• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Am I Or Not.. Help

J

jamesc001

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Other
Hi all,
I've been to the doctors many times over course of a year, and each time they say I'm not diabetic, I'm hoping someone can help me or if someone else has had similar problems.

When the doctor first said I could be diabetic with a reading of 6.9 he had me back in to do a blood fasting test which came back normal. I bought myself a meter reader between those times, planning to test myself when symptoms reappeared. During yesterday I woke up fatigued, stiff neck and sluggish. I had my breakfast, branflakes and fruit. and about 2hrs after, I started to get pain in my ears and legs.. I tested my blood sugar. and came back at 7.6. I went for a brisk walk for 30mins.
3hrs later I checked my blood sugar again, without eating anything more and only drinking water since last check. my blood sugar was 11.1 (so that's 5hrs after not eating anything more). To me, that's not normal.
Leading up to the high reading symptoms worsened, with lower back pain, pain in teeth, static shock type feelings in forearms, legs. nauseas, blurred vision, headache behind eyes, increased pain in knees and calf muscles, more tired, itchy, shaky and twitchy, really thirsty and weeing every 30mins to an hour.

That was yesterday, today not too bad except a bit fatigued and stiff.

Over the course of a year, in october was in bed for 4 days sleeping for 2hrs getting up for 15mins and going bed again. Last 3 weeks, slowly came on got worse and was in bed for week and half. Then symptoms stopped for 5 days (suddenly all pains gone and felt better) before reappearing again yesterday.

So a little history, probably been living with these symptoms for about 3years, but thought it was just normal. I went doctors for what I thought was tonsillitis, but turned out to be thrush, so cut out sugar to try and stop thrush while on ?Nystan from reappearing and after a while I realised how bad my other symptoms were compared to when i was eating and drinking sugary stuff.

Some other symptoms, top to bottom:
Ringing in ears, pain in ears.
Floaters in eyes
Eyes seem to have changed colour.
Pain in right shoulder but ok when not experiencing other symptoms.
Increased sleep in eyes.
Blurred Vision, hard to focus on one spot.
Dry mouth, white on tongue, horrible taste.
Thirsty
Occasionally I'm slightly sick when brush my teeth, and gag/cough. More so when feeling sickly.
Weak muscles after I do anything, like lifting followed by dizziness.
Indigestion/heartburn
Shaking in hands
Weeing a lot.
Dermatitis under foreskin.
Ball ache, shooting pain in left teste.
All over muscle aches
Knees crunch (doesn't seem to change when feeling better)
White around toes, especially after bath.. bit sore to touch. Not athletes foot, canesten doesn't work on it. Not dry skin - not rough
Feet/arms going to sleep
Feeling paralysed when I rest in bed. Like they go sleep before i do, and have to tell them to move, more so.
Excessive sleeping

I don't want to be diabetic, and hope I'm not. But if I am not, then i'm being properly diagnosed for something else.. each time i go doctors, they send me for blood tests about week later, and when get results back and they say everything is normal then I'm back at square one. They're making me feel like i'm going crazy and it's starting to get me really down with not knowing.
 
Also,
Odd blood spots on arms and legs
Occasional pain in heart
Bruise easy, still got bruise from last blood test week and half ago.
Gums receding, regularly go dentist and dentist x-rayed me for reasons of shooting pain (nothing found)
Forgetfulness. Normally remember everything and quite clever
Feet look like they are being eat away, in centre and around toes where hey touch each other (I always dry them well)
Spider veins on ankles and under ribs
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I really think you need to go back and see your doctor with all these symptoms that need sorting out.

If anyone goes for more than 5 hours without eating, their liver will dump glucose - but liver dump taking your BG over 11 is not normal.

I'm tagging @daisy1 who will give you the basic information for diabetes.

You might also want to check your symptoms in case there are elements of reactive hypoglycemia. I'll tag @Brunneria for advice on that.
 
Hi,

Thanks for tagging me @Indy51

I'm no qualified medical person, but I agree with Indy - sounds like you need to insist on further investigations from your doc.

It doesn't sound like reactive hypoglycaemia, but have a look at this thread, and see if it rings any bells for you:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/reactive-hypoglycaemia.71083/

Normal people can have brief bouts of blood glucose as high as 11mmol/l. It's rare, it ain't good for them, and I would strongly urge they look at their diet and reduce the sugar and amount of cereal/carbs they are eating, but the odd spike to that level doesn't mean they have Diabetes. If your blood glucose is that high, it can trigger the increased urination, as the kidneys filter out the excess glucose. That can cause thrush, etc.

But it does sound as if you have something going on, even if it isn't obviously diabetes or reactive hypoglycaemia, and that something may be having a knock on impact on your blood glucose.

I really think you need a second opinion from a consultant, but I've no idea what sort of consultant you need a referral to.

Please let us know how you get on.
 
@jamesc001

Hello James and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, especially the advice on lowering carbs. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have been back to the doctor this morning, and he's sending for Rheumatoid blood test. Definitely helped taking my wife with me - i'm not the best person at talking through my symptoms - I always forget a bunch, then next time i go it makes me sound like a hypochondriac, because symptom not discussed before, pops up.
Natalie1974/silverbirch not put much weight on was just underweight for most of life, but now average BMI but I am sensitive to the cold, I wear a coat most of the time and normally even a jumper on warm days.
 
Back
Top