Anyone else's symptoms coincide with recovery period ?

[Ronancastled]

I was diagnosed last October with a HB1ac of 52 and a fasting blood of 7.5.

I'm 19.5 stone with a BMI in the 40s so doc gave me a shot to reverse without starting meds.

13 days later my HB1ac was back at 48 with my FBG down to 5.1, nurse told me to keep doing what I'm doing and come back in 3 months.

So I continued with the weight loss and exercise, now down 3 stone in 3 months.
The thing that made me happiest though was my postpriandials, normally around 6 at he 2 hour mark.

Little by little I raised the carbs, Kung Po Prawn with half of tub of rice was still well within the +2 even at the hour mark. A quarter pounder with half of bag of chips the same. These were only ever experiments though, I was never high carbing again.

This week the letter arrived from the retina scan saying I had background retinopathy but keep good glucose control and we will see you next year. The past few days my upper thigh has been numb which Dr. Google tells me is neuropathy. The next listed side effect was impotence and There have been issues with this.

Needless to say I was devastated. Next came the sweats constant urination after lunch. I had no meter with me so had to wait until I got home to confirm my broken pancreas. I got a reading of 5.6 which wasn't too bad considering my anxiety.

Has anyone seen this before whereafter they get their HB1ac back under control that the symptoms could surface. Is there a lag time to the high sugar levels and the deleterious effects ?

On another note you have to be the strongest forum on the internet and I'd count many of the members here higher than some health professionals out there.

Thanks for any feedback.

Edited by a moderator for clarity.

 

[kaylz91]

Getting things under control too quickly can cause just as much damage as running high for a period of time

I was diagnosed in November 2016 with a hba1c of 101, less than a month later I developed diabetic macular oedema that required urgent treatment in the forum of eye injections, my next hba1c was 33 and the diabetes consultant and ophthalmology consultant can only put it down to a plummet in hba1c, I've had good hba1c's in my 3 years but again in 2018 I was diagnosed with proliferative retinopathy in both eyes that required lasering so high levels aren't the only things that can cause damage but the professionals don't mention it so often
xx

 

[Ronancastled]

Thanks for the response.

I've been searching the forum as I've also been noting tingling in my feet, it seems to coincide with nerve recovery so that seems plausible.
My numb thigh problem looks to be more likely to be Meralgia paresthetica which is compressed nerve issue, I've been heavily exercising & I carry my phone in the jacket pocket which hangs over that thigh.
I moved it to the other pocket 2 nights ago & the symptoms have seem to all but disappeared.

The impotence disappeared & returned again so still not sure about that one.
It coincided with the Background Retinopathay letter so I putting it down to stress.

Just feels like I'm been constantly attacked while trying to do the right thing.

 

[sno0opy]

what your describing is rubbish, but you should take heart that some of what you describe can be caused by your recovery. Especially the tingly feet.

Keep at it, keep active and tackle the diet, it will come good in the end. better to get through it and suffer al ittle short term then not and get all this in a few years but not be able to fix it

 

[HSSS]

Not sure if he’s still about as I haven’t seen him in a while but @Jim Lahey had a lot of pain as he got his bgl under control. I believe he puts it down to the healing hurting whereas the damage had been silent.

 

[HSSS]

Getting things under control too quickly can cause just as much damage as running high for a period of time

I was diagnosed in November 2016 with a hba1c of 101, less than a month later I developed diabetic macular oedema that required urgent treatment in the forum of eye injections, my next hba1c was 33 and the diabetes consultant and ophthalmology consultant can only put it down to a plummet in hba1c, I've had good hba1c's in my 3 years but again in 2018 I was diagnosed with proliferative retinopathy in both eyes that required lasering so high levels aren't the only things that can cause damage but the professionals don't mention it so often
xx

It’s my understanding that this risk of fast lowering of levels is more a concern with insulin users and less common in diet only situations or with more simple meds like metformin. Perhaps if that’s not the case someone could let me know.

