Calling All Type 2’s

[Listlad]

Calling all Type 2 people.

Looking back in time with the benefit of hindsight what diabetic symptoms that you had that were not aware of the significance of just before or at the point of diagnosis do you now say,

“Well yes, I now know that the conditions had been going on for a few years or more but had absolutely no idea that they were down to high blood sugars?”

How far back can you go where the earliest symptoms are recognisable to you now?

 

[Tophat1900]

Even though I'm not strictly T2, I'd have to say not very far back at all for me..... so they weren't going on for years, but the standard advice I got and treatment was the same as a lot of other people.and that went on for years. So not a lot of difference in terms of bad effect and impact on health.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

My thirst started in the early 80s but my diagnosis was in 1997. Who knows, too late to worry. I think I'm more bothered by the fact that at diagnosis the first question I asked was should I cut my carb intake and was told no very emphatically.

 

[Listlad]

My thirst started in the early 80s but my diagnosis was in 1997.

That’s quite some time.

Were there any other symptoms, looking back?

 

[Listlad]

Even though I'm not strictly T2, I'd have to say not very far back at all for me..... so they weren't going on for years, but the standard advice I got and treatment was the same as a lot of other people.and that went on for years. So not a lot of difference in terms of bad effect and impact on health.

I haven’t got my head around Type 3c yet. I note it relates to pancreatic cancer? I have had pancreas issues myself but not sure how connected the two are in my case.

 

[Tophat1900]

I haven’t got my head around Type 3c yet. I note it relates to pancreatic cancer? I have had pancreas issues myself but not sure how connected the two are in my case.

Pancreas doesn't work well.... doesn't make enough insulin or digestive enzymes. Kinda like being in between T1 and T2, you get characteristics of both types.

 

[Goonergal]

Hi @Listlad

In terms of insulin resistance, I'd say from my mid-teens, when weight first became a big problem.

From early 20s, the onset of migraines which became progressively worse, turning into a chronic condition. Resolved with a ketogenic diet and it's now very obvious to me the role that sugar spikes/crashes played in this.

Subsequently in adult life, I've had long spells of other issues - persistent thrush; severe dry, cracked and infected skin on feet, for example - that looking back were part of my body screaming for help.

Have always been known for running to the loo a lot - it just became far, far more pronounced immediately before diagnosis: when I first started my current job a colleague noticed and made the suggestion of type 2. Didn't want to hear it, so it was over a year later before I was diagnosed.

 

[Listlad]

Hi @Listlad

In terms of insulin resistance, I'd say from my mid-teens, when weight first became a big problem.

From early 20s, the onset of migraines which became progressively worse, turning into a chronic condition. Resolved with a ketogenic diet and it's now very obvious to me the role that sugar spikes/crashes played in this.

Subsequently in adult life, I've had long spells of other issues - persistent thrush; severe dry, cracked and infected skin on feet, for example - that looking back were part of my body screaming for help.

Have always been known for running to the loo a lot - it just became far, far more pronounced immediately before diagnosis: when I first started my current job a colleague noticed and made the suggestion of type 2. Didn't want to hear it, so it was over a year later before I was diagnosed.

Thanks for that. Approximately when were you diagnosed?

 

[Listlad]

Pancreas doesn't work well.... doesn't make enough insulin or digestive enzymes. Kinda like being in between T1 and T2, you get characteristics of both types.

Okay. I may have already said to you that I had pancreatitis in 2005. I feel that maybe it was at that time when something along the 3c lines might have kicked in in my case.

 

[kokhongw]

Calling all Type 2 people.

Looking back in time with the benefit of hindsight what diabetic symptoms that you had that were not aware of the significance of just before or at the point of diagnosis do you now say,

“Well yes, I now know that the conditions had been going on for a few years or more but had absolutely no idea that they were down to high blood sugars?”

How far back can you go where the earliest symptoms are recognisable to you now?

Decades before diagnosis, the intense uncontrollable hunger a few hours after a meal. That is one of the clearest signs that insulin/glucose ratios are getting out of sync. But often that is being dismissed as ... part of growing up...

At a late stage, a year or two before diagnosis, rapid weight loss for no obvious reasons...

 

[Listlad]

Decades before diagnosis, the intense uncontrollable hunger a few hours after a meal. That is one of the clearest signs that insulin/glucose ratios are getting out of sync. But often that is being dismissed as ... part of growing up...

