Anyone struggle to get a diagnosis?

• Metallic taste in my mouth, esp after eating carby/sugary foods
• I consistently get yeast infections, sorry if TMI but it's true
• BAD morning breath even if I brushed the night before
• If I have gone too long between meals, IE I skip breakfast, I get nauseous, visible tremors in my hands, headaches
• My vision last year went from no issues what so ever to nearsighted enough to need glasses
• I'm tired ALL the time, even if I go to bed at 8pm and get up at 6am I'm tired
• The heels of my feet are always cracked and calloused regardless of how well I take care of them, in fact I wear shoes everyday for most of the day.
• I am highly forgetful and scatterbrained (lost my car keys twice in the span of 2 hours)
• I get bouts of depression and anxiety, like I can barely get out of bed
• Digestive issues, I flip flop between constipated for days, to having diarrhea and my stomach is perpetually upset about something
• I am overweight and have always been chunky and I struggle to lose weight
• Heart palpitations, they come and go in bouts, I can go months without then suddenly get them daily for a week
• My hair has been thinning, the amount that falls out while I shower is downright unnerving and I shed EVERYWHERE
• After eating a high carb meal I get a splitting headache with pressure behind my eyes

Lamont D said:

Hi, I have normal blood glucose levels but I get symptoms of hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia if my diet is carb or sugar.
That is not to say you have a condition, you say you are prediabetic, those are the symptoms of prediabetes. Your Hba1c must have confirmed this.
If you are serious about getting your prediabetes under control then you do need a glucometer, someone will come along and recommend the cheapest tests strips.

If you reduce your carbs, your plate size and increase your activity, then you have a really good chance to not progress to T2.

Best wishes

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Lamont D said:

Oh yeah!
It took over fourteen years to get the diagnosis of my condition.
I was misdiagnosed first for prediabetes then T2!
I really had to battle with GPs, dsns and even an endocrinologist who didn't have a clue.
Luckily enough I got a second referral and about four months later and a lot of tests, I was at last diagnosed.

The problem I found is that most GPs, dsns go along with the NHS guidelines for metabolic conditions including types of diabetes.

There are so many types, just not only T1 or T2, unfortunately our GPs are not trained to recognise the importance of how diet effects those susceptible to diabetes.

It is a story that is repeated every day on this forum!

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Grateful said:

Are you in America or something (like me)?

Sorry to be a bit blunt, but you need to see a doctor. Try to find a public hospital or a free clinic where a doctor will examine you. Or apply for Medicaid. Or just try to scrape together a couple of hundred dollars and go see a doctor, even if you have to embarrass yourself by borrowing it from one, or several people.

Edited to add: If you do see a private doctor, make sure you tell them you are destitute and cannot pay their fee. They may waive the fee, or reduce it sharply. Same with the A1C test, but you have to ask (on the back of the bill they will mail your for the test, there may be options for those who cannot pay).

You may have diabetes, but with your symptoms you may have other complaints in addition to, or instead of, diabetes. If you do have diabetes (the symptoms are suggestive) it is not something amenable to treatment with no medical supervision at all, at least at the diagnosis stage.

I have one more suggestion, but it is very much a second-best. Drug stores (such as CVS in America) sell home HbA1c kits, either one-time or two tests in one box. This is better than nothing, although not as accurate as a proper lab test run by a clinic. Here for instance is one sold online by CVS (29 dollars for 2 tests): https://www.cvs.com/shop/cvs-health-at-home-a1c-test-kit-prodid-496010?skuId=496010.

Well-meaning strangers on this forum can help you, but first: get thee to a doctor. Good luck.

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