Possible Diabetic?

[john1]

Hi everybody,I am looking for some advice.

I have not been diagnosed diabetic myself but have a father who has been a type 1 for around 40 years.

I first went to the docs with suspected urine infection in 2009 but it didnt clear up and I then developed itchiness and a yeast infection,these havent cleared up even now. Then I developed frequent urination in July 2010 and this is still with me. Been checked by 2 urologists and this isnt a urological problem.

In that time I've had many flu/virus like symptoms which have come and gone. Recently,the last couple of months my urination problems have been worse,especially during the night and I always get thirsty too. Ive developed really achy problems in the morning and have trouble getting out of bed and feel nauseous,I used to jog 3 times a week but havent got the energy any more. I have shaky feelings before meals and get headaches and feel tired afterwards.
Have also developed tingling and numbness in my hands and feet especially in the morning over past couple of months too.
I recently tested my blood sugar with a meter and my blood glucose was 4.4 mmol before my meal and 2 hours afterwards it went up to 10.3 mmol,is this a worry?

Ive had lots of blood tests over the past year and a recent one,a week ago showed raised liver enzymes but I've been told I dont have diabetes,although I dont think I've had a a1c test to test levels over 3 months.

I would love to get my problem sorted out so I can get back to exercising and get my health back.

Thanks for listening and all advice welcome.

John

 

[daisy1]

Hi John and welcome to the forum Unfortunately we can't diagnose on this forum - it has to be done by your doctor. If you are not happy with his opinion go back to him or try a different doctor. Your symptoms could be of diabetes or something else completely different. We are not doctors. Whichever it is you are obviously suffering so you need treatment soon. Your fasting blood tests should have shown if you have diabetes as it is one of the standard tests. Your doctor obviously did this test as he told you you were not diabetic. On the blood tests you did your after meal result depends on what you ate during the meal. If you ate lots of starchy carbs that would have raised your level. If you want a HbA1c test try to persuade your doctor to do one but he may not diagnose you on the results of it. Sorry - we are unable to do any more Good luck in getting your problems sorted out

If you are diagnosed diabetic do come back here - then we can help you to manage it as well as possible

 

[john1]

Daisy,thank you for your advice.

I should have said that i wasnt looking for a diagnosis but more of advice to say if these are common symptoms others have or have had and these blood glucose readings are in the normal range for non diabetics or are there indicators of possible diabetes,pre diabetes,insulin resistance etc?

Sorry for my poor choice of words.

 

[Ali H]

Hi there, yes very similar symptoms to me, do go back to your Doctor and get them to do a fasting test etc for you.

Ali

 

[john1]

Thanks Ali.

There's definitely something wrong as I am tired and fatigued all the time and spend most days either sleeping or eating.

I will definitely follow this up with my doc.

 

[john1]

Still waiting to see doc but did another test and was 11.4 2 hours after meal and still hungry.

Is there a type of diabetes where your blood glucose is in normal range until you eat and then it rises significantly and stays that way for a while?

 

[smidge]

Hi John,

Still waiting to see doc but did another test and was 11.4 2 hours after meal and still hungry.

Is there a type of diabetes where your blood glucose is in normal range until you eat and then it rises significantly and stays that way for a while?

That is exactly my profile. I have diabetes (type unknown). Currently awaiting results for LADA. My BG is generally 4.5 to 5.5 before eating. If I eat carbs, 10g would make me rise into double-figures and it would come back down over the following 4 hours or so. A bowl of cereal would send my BG into the 20s. It is hard to get a diabetes diagnosis with those symptoms because the fasting BG can be pretty normal (as can an HbA1c). Ask for a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) - they take the fasting BG level, give you a measured amount of glucose and then test again two hours later. This tells them if your body is metabolising sugar properly. If you just have a fasting test you'll probably be negative, but the GTT might tell a significantly different story as it would be just like eating a carb-heavy meal.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Smidge

 

[viviennem]

With insulin-resistant Type 2, your pre-meal/fasting BGs can be in the normal range. Then you eat a meal and your body metabolises first the carbohydrate (some types of carb very quickly), and later some of the protein, into glucose.

Your pancreas shoves some insulin into your system to try to push the glucose into your cells for energy/cell building etc. The surplus goes into your fat cells as fat.

If your cells are insulin resistant, your glucose sloshes around in the blood until eventually it gets used somewhere - if not for energy, stored as fat. For some reason, fat cells don't seem to get insulin resistance! So (if you are like me) you get tired and lethargic 'cos no energy, and fat :shock:

So - if you have insulin resistance, your blood glucose will stay higher for longer while your poor overworked pancreas desperately pushes out more insulin in an attempt to do something about all that glucose.

Meanwhile your body asks for more carbs (hunger) in an attempt to soak up all the spare insulin. Try to ignore it.

That is a very simplistic explanation, and not very subtle. If there's a better way of explaining it, the forum monitors will come along and correct me! BUT - If you have insulin resistance, it does not necessarily mean you have diabetes. You are just on the way there!

The logical thing to do, or so it seems to me, is to eat less carb so that I don't have a quick surplus of blood glucose, and my pancreas gets a bit of a rest.

The best thing you can do is see your doctor and talk it through; get proper fasting BG tests done, and an HbA1c, and take it from there. Smidge is quite right about a Glucose Tolerance Test being one of the best methods of identifying diabetes for sure.

Above all, don't worry about it until you have to. It's unlikely that anything terrible will happen in the next week. Easy to say, but true!

Come back and let us know how you get on. If there's anything else you want to ask, don't hesitate!

