It has been a long time since I last logged in and posted here. Probably because my other health issue, ME/CFS (commonly called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), has taken up most of my thinking. I have sort of been ignoring my diabetes. I have type 2 diabetes, which was diagnosed in Sept 2009. I have been ill with ME/CFS since 2005 and haven't been able to work since. I have a lot of neurological symptoms many of which are listed here http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/.
This has of course made me wonder if my symptoms have actually been caused by undiagnosed diabetes rather than ME/CFS. I had problems that may have been diabetes related back in the late 1990s, needing to pee very regularly, constant dry mouth, problems with my eyes when driving at night and dizzy spells. I saw the doctor about needing to get up in the night to pee (I'm not sure I mentioned about this being the same during the day) and prostate problems were suspected. I don't remember having a fasting blood test done at that time. As for the over problems I ignored them.
The first blood test for diabetes I remember having was in 2008 while in hospital. I was told I was borderline diabetic and the consultant said he would ask my GP to carry out another test. I am not sure if this was done. I changed doctors in late 2008 and in 2009 I was given a fasting blood test and found to have type 2 diabetes. I have hypertension too which was diagnosed in early 2005. Having read some of the articles on the Blood Sugar 101 website, I am wondering if in fact I have had high blood sugar levels for a lot longer than 2 years, and if they have in fact been too high and causing me damage since the late 90s.
Since being diagnosed I have been very lapse about controlling my blood sugar. My last A1c test back in September last year was 8.9 . I am not taking any drugs for it. A couple of weeks ago I decided there was nothing much I could do about my ME/CFS, but there is something I can do about my hypertension, diabetes and weight. I started to diet which has started to reduce my weight, but more importantly it has brought down my blood sugar levels. This seems to have led to a reduction in my supposed ME/CFS symptoms. One of the problems I have is the doctor always assumes my symptoms are down to ME/CFS and forgets the symptom overlap there is with it and diabetes.
Before I started to diet I rarely got a BG reading of under 12 even first thing in the morning, I am now getting readings in the 8s. But even that isn't consistent as this morning my BG was 12 before I ate anything. It seems strange that my A1C tests seem to show that although my BG is high it isn't too high, my own readings using a monitor have, until recently, rarely shown a level under 12 and was often 16 or 18.
The fact I have seen some improvement since changing my diet has spurred me on to try and get a much tighter control of my diabetes. What I really want to do is get back to work, and even if it is just a possibility that most of my symptoms are caused by diabetes, it is well worth trying to get it under control. Although if my symptoms are diabetes related I am not sure how many of them can be reversed or if the damage is permanent.
Paul
This has of course made me wonder if my symptoms have actually been caused by undiagnosed diabetes rather than ME/CFS. I had problems that may have been diabetes related back in the late 1990s, needing to pee very regularly, constant dry mouth, problems with my eyes when driving at night and dizzy spells. I saw the doctor about needing to get up in the night to pee (I'm not sure I mentioned about this being the same during the day) and prostate problems were suspected. I don't remember having a fasting blood test done at that time. As for the over problems I ignored them.
The first blood test for diabetes I remember having was in 2008 while in hospital. I was told I was borderline diabetic and the consultant said he would ask my GP to carry out another test. I am not sure if this was done. I changed doctors in late 2008 and in 2009 I was given a fasting blood test and found to have type 2 diabetes. I have hypertension too which was diagnosed in early 2005. Having read some of the articles on the Blood Sugar 101 website, I am wondering if in fact I have had high blood sugar levels for a lot longer than 2 years, and if they have in fact been too high and causing me damage since the late 90s.
Since being diagnosed I have been very lapse about controlling my blood sugar. My last A1c test back in September last year was 8.9 . I am not taking any drugs for it. A couple of weeks ago I decided there was nothing much I could do about my ME/CFS, but there is something I can do about my hypertension, diabetes and weight. I started to diet which has started to reduce my weight, but more importantly it has brought down my blood sugar levels. This seems to have led to a reduction in my supposed ME/CFS symptoms. One of the problems I have is the doctor always assumes my symptoms are down to ME/CFS and forgets the symptom overlap there is with it and diabetes.
Before I started to diet I rarely got a BG reading of under 12 even first thing in the morning, I am now getting readings in the 8s. But even that isn't consistent as this morning my BG was 12 before I ate anything. It seems strange that my A1C tests seem to show that although my BG is high it isn't too high, my own readings using a monitor have, until recently, rarely shown a level under 12 and was often 16 or 18.
The fact I have seen some improvement since changing my diet has spurred me on to try and get a much tighter control of my diabetes. What I really want to do is get back to work, and even if it is just a possibility that most of my symptoms are caused by diabetes, it is well worth trying to get it under control. Although if my symptoms are diabetes related I am not sure how many of them can be reversed or if the damage is permanent.
Paul