Am in the middle of being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

[AndrewU]

Its been a rollercoaster of a couple of weeks.
I had been getting discomfort in my chest for about a month and i thought I must have caught the cold/virus that my wife had. however about 2 weeks ago I weighed myself and discovered I had lost a stone, since I had last weighed myself at the end of dry January. I was able to get a telephone appointment with my GP who was more worried with the chest pain than the weight loss. He sent me to the Hospital and they investigated my heart and couldn't find anything wrong, but thought my discomfort was acid related so prescribed me with a proton inhibitor. But couldn't explain the weight loss. Sent me home.
At this point I seemed to be losing about 0.5lb a day in weight. To try and compensate on the friday and saturday I significantly increased my food intake (lots of carbs), but the opposite to what I expected happened, my weight loss increased to over a 1lb a day.. Rang 111 on Sunday and spoke to a Dr who thought I had a gland problem (probably thyroid) and told to go to A&E. Had some blood tests and glucose level was 22 (thyroid ok). Put me on a drip which brought it down to 20.2. They decided as I wasn't experiencing any other symptoms to send me home and write to my Dr!!
Strangely I came away from the hospital relieved as I was thinking weight loss was Cancer.
I started researching diabetes whilst in the hospital and have this week significantly reduced my carb and sugar intake.
On Monday rang my Dr, the earliest appointment I can get (because of easter) is the 20th.
Spoke very concerned to the Drs receptionist about this, who after consulting a colleague was able to get me booked in for a blood test. The results came out on Thursday as abnormal, fasting glucose - 14, HBA1C - 78. Kidney function good, request to repeat fasting glucose. Having a retest on Wednesday.
On Monday whilst waiting for my blood test I went on amazon and have bought a £20 test kit and have been experimenting monitoring my BS. taking into account I have reduced my carb intake I am varying between 7.8 and 13.6, weetabix is bad (+4.5 after 2 hrs), wine is ok, 15 min walk 2 or 3 times a day is very good and gets me down to 7s. Morning fasting level is 9s, a 15min walk before going to bed got me to 7.5 this morning.
11 days till I see a Dr for a diagnosis, but seems conclusive to me.
Am 58, never been classed overweight, although pre weight loss was at the top end of normal BMI for my height, am now in the middle. Have never smoked, like a drink but most weeks only ~16units. Assume probably genetic.
Still worried about my chest pain so will push to see a cardiologist. After speaking to my local pharmacist have started to take precautionary Aspirin.
Ps. Love the forum, some good advice and you seem very friendly.

 

[Antje77]

Sounds like you're taking the bull by the horns, way to go!

On Monday whilst waiting for my blood test I went on amazon and have bought a £20 test kit and have been experimenting monitoring my BS. taking into account I have reduced my carb intake I am varying between 7.8 and 13.6, weetabix is bad (+4.5 after 2 hrs), wine is ok, 15 min walk 2 or 3 times a day is very good and gets me down to 7s. Morning fasting level is 9s, a 15min walk before going to bed got me to 7.5 this morning.
11 days till I see a Dr for a diagnosis, but seems conclusive to me.

Seems conclusive to me too (we can't diagnose on the forum - I didn't!).
Looks like you're doing all the right things, and it's working.

I hope you'll get to the bottom of your chest pains too, good luck!

 

[In Response]

If you are losing weight, I recommend talking to your doctor about Type 1 diabetes.
Don’t let the doc fob you off with ideas about Type 1 being a childhood condition. More than half of the people with Type 1 diabetes are diagnosed over the age of 20 and 30% of those were initially misdiagnosed as type 2. The oldest Type 1 diagnosis I am aware of was at aged 91. Significantly older than your 58 years.

 

[Andydragon]

