while ago with night time urination and lack of sleep when I drastically reduced carbs and didn't really know what I was doing.

I think one of the many mistakes that I made when having that problem was to keep changing daily amounts of carbs. Constantly making my body think it needed to run off fat then off carbs the next day probably didn't help. If you are experimenting with reduced carbs, it probably makes sense to stick to roughly the same amount each day for a few days, or even weeks, at a time to let things settle down. A lot of people start at say 100g a day, see how they get on, then often get down to 50g a day eventually, and then may take it down to 20g a day if they want to try a 'keto' diet which can almost guarantee constant ketosis in most people, and some people even then go down to virtually zero. But it's definitely best to keep changes slow and steady, and many people report that it can take weeks to fully adapt and start to feel okay on a 'keto' diet.

Good luck at the doctors tomorrow, hopefully you will at least get some answers.