I have always been a bit like that.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Other than a tendency to gain weight that began about 30 years before diagnosis (but always able to lose it again very easily), I cannot recall any symptoms at all.

 

[JohnEGreen]

Difficult to say as I too am not strictly speaking T2 but what was known as T3E drug induced so what happened in my case was started taking steroids several years back which lead to cushings like symptoms and excessive weight gain then started to experience some symptoms such as night time weeing and excessive thirst but did not recognise that diabetes might have been involved though diabetes was a recognised possible side effect of prednisolone then started losing some sensation in feet and hands asked my then GP about it he said umm mystery innit ask your neurologist which I did he did blood tests including HbA1c then wrote to my then GP saying I was diabetic GP said Nahh not so, two years later diagnosed by new GP.

So yes there were symptoms that went unrecognised going back a few years but not till sometime after first being prescribed prednisolone at higher doses and long term about ten years ago or so.

 

[Listlad]

Other than a tendency to gain weight that began about 30 years before diagnosis (but always able to lose it again very easily), I cannot recall any symptoms at all.

Okay so the symptoms you ended up with arrived pretty much at the same time and simultaneously with diagnosis? No lead up? Or whas it the weight thing that led to the diagnosis.?

Sorry for being invasive. Just trying to understand the whole 9 yards of diabetes.

 

[Listlad]

Difficult to say as I too am not strictly speaking T2 but what was known as T3E drug induced so what happened in my case was started taking steroids several years back which lead to cushings like symptoms and excessive weight gain then started to experience some symptoms such as night time weeing and excessive thirst but did not recognise that diabetes might have been involved though diabetes was a recognised possible side effect of prednisolone then started losing some sensation in feet and hands asked my then GP about it he said umm mystery innit ask your neurologist which I did he did blood tests including HbA1c then wrote to my then GP saying I was diabetic GP said Nahh not so, two years later diagnosed by new GP.

So yes there were symptoms that went unrecognised going back a few years but not till sometime after first being prescribed prednisolone at higher doses and long term about ten years ago or so.

Thanks John. I pressed the like button there, not because I like your symptoms but because I like your post.

 

[DCUKMod]

@Listlad - Have you had your recent A1c results back yet? For someone without a diagnosis, you seem rather keen to have everything under the sun.

However, in answer to your query. No symptoms whatsoever, ever. I was diagnosed as a result of some general bloods, done after a Well Woman visit where my BP was taken after a very painful procedure and was unsurprisingly high on the day.

 

[Listlad]

@Listlad - Have you had your recent A1c results back yet? For someone without a diagnosis, you seem rather keen to have everything under the sun.

Can you explain that statement a bit more...

 

[Bluetit1802]

Okay so the symptoms you ended up with arrived pretty much at the same time and simultaneously with diagnosis? No lead up? Or whas it the weight thing that led to the diagnosis.?

Sorry for being invasive. Just trying to understand the whole 9 yards of diabetese.

Never had any symptoms at all, before or since diagnosis. I was diagnosed on a routine health check available for us wrinklies. It was a total shock. 12 months earlier I had no sign of diabetes nor pre-diabetes, but during that 12 months I was receiving cancer treatment including intermittent steroids, I put on a lot of weight because of the treatment, and in order to help myself with potential side effects I was eating all the things that we are not supposed to eat, such as 2 or 3 bananas a day, cranberry juice, Manuka honey, at least one small bottle of Lucozade a day, and eating a lot of comfort food such as chocolate. I have no idea if the cancer treatment played a big part in my diagnosis or whether I would have "caught" it anyway. Certainly my eating habits won't have helped.

 

[DCUKMod]

Can you explain that statement a bit more...

By that I mean you are without a diagnosis at this point, as I understand it, yet seem to indetify, enthusiastically with almost everything anyone exhibits.

 

[Listlad]

Never had any symptoms at all, before or since diagnosis. I was diagnosed on a routine health check available for us wrinklies. It was a total shock. 12 months earlier I had no sign of diabetes nor pre-diabetes, but during that 12 months I was receiving cancer treatment including intermittent steroids, I put on a lot of weight because of the treatment, and in order to help myself with potential side effects I was eating all the things that we are not supposed to eat, such as 2 or 3 bananas a day, cranberry juice, Manuka honey, at least one small bottle of Lucozade a day, and eating a lot of comfort food such as chocolate. I have no idea if the cancer treatment played a big part in my diagnosis or whether I would have "caught" it anyway. Certainly my eating habits won't have helped.

I see. It just goes to show the degree of variance between people.