Its been a rollercoaster of a couple of weeks.
I had been getting discomfort in my chest for about a month and i thought I must have caught the cold/virus that my wife had. however about 2 weeks ago I weighed myself and discovered I had lost a stone, since I had last weighed myself at the end of dry January. I was able to get a telephone appointment with my GP who was more worried with the chest pain than the weight loss. He sent me to the Hospital and they investigated my heart and couldn't find anything wrong, but thought my discomfort was acid related so prescribed me with a proton inhibitor. But couldn't explain the weight loss. Sent me home.
At this point I seemed to be losing about 0.5lb a day in weight. To try and compensate on the friday and saturday I significantly increased my food intake (lots of carbs), but the opposite to what I expected happened, my weight loss increased to over a 1lb a day.. Rang 111 on Sunday and spoke to a Dr who thought I had a gland problem (probably thyroid) and told to go to A&E. Had some blood tests and glucose level was 22 (thyroid ok). Put me on a drip which brought it down to 20.2. They decided as I wasn't experiencing any other symptoms to send me home and write to my Dr!!
Strangely I came away from the hospital relieved as I was thinking weight loss was Cancer.
I started researching diabetes whilst in the hospital and have this week significantly reduced my carb and sugar intake.
On Monday rang my Dr, the earliest appointment I can get (because of easter) is the 20th.
Spoke very concerned to the Drs receptionist about this, who after consulting a colleague was able to get me booked in for a blood test. The results came out on Thursday as abnormal, fasting glucose - 14, HBA1C - 78. Kidney function good, request to repeat fasting glucose. Having a retest on Wednesday.
On Monday whilst waiting for my blood test I went on amazon and have bought a £20 test kit and have been experimenting monitoring my BS. taking into account I have reduced my carb intake I am varying between 7.8 and 13.6, weetabix is bad (+4.5 after 2 hrs), wine is ok, 15 min walk 2 or 3 times a day is very good and gets me down to 7s. Morning fasting level is 9s, a 15min walk before going to bed got me to 7.5 this morning.
11 days till I see a Dr for a diagnosis, but seems conclusive to me.
Am 58, never been classed overweight, although pre weight loss was at the top end of normal BMI for my height, am now in the middle. Have never smoked, like a drink but most weeks only ~16units. Assume probably genetic.
Still worried about my chest pain so will push to see a cardiologist. After speaking to my local pharmacist have started to take precautionary Aspirin.
Ps. Love the forum, some good advice and you seem very friendly.

Rapid weight loss is often be a sign of diabetes so it’s a little surprising they didn’t flag this immediately. But the heart issues are probably their higher priority.

Your tests seem pretty high so from a purely diagnostic level we don’t diagnose on here as @Antje77 says but they do raise a concern so good that your doctors are moving forward with that

given you said you weren’t overweight to begin is a lot less usual of T2, but not unheard of and As @In Response says it is possible it is a different type but the tests used to diagnose type 1 aren’t generally standard but worth speaking to your doctor to see if they can be given.

good luck and welcome, hopefully you can find answers and support

 

[AndrewU]

Forgot to mention, since i have been controlling my carbs this week my weight has stabilised, fluctuates +/- 0.5lb.

Exercise seems key to me, spent yesterday morning gardening and had 15mins on my wife's little cycle machine whilst watching tv after dinner. was 7.2 when i went to bed and 6 when i woke up, lowest fasting in the morning this week.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @andrew and welcome to the forum.
I too am/was a slim Type 2 diabetic, also known as TOFI (thin outside Fat Inside). I'm now in remission having foll0owed the Low Carb way of eating route and testing meals with a BG meter..
You are obviously doing well in controlling your Blood Glucose and weight using Low Car, but two things bother me:
1. Weight Loss for an undiagnosed Type 2 before changing diet is rare, much more common in Type 1's.
2. Something is causing that chest pain, it needs sorting out.
Low Dose Aspirin is something that I take ( I had a 3x Bypass 2yrs before being diagnosed with T2D), however Statins (like Steroids) have a reputation for raising Blood Glucose

 

[AndrewU]

Had a retest at mt GP surgery on Wednesday fasting BS down to 7.4 due to lower carb diet HbA1C slightly lower at 74 (1 week of lower carb).
Am now testing myself regularly at home and can seem to keep in range of 6-8 with diet and increased exercise, evenings are hard when I fancy a snack whilst watching TV.
Gp appointment on 20th.

 

[Andydragon]

Had a retest at mt GP surgery on Wednesday fasting BS down to 7.4 due to lower carb diet HbA1C slightly lower at 74 (1 week of lower carb).
Am now testing myself regularly at home and can seem to keep in range of 6-8 with diet and increased exercise, evenings are hard when I fancy a snack whilst watching TV.
Gp appointment on 20th.

That’s optimistic. Hope it all goes well with the doctor

 

[SensitiveGuy]

If you are losing weight, I recommend talking to your doctor about Type 1 diabetes.