 

[kaylz91]

Just feels like I'm been constantly attacked while trying to do the right thing.

i know that feeling more than most xx

 

[kaylz91]

It’s my understanding that this risk of fast lowering of levels is more a concern with insulin users and less common in diet only situations or with more simple meds like metformin. Perhaps if that’s not the case someone could let me know.

I wouldn't know as I wasn't even warned about the risks of lowering my hba1c too quickly suffered the consequences through no fault of my own, set doses weren't great for me but luckily I was carb counting and adjusting less than a month after I was diagnosed, just a shame the damage had already been done xx

 

[MrPeaky]

Hi,

I cant comment on the med side of things as I haven't been put on them (hoping to avoid)

But with the 101 score it would suggest your levels had been raised/raising for a while, so damage may have been happening already, damage done takes longer to be undone/heal/repair than it does to happen.

As many people say, they have the symptoms people get after they are back in the normal range, healing skin and nerves hurt, because the body wants you to not use them so they can heal, when its being damaged its in survival mode so no pain so you can continue, think of sun burn, doesn't hurt getting it, after its a pain!

So it may very well be a case of the fact that the damage was done, and you lowered a bit too late, the main thing is that now it is down and you are under control.

So you are limiting and preventing further damage the best you can, that is only a positive. The body is an amazing thing and it heals itself incredibly well, it may just take longer than others to do so, so keep up the top work and keep your chin up

Damage is done, but now undo the damage keep healthy and give your body the best shot at fixing what has been done

Sending hugs.

 

[kaylz91]

@MrPeaky if your referring to me I'd only had a hba1c test the previous year to being diagnosed, the specialists have told me its because of a sudden drop in hba1c, medication is unavoidable for me as a Type 1 and all I've had is bad luck since I was diagnosed despite doing everything correct and having really good control

 

[MrPeaky]

@MrPeaky if your referring to me I'd only had a hba1c test the previous year to being diagnosed, the specialists have told me its because of a sudden drop in hba1c, medication is unavoidable for me as a Type 1 and all I've had is bad luck since I was diagnosed despite doing everything correct and having really good control

Apologies I misunderstood then, T2 here so teach me to read a bit more before commenting in future ha!

Either way hugs for you and hope that things pick up and start to get better soon

 

[Ronancastled]

As a follow up to my original post it turns out many of my issues were connected to anxiety/stress brought on by the background retinopathy letter.
My anxiety was so bad that I couldn't sleep a wink for days, just lying there mulling over the future.
I drank a bottle of red wine a few evenings ago & slept like a baby all night.
That morning when I woke all the aches, pains & impotence issues had somehow resolved themselves.
During the day however as I kept pondering the future they all began to return.

I needed to reboot, get my mojo back.
So I re-examined my stats, I'd been diagnosed early Oct 2019 with a Hb1ac of 52 (6.9%) FBG 7.5.
In 13 days I'd dropped 9lbs & started exercising, my follow up bloods were Hb1ac of 48 (6.5%) FBG 5.1.
2 Weeks after this my SD Codefree arrived so I could begin my own testing.
Very rarely do I see a 2 hour PP of over 120 mg/dl (6.7), normally back to a baseline of 105 (5.8) at the 3 hour mark & as low as 90 (5) just before an evening meal.
I do question the accuracy of the SD Codefree as a new batch of strips yielded higher results & when I get a 5 I feel I'm about to go hypo but any I digress.

I look back to my early figures & have come up with the hypothesis that somewhere in those first 13 days I passed my personal fat threshold.
Yesterday I received my 3 stone Slimming World award, the furthest I can put between me & this insidious disease the better.
New bloods due Tuesday week, something else to worry about but fingers crossed.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

My eyesight seems to change as my HbA1c goes up and down.
I'm not 100% certain that correlation implies causation, though.
Apparently the main change is that my astigmatism is improving.

Poor eyesight not associated with T2D diagnosis.
I've worn glasses since I was 8 years old.