Advice needed please!

[sammy7827]

Hi, I am new here so hi!

I am looking for some advice please
For the past year I have been having episodes that are characteristic of hypoglycemia. (I go dizzy, confused, I get cold sweats, shaky, and crave high sugar foods like chocolate. After eating something I slowly start to feel better but develop a headache and sleepiness. Sometimes they are much worse and I feel like I am about to pass out.) I went to the doctor when I first started getting these episodes, and he said that if it was diabetes I wouldn't be able to feel any symptoms. I left feeling confused but left it alone for a while. Over the past year these have been getting more frequent, and I find I have to eat a lot of sugary foods throughout the day to make sure I am okay. I looked it up and discovered that the doctor was wrong and I am meant to feel a hypoglycemic attack! I decided to be proactive and to save me being brushed off by the doctors again I bought a blood glucose meter and monitored my results myself before going back to the doctors. My average results were this:
Fasting: 3mmol/L
90mins after meals: 6mmol/L
Bedtime: 4mmol/L
I took these results to a different doctor and explained the episodes I have been experiencing. He said they were okay, and to just keep eating lots of sugary foods and I will be fine... Is this right? Shouldn't he have at least tested my levels himself? I am overweight due to medication but eat very little throughout the day. Diabetes is in my family but I have never been checked.

I really hope someone can offer me some advice! I don't know whether this advice is okay, and don't want to get a second opinion and get the same reaction...

Thank you in advance, Samantha

 

[Patch]

Overweight with a fasting BG of 3mmol/L?

You definitely need a second (third?) opinion.

 

[SophiaW]

I'd also opt for another opinion. Having to eat sugary food through the day to ward off hypos is not normal and shouldn't be something that should be left without an explanation as to it's cause. Also, take a good look at any medication you're taking and see if it might be resulting as a side-effect. Search on the internet for the side-effects, they're not always listed in full on the packaging.

 

[sammy7827]

Thank you so much for your replies, I almost thought I was going mad!
I have had problems with both doctors mentioned and I am a bit sure with where to turn now. I feel like they take one look at my weight and presume I can't have type 1 because I must eat too much. I don't think they actually believe that I eat very little! Its so hard to get them to understand.

Thank you for your support though, I do think I could go for a second opinion now

 

[john1]

I would suggest you make a food and drink diary and take it to your doctor to show your diet and why you need help.

Best wishes

 

[sammy7827]

I would suggest you make a food and drink diary and take it to your doctor to show your diet and why you need help.

Best wishes

Thanks, I've done that though. I think he thinks I was missing things out

 

[benyu]

I would try and see a doc at another surgery as the two you have seen obviously have no intention of taking you seriously. You need to be checked by a diabetic nurse or a doc who will do blood tests to find out if you have diabetes and it sounds like you may have. For a doc to tell you to just keep eating sugary things is one of the most stupid none professional pieces of advice I have heard from a trained person.
If you have a walk in medical center near you or with in reasonable traveling distance try there, use the search engines on the net you should get some info there for your nearest. Another option is to try a Pharmacist at Boots for advice after you explain your situation.

 

[sammy7827]

I would try and see a doc at another surgery as the two you have seen obviously have no intention of taking you seriously. You need to be checked by a diabetic nurse or a doc who will do blood tests to find out if you have diabetes and it sounds like you may have. For a doc to tell you to just keep eating sugary things is one of the most stupid none professional pieces of advice I have heard from a trained person.
If you have a walk in medical center near you or with in reasonable traveling distance try there, use the search engines on the net you should get some info there for your nearest. Another option is to try a Pharmacist at Boots for advice after you explain your situation.

Good idea, thank you! I will look for a local walk in center and if I can't find any I will head to boots. I need to find another doctors surgery really, this isn't the first thing I've seriously questioned. For the past year and a half I've had a pretty bad cough. I've been to see him a lot about it and every time he just orders another sample to be tested... In the whole 17 months he has only listened to my chest once... Its getting worse and its now keeping me up at night and bruising my chest. When I get my second opinion I will be mentioning this too!

Thanks again, Sam

 

[SophiaW]

I can't have type 1 because I must eat too much.

I personally think it's unlikely that you have Type 1 Diabetes. Type 1's get hypos but that's because they're injecting insulin and the hypo will result from the injected insulin, usually because the dose has not been correct or due to exercise or not enough carbohydrate eaten for the amount of insulin injected. If you had type 1 and not injecting insulin your blood sugars would be very high so in effect the opposite of what you're experiencing.

I'm not sure about your symptoms and the possibility of Type 2 diabetes, I don't know much about T2 apart from the basics which I thought would result in elevated blood glucose levels and not hypos but I could be wrong. The hypos you're experiencing are as the result of something, it's not normal to have to eat sugary food to keep away hypos. Whatever is causing the hypos needs to be investigated so that you can remedy or treat it. It may not be diabetes at all, there are a number of conditions that can cause hypoglycemia.

Good luck, I hope you can find what's causing this for you and get it treated.

 

[stoney]

I would try and see a doc at another surgery as the two you have seen obviously have no intention of taking you seriously. You need to be checked by a diabetic nurse or a doc who will do blood tests to find out if you have diabetes and it sounds like you may have. For a doc to tell you to just keep eating sugary things is one of the most stupid none professional pieces of advice I have heard from a trained person.
If you have a walk in medical center near you or with in reasonable traveling distance try there, use the search engines on the net you should get some info there for your nearest. Another option is to try a Pharmacist at Boots for advice after you explain your situation.