OP - This is important - make sure the actual condition is diagnosed properly. Type 1/2 are not minor variants on one disease; they are totally different conditions, with overlap in system and symptom. In some senses they are opposite problems; in one case you can't produce Insulin, in the other you can't use it - so your body ramps up production, but you still can't use it ... It appears to many (me included - that Type 2 can sometimes - even often - be effectively reversed with lifestyle, without drugs - depending on getting it early, before too much collatoral damage. But those lifestyle changes without necessary medical interventions might do you other damage if you actually have unmanaged Type 1. You need a clear diagnosis before proceeding.
I worry that not all GPs are fully aware of the amount that can be done to prevent unnecessary and sometimes very counter-productive drug reliance (my GPs have always been very cheerful and current, and supportive of low-medication, intelligence-led strategies, but I've heard many horror stories from others), and the fact that you are experimenting with lifestyle management is heartening! That said, when you do need medical intervention, you really do need it. Take this seriously, and do your own research - and I hope it turns out to be a glitch in your life that you look back on and say - "wow that was a scary spot - thank God I was lucky enough to get that warning and let me understand my body well enough to get back healthy ..." That all being said - if and when you are certain that your only root issue is Insulin Resistance, please see my next post ...

 

[SensitiveGuy]

Exercise seems key to me, spent yesterday morning gardening and had 15mins on my wife's little cycle machine whilst watching tv after dinner. was 7.2 when i went to bed and 6 when i woke up, lowest fasting in the morning this week.

I went pre, then almost certainly fully diabetic (Insulin Resistance - Type 2) while doing a desk job. I arrested the progress by starting intermittent fasting (one meal a day, 20+hours of fasting most days, with no significant exercise). But my fasting bloods did bump up a little into diabetic territory (apparently this is actually normal, though non-obvious that it would be so, if you are Insulin Resistant - fasting can elevate blood sugar). But it stayed level then, and went up no further. It didn't get better, per-se

Then I started exercise - about 30 mins of hard aerobic and anaerobic work each day of a 1 hour session that included plenty of breaks for breathers and heart rate recovery. My fasting glucose slowly started coming down.

Then I tried fasting, semi-supervised (at home, with advice, and with somebody keeping an eye on me, with daily urine tests and intra-day blood sugar tests). 5 days with no food - only water and electrolytes (mostly sodium, potassium, magnesium). Fasting blood glucose readings dropped from 7 to below 5! Post meal recovery still took some hours. 2 months later, another 5 day fast. Down to 4.0-4.3 on average, depending how badly I abused myself the last few days, and now I recover to below 5.0 after meals in tens of minutes, not hours.

There is lots written about fasting, but a dearth of hard research, and many professionals seem very afraid of it. I cannot tell you what is safe or useful for you, but if Insulin Resistance is your only issue, then I suggest investigating - alongside low carb, which you already mentioned, which will probably at least help prevent deterioration - exercise and multi-day fasting; from what I can tell, it has the potential to actively reverse Insulin Resistance for some people, and get you back to a good starting line, where you can stay away from some of the dangerous triggers (sedentary lifestyle, starchy carbs, inflammatory oils, eating too frequently, stress, etc).

None of this is qualified medical advice - it's a true story about a sample size of just 1 person, with some references to ideas that you can research. My main message is, for this particular root cause, many people claim to have reversed, or at the very least to have managed the problem with different levels of lifestyle intervention before serious side effects happened, without drugs. I'm very happy to be one of them. I know others.

My rules: Do not fast more than a few days without far more knowledge and insight. I myself would never contemplate more than a week except in residential medical supervision, but I also don't see why you would need or want to. Start small, don't ever get too ambitious in one fast - just wait a few months then do another one. Do not fast at all with any diabetic symptoms without medical advice and regular testing. Test daily for ketones in urine or in blood - after 2-3 days, you go into ketosis - as this happens, what looks like a scary drop in blood sugar is probably not a problem, as you are adapting to run on ketone bodies instead of sugar. Ketosis is not Diabetic Ketoacidosis, which latter is a life-threatening over-generation of ketones.

I still intermittent fast - it keeps things in order, touch wood, and my levels are very healthy, and not creeping back up.

Please do research different strategies. Don't only take the mainstream medical intervention because that's what everybody has done for the past 50 years.
And good luck!!!

 

[Lamont D]

Hi @SensitiveGuy ,
I enjoyed your success story and pleased with the outcome for you!
Getting a true diagnosis from a GP is understandably difficult because they don't have the tests or the training and specialist experience in diagnostic tests for the many different conditions under the diabetic and non diabetic endocrine umbrella.
Exercise is important but because many posters like myself, are of an age, where physical and strenuous exercise will not only be insufficient and damaging but will also cause hyper and hypos especially if on meds.
We are all different and treatment should be too!

Well done on your success!

 

[Lobsang Tsultim]

I had really bad intermittent chest pain a couple of years ago, bad enough that I was rushed to the hospital a couple of times. The first time, they dosed me full of morphine, did some heart readings, decided it wasn't a heart attack and sent me home. Luckily, the second time (two days later), the doctor was a bit more clued up and diagnosed an infected gallbladder. Supposedly, sometimes if the gallbladder is playing up, it can irritate the diaphragm causing central chest pain. I was admitted and put on intravenous antibiotics. A couple of months later, I was lucky enough to have my gallbladder removed: it was lucky because even though the surgeon was doing it more as a preventative measure, though the pain hadn't returned, my gallbladder was infected again and in the process of bursting.

