Hi everybody
I've just been diagnosed type 2 by my GP. Here's a brief history.
The last 6 years have been fairly grim for me:
In 2006 I suffered depression and was 'self medicating' very heavily with Alcohol. It resulted in 'redundancy' from my job and about a year of unemployment. I did have NLP councilling and a course of anti-depressants but I am not sure if my issues were ever resolved.In 2007 my fathers partner passed away and I spent a lot of time trying to help him come to terms with it. In 2008 my father died, the company I was working went into liquidation and I had another bout of self destructive drinking. I am not going to say how much I was drinking as I am too ashamed to say but needless to say it was at a very high level. In 2010 I found another job which turned out to be very stressful for me, and I hit the bottle again. In January this year that company went into liquidation and I was unemployed again. The good news is that I found a job pretty quickly which involes 4 days a week working from home and one day in the office so at least I am working again. That's the end of the sob story. I am not asking for sympathy just giving you a background into the recent abuse I have put my body through.
The Diagnosis
In 2009 I was visiting my doctor to deal with my depression and he took blood and told me I was borderline diabetic. At that time I was deep in my own self pity so chose to ignore it. My GP did not follow up either and left it with me to arrange appointments which I never did.
I've noticed a numbness in my feet for the last 6 months or so and put it down to sciatica that I suffered from back in 2007. When is spread to the little finger of my right hand I knew something was from so last Friday I visited one of the nurses at my surgery to take a fasted blood sample. While I was there I asked if she could measure my blood sugar and she agreed. It came out at 11.1. Halfway home I got a call from my GP to come straight back and he very nearly sent me straight to hospital. After a call to the hospital he put me on Metaformin 500mg (1 a day for the first week, 2 a day second week, 3 a day the third week).
He also gave me a diet sheet.
I have now woken up and smelt the coffee. At the darkest times of my depression I knew what I was doing to myself but did not care. Now I changed my mind.
I am due to find out my blood test results tomorrow as I have another GP appointment. I have to admit to being terrified about finding out what damage I have done to myself. I have a few preliminary questions:
Questions-
1-The numbness in my feet is not dreadful and seems to affect the smaller toes and outside edge of each foot the most. I can still feel things touching the numb parts and have no sores or other foot problems. Do I have the numbness for life now?
2- Is it possible that my drinking has caused damage to my Pancreas and Liver that has impeded my Sugar control? If so if I go t-total is it possible that the damage will recover or get better?
3- I've also been suffering for powerful spells of tiredness during the day (usually early afternoon). These were so powerful I had trouble keeping my eyes open even at work. Since Friday I've stopped drinking, increased my activity and cut down on sugar and my afternoon tiredness has gone. I've only done 3 x 500mg of Metaformin since Friday but I feel a lot better. Are these tired spells common in a non diagnosed person?
4- Could my depression/low mood be a side effect of blood sugar? Even with this bad news I feel relieved and a lot less stressed. I don't know if anybody reading this has suffered from depression before but it took me to very dark place.
5- What should I expect from my GP? I need to address my weight but may need help, I have high BP and of course I need help changing my eating habits. My Surgery does not seem particularly proactive so I need to know what I can ask for.
Anyway that's all for now. I guess I'll have more news after tomorrows GP appointment.
I hope I have not bored you all witless with my story.
Thanks,
Chris
I've just been diagnosed type 2 by my GP. Here's a brief history.
The last 6 years have been fairly grim for me:
In 2006 I suffered depression and was 'self medicating' very heavily with Alcohol. It resulted in 'redundancy' from my job and about a year of unemployment. I did have NLP councilling and a course of anti-depressants but I am not sure if my issues were ever resolved.In 2007 my fathers partner passed away and I spent a lot of time trying to help him come to terms with it. In 2008 my father died, the company I was working went into liquidation and I had another bout of self destructive drinking. I am not going to say how much I was drinking as I am too ashamed to say but needless to say it was at a very high level. In 2010 I found another job which turned out to be very stressful for me, and I hit the bottle again. In January this year that company went into liquidation and I was unemployed again. The good news is that I found a job pretty quickly which involes 4 days a week working from home and one day in the office so at least I am working again. That's the end of the sob story. I am not asking for sympathy just giving you a background into the recent abuse I have put my body through.
The Diagnosis
In 2009 I was visiting my doctor to deal with my depression and he took blood and told me I was borderline diabetic. At that time I was deep in my own self pity so chose to ignore it. My GP did not follow up either and left it with me to arrange appointments which I never did.
I've noticed a numbness in my feet for the last 6 months or so and put it down to sciatica that I suffered from back in 2007. When is spread to the little finger of my right hand I knew something was from so last Friday I visited one of the nurses at my surgery to take a fasted blood sample. While I was there I asked if she could measure my blood sugar and she agreed. It came out at 11.1. Halfway home I got a call from my GP to come straight back and he very nearly sent me straight to hospital. After a call to the hospital he put me on Metaformin 500mg (1 a day for the first week, 2 a day second week, 3 a day the third week).
He also gave me a diet sheet.
I have now woken up and smelt the coffee. At the darkest times of my depression I knew what I was doing to myself but did not care. Now I changed my mind.
I am due to find out my blood test results tomorrow as I have another GP appointment. I have to admit to being terrified about finding out what damage I have done to myself. I have a few preliminary questions:
Questions-
1-The numbness in my feet is not dreadful and seems to affect the smaller toes and outside edge of each foot the most. I can still feel things touching the numb parts and have no sores or other foot problems. Do I have the numbness for life now?
2- Is it possible that my drinking has caused damage to my Pancreas and Liver that has impeded my Sugar control? If so if I go t-total is it possible that the damage will recover or get better?
3- I've also been suffering for powerful spells of tiredness during the day (usually early afternoon). These were so powerful I had trouble keeping my eyes open even at work. Since Friday I've stopped drinking, increased my activity and cut down on sugar and my afternoon tiredness has gone. I've only done 3 x 500mg of Metaformin since Friday but I feel a lot better. Are these tired spells common in a non diagnosed person?
4- Could my depression/low mood be a side effect of blood sugar? Even with this bad news I feel relieved and a lot less stressed. I don't know if anybody reading this has suffered from depression before but it took me to very dark place.
5- What should I expect from my GP? I need to address my weight but may need help, I have high BP and of course I need help changing my eating habits. My Surgery does not seem particularly proactive so I need to know what I can ask for.
Anyway that's all for now. I guess I'll have more news after tomorrows GP appointment.
I hope I have not bored you all witless with my story.
Thanks,
Chris