Good idea, thank you! I will look for a local walk in center and if I can't find any I will head to boots. I need to find another doctors surgery really, this isn't the first thing I've seriously questioned. For the past year and a half I've had a pretty bad cough. I've been to see him a lot about it and every time he just orders another sample to be tested... In the whole 17 months he has only listened to my chest once... Its getting worse and its now keeping me up at night and bruising my chest. When I get my second opinion I will be mentioning this too!

Thanks again, Sam

Hi Sam

Not sure what to say about you BG's but myself (parent of a diabetic) was coughing all the time for about 5 months especially at night and keeping me awake, to cut a long story short, they diagnosed me with asthma (can't think of the name for it now) but it's the coughing asthma. I am now on an inhaler called Symbicort which has made a HUGE difference. Two puffs in the morning and one at night before bed. Hope this helps.

 

[sammy7827]

personally think it's unlikely that you have Type 1 Diabetes. Type 1's get hypos but that's because they're injecting insulin and the hypo will result from the injected insulin, usually because the dose has not been correct or due to exercise or not enough carbohydrate eaten for the amount of insulin injected. If you had type 1 and not injecting insulin your blood sugars would be very high so in effect the opposite of what you're experiencing.

I'm not sure about your symptoms and the possibility of Type 2 diabetes, I don't know much about T2 apart from the basics which I thought would result in elevated blood glucose levels and not hypos but I could be wrong. The hypos you're experiencing are as the result of something, it's not normal to have to eat sugary food to keep away hypos. Whatever is causing the hypos needs to be investigated so that you can remedy or treat it. It may not be diabetes at all, there are a number of conditions that can cause hypoglycemia.

Good luck, I hope you can find what's causing this for you and get it treated.

That's interesting, how can you not have hypos by not eating enough? My thought on it was if my body isn't using the insulin properly then I could be having hypos because of that. Obviously I am new to this, but thats just what I seemed to find when researching.
I also have insulin resistance patches, but the doctor said they only appeared when you were developing type 2? This is all very confusing!
My main problem is he isn't investigating into why my blood glucose levels are so low and why I have these patches...

Hi Sam

Not sure what to say about you BG's but myself (parent of a diabetic) was coughing all the time for about 5 months especially at night and keeping me awake, to cut a long story short, they diagnosed me with asthma (can't think of the name for it now) but it's the coughing asthma. I am now on an inhaler called Symbicort which has made a HUGE difference. Two puffs in the morning and one at night before bed. Hope this helps.

I have asthma but the asthma nurse said I need to see a doctor because its not due to that. Thank you though!

 

[robertmiles]

I have enough experience with type 2 to say more about it. Hypoglycemia is sometimes an early sign that you will develop type 2 later. If your body isn't using insulin properly, that's usually insulin resistance and means you already have type 2.

I haven't seen insulin resistance patches mentioned before.

It's possible to have both type 1 and type 2 at once; there are also arguments about what to call such a combination.

Hypos from not eating enough are possible if, for some reason, your pancreas is making too much insulin and you don't have enough insulin resistance to need that much. You may want to check if any of your medicines are of types intended to make your pancreas produce more insulin.

 

[DeeNJai]

Hi
I hope that you get the help to see if you are diabetes as it not fun when you arent sure what is wrong. I would say like they others could you change to a different surgery that might listen to you. I hate hypo's too as I have been having them too. Since January I have had about 5 attacks without warning. The worse one when i was at a conference i felt like i was shaking, clammy, heart racing, dizzy, light headed and had gone very pale. That day I didnt have a high carb meal I had chicken in white wine sauce, small amount of rice and a lot of salad. For some reason today my BG has been on the high side:
fasting: 4.9
3 hours after 6.1
3h after lunch 8.1
3h after dinner: 12.4

Since the 10 Feb it been on average per day. (from my mylefestyle graphs)
10 Feb:6.53; 11 Feb: 6.24; 12 Feb: 5.00; 13 Feb:10.6, 14 Feb: 7.15; 15 Feb: 6.95, 16 Feb: 7.53, 17 Feb: 5.95
18 Feb: 6.1; 19 Feb: 6.94; 20 Feb: 6.37; 21 Feb: 6.85; 22 Feb: 7.98

I do have regular fast glucose tests as I also have a hereditary cholesterol and triglyceride problem which is getting treated with fibrate medication to get it down. The last time I had the test the level for total cholesterol was just under 7 and the sugar levels came back in the normal range. MY brother has T2 and hopefully once he has had his operation his T2 will go away they have never asked him to check his BG at home which was a surprise as how can he tell what is going on with his sugars if he is not testing. Hopefully in a years time he will be at least 6 stone or more lighter. My BMI is creeping up to nearly 40. i find it hard to lose weight as I am not as mobile as I would like to be. I have major problems that I cant walk very far without pain and then the spasms kick in which means I cant do anything.

I will be joining the gym in the next few weeks so that i can do some form of exercise and then also I will start going swimming as it helps me be able to move more as the water supports my body. Not sure how to tell my GP that I am testing my BG regularly because of the hypo's that I have had. I use the Accu-Chek Compact Plus to check the BG. It is weird that if you buy 3 of the 17 test strips it is cheaper than buying the 51 test strips by nearly £2. You would have thought that it would be cheap to buy the big one as there are more test strips. I will need to buy some more test strips on Friday as I will run out in the next 3 or 4 days.
Dee