TLDR get that chest pain checked, it could be a symptom of something life-threatening.

 

[Jasesonix]

Its been a rollercoaster of a couple of weeks.
I had been getting discomfort in my chest for about a month and i thought I must have caught the cold/virus that my wife had. however about 2 weeks ago I weighed myself and discovered I had lost a stone, since I had last weighed myself at the end of dry January. I was able to get a telephone appointment with my GP who was more worried with the chest pain than the weight loss. He sent me to the Hospital and they investigated my heart and couldn't find anything wrong, but thought my discomfort was acid related so prescribed me with a proton inhibitor. But couldn't explain the weight loss. Sent me home.
At this point I seemed to be losing about 0.5lb a day in weight. To try and compensate on the friday and saturday I significantly increased my food intake (lots of carbs), but the opposite to what I expected happened, my weight loss increased to over a 1lb a day.. Rang 111 on Sunday and spoke to a Dr who thought I had a gland problem (probably thyroid) and told to go to A&E. Had some blood tests and glucose level was 22 (thyroid ok). Put me on a drip which brought it down to 20.2. They decided as I wasn't experiencing any other symptoms to send me home and write to my Dr!!
Strangely I came away from the hospital relieved as I was thinking weight loss was Cancer.
I started researching diabetes whilst in the hospital and have this week significantly reduced my carb and sugar intake.
On Monday rang my Dr, the earliest appointment I can get (because of easter) is the 20th.
Spoke very concerned to the Drs receptionist about this, who after consulting a colleague was able to get me booked in for a blood test. The results came out on Thursday as abnormal, fasting glucose - 14, HBA1C - 78. Kidney function good, request to repeat fasting glucose. Having a retest on Wednesday.
On Monday whilst waiting for my blood test I went on amazon and have bought a £20 test kit and have been experimenting monitoring my BS. taking into account I have reduced my carb intake I am varying between 7.8 and 13.6, weetabix is bad (+4.5 after 2 hrs), wine is ok, 15 min walk 2 or 3 times a day is very good and gets me down to 7s. Morning fasting level is 9s, a 15min walk before going to bed got me to 7.5 this morning.
11 days till I see a Dr for a diagnosis, but seems conclusive to me.
Am 58, never been classed overweight, although pre weight loss was at the top end of normal BMI for my height, am now in the middle. Have never smoked, like a drink but most weeks only ~16units. Assume probably genetic.
Still worried about my chest pain so will push to see a cardiologist. After speaking to my local pharmacist have started to take precautionary Aspirin.
Ps. Love the forum, some good advice and you seem very friendly.

I lost over 6 stone over a 5 year period. I suspected I had diabetes but didn't do anything about it till a few weeks ago when I was diagnosed as diabetic.

 

[AndrewU]

Has been a while since I last posted.
Have had an antibody test and been confirmed T2. Have tightened my low carb diet and am holding blood at 4.5-7, with fasting level 80% in the 5s, every few weeks goes into 6s, is the morning effect as is a rise on my level when. I go to bed. Weight pretty much stable untill I caught covid 3 weeks ago and lost another 5 pounds, now stable at 13stone (6'4").
Saw a cardiologist and have been diagnosed with Angina, (blockage in one of my anterior arteries). Had a procedure yesterday and had a stent fitted, hopefully should fix this, am now on cocktail of 5 meds for my heart and metformin. Have my first 3 month NHS in July, hope 1C is good.

 

[Echerontius]

Absolutely agree. I was diagnosed type2 10 weeks ago after hba1c of 117. I'm 50 but very fit. Do hiit classes 3 times a week and karate twice a week. Going for 2nd Dan Black belt. Bmi is 22. I was put on strict low carb diet and told to come back 3 months later for next hba1c. I stubbornly kept checking glucose levels and nothing improved but I lost another 1 stone in weight. After pushing with GP I finally got referral to diabetic clinic last Friday. After 2mins with consultant endocrinologist he said ' bad news you're type1and need insulin immediately and for life..Good news you'll now have right treatment and start feeling better very soon.' He was right and only a week later, after playing with dosage levels, my blood glucose is bang in healthy range and I can eat normally again with family. Push for a referral and good luck. Once you have correct diagnosis and treatment things will be so much more positive. After 10 gruelling weeks I feel so much better this past week. Good luck.