Viv 8)

 

[john1]

Thanks Smidge and Vivienne.
My doc has agreed to do a fasting glucose test so hopefully it will give me a diagnosis one way or another.

By the way ive cut down on the carbs the last couple of days and it has helped get my 2 hour after meals down,so thanks for the advice.

 

[john1]

I got the results of my GTT and i'm not even close to being diabetic,3.2mmol fasting level,god i'm frustrated!
Not because i havent got diabetes but seeing no end to getting up to urinate 6-8 times a night and no end to my tiredness,fatigue,tingling hands in morning,rashes,yeast infection etc.

But i thank you all for your advice and will still lurk around the site for the good and sensible information you dispense.

John

 

[Erin]

Because different diseases can have similar symptoms, I would try an endocrinologist as well. Maybe your dr. can think of appropriate specialists for your symptoms, once the diabetes ones are elimininated.

 

[john1]

Thank you Erin,I will be asking for a referral to an Endocrinologist although my previous doctor wouldnt do it but I've recently changed and hope my new one will be more receptive.

 

[CarbMonster]

I got the results of my GTT and i'm not even close to being diabetic,3.2mmol fasting level,god i'm frustrated!
Not because i havent got diabetes but seeing no end to getting up to urinate 6-8 times a night and no end to my tiredness,fatigue,tingling hands in morning,rashes,yeast infection etc.

But i thank you all for your advice and will still lurk around the site for the good and sensible information you dispense.

John

John

If 3.2 was fasting level, what was the level after glucose? You should have been tested 2 hours after being given glucose - what was the result? PS the new test standard will involve HBa1C test - have you had this? Don't rule out diabetes just yet - also ask your doc why your fasting level is so low as 3.2 is technically in hypoglycemic territory and you should have "hypo" warning symptoms and if you don't at that level, you have "hypoglycemic unawareness" which can be medically significant in and of itself.

Might be an idea to to get yourself a meter and some strips and start logging your results pre/post meals. According to various medical literature I have read, post-prandial (post-meal) readings at 2 hours should not be as high as you describe, indeed poorly controlled blood glucose levels must be recognised and managed, whether formally diagnosed or not. For what it is worth, I am in a similar position. GPs are imminently to become the "accountants" of the funding, hence there is an explicit conflict of interest between them spending money diagnosing/treating and meeting their targets/managing the budget. Simply put, until and unless you're literally admitted to hospital, GPs will in many instances, delay diagnoses and in many cases even omit to tell patients for years that they have diabetes and/or other chronic diseases which cost money to manage - a scandalous but nevertheless unsurprising state of affairs, given the state of disarray that the UK is in.

You're welcome to PM for a chat or even a rant, to someone who shares and understands your frustration, both at feeling ill, needlessly, too often and at sub-optimal diagnostic criteria, more designed to subvert diagnosis than facilitate it! Note that the lower the diagnostic threshold is set, the higher the number of diagnosed diabetics - America has substantially lower diagnostic limits than UK, despite incontrovertible evidence that early intervention, as early as possible, is highly valuable in potentially limiting damage and/or slowing the worsening of matters.

 

[viviennem]

Hi John

The NICE (National Institute for Clinical Health & Excellence - I think) guidelines for blood glucose levels in a normal (ie, non-diabetic) person (2008 figures) are as follows:

3.5 to 5.5. mmol/l, fasting or before meals
less than 8 mmol/l, 2 hours after meals.

I believe the GTT reading after 2 hours should be less than 11.1 mmol/l, but I've never had that test. Someone else will know more, or you could search this site or Google for it.

Viv 8)

 

[john1]

I went to my doctor yesterday and was going to ask for a referral to an endrocrinologist and had an episode of low blood sugar,3.7 just before i went so was able to get through a little to the doctor more than before.

Ive suffered from these episodes for a few years,shaky,sweaty,cold hands,very pale,needw to eat something sugary asap but they are happening a lot more frequently of late,most mornings 2-3 hours after breakfast and sometimes in evening.

In fact a few months back i went to the dentist and the dentist thought i was going to faint as i looked so bad,i have no fear of dentists BTW.
I made it through the treatment and when i got home i was able to test and i was 2.9mmol on that occasion.

So i do suffer from low blood sugar but i didnt even think of this until it happened on a doctor visit day.
It may help with a diagnosis.

Also i've developed tingling hands and fingers of a night and morning over last couple of months,is this significant at all?

 

[happypixi]

:? Hi im just looking for some advice, I have my blood sugar tested and it was 8.0, this was before eating anything, i had not had anything to eat from about 8pm the evening before and the blood test was done at around 10.30am the following day.

the nurse said it was high and that i had got to speak to the nurse at the other hospital i was being transferred to. they tested it before lunch and said it was ok, however, since the 2nd jan 2012 i have lost over 11pounds in weight, always thirsty, i eat loads but still loosing weight, have to get up a few times in the night for the loo and have constant itching down below, i loose sensation in my left arm and hand and my GP has suggested that i have a fasting blood test done, im worried what the results will show, i have had this test before and it has come back negative, im not so sure this time that it will be negetive this time.

if i am diabetic, how quick do the symptoms usually appear, is it possible to be type 1 and not know?

I would appericte any help thanks

 

[john1]

I just thought I'd update and let you know that I'm eventually seeing an endrocrinologist tomorrow but it looks very much like I've got the totally unrelated Diabetes Insipidus,Nephrogenic,rather than Diabetes Mellitus like most of you on here.

So my symptoms were similar but were indicating a different diagnosis.

Best wishes