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Diabetic complications or am I going mad?!!!


That sounds a lot to deal with. It must be scary. What do you do, if anything, to deal with it? You've got my sympathy. Though your bg might not be low, has it been dropping rapidly? Perhaps trying the exercise of setting your (phone) alarm for each hour and testing might give some insight? It's a drag, but at least you might find out something or eliminate it. :concern
 
The audio hallucinations were mostly someone calling my name or alarms, like telephone, alarm clock, sirens. The visual were something in the corner of my eye, usually cats but it is common to see beetles or people too.
One of the symptoms I felt was most difficult to cope with was that I lost my ability to get going, I couldn't do even things I wanted to do, much less thing that needed to be done.

Common signs are low heart rate, my resting pulse was 48, and low body temp.

This is good site: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
 
Due to the dawn phenomenon and now having a pump. I test continuously to adjust pump accordingly as I'm still in the beginning process, so I know it's not low BG ... My BG's are so much better as before I was chasing them down from high twenties every morning before the pump.
I was concerned that due to no one being able to diagnose my issues that perhaps it was my body adjusting to the newer lower levels,perhaps blood vessels/ nerves etc, but it appears that there must be some underlying cause. Just what? I have no idea.
As I have done on here, I am leaving messages on forums reading up on websites, as I can't carry on like this and the doctors appear to not have the answers. I want my life back, a job back, even to be able to go outside is an issue now. Yet outwardly I look fine so feel like no ones believing me
 
Just with regards to low thyroid - thyroid has a wide range of levels that are regarded as normal by GPs (because they don't know any better). My endo likes to keep my TSH between 0 and 2 and that's when I feel normal as in not tired, not irritated etc. - I December last year my GP checked my TSH and it was 0.4 and told me to lower my dose (I was on 150mg Levothyroxine and I was supposed to take 125mg daily instead). When my endo saw me in January she said "OMG I hope you didn't change it" so I said I did what the GP said and it took until last month back on 150mg to "fix" it again.

If your mum has fibro it might be the case for you as well!? I don't know anything about it so can't advise. Hope you get some answers very soon! xx
 
I have type2 for just over a year. I also suffer from depression and Fibro. To be honest it's difficult to say which is the worst. I've had the Fibro 11 years and after a variety of medication I am nothing the wiser or better of it. I just try and "exist" as I firmly believe My GP is baffled as to what to prescribe. I am seldom without a deep burning pain somewhere in my body. I suggest you try and gather some more info and try to get your head round all the other complications that Fibro bring with it.
 
Hi Carla,

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time at the moment, diabetes is a bloody pain in the butt at the best of times, but when you have other health worries, it seems to make everything feel worse.

From your posts I understand that your anxiety is pretty overwhelming right now. It's just a thought, but as anxiety comes with so many of the physical symptoms you describe, it might be worth trying to tackle that first.

I used to work as a mental health nurse and when we had clients who's symptoms mirrored yours, the docs often prescribed a short course of anxiety drugs (anxyolitics in med- speak) to see if that was at the bottom of their problems.

It might be worth mentioning that to your gp as well as having tests for fibro etc.

Anyway, I wish you all the best and hope you get your quality of life back.
 
I agree with an earlier post by Tigerkitty, when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism I did some searching of the web but found many sources less than useful. Since it has many possible symptoms most people can find a match somewhere. It seems to be a condition latched onto as something that explains all unexplained ills and it is difficult to disentangle the woo from the credible.
People with T1 do have an increased risk of hypothyroidism so it is certainly worth getting appropriate tests but it won't necessarily be the answer.
I also agree that the pain clinic is a good idea. They are skilled at providing relief which is important. Obviously all clinics will be different but in the case of my mother (who went to one for arthritic pain) ,they discovered the true underlying cause of her pain.

This site explains the tests used for hypothyroidism. http://www.btf-thyroid.org/index.php/thyroid/leaflets/thyroid-function-tests-guide
And this ://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/hypothyroidism-the-facts-the-controversies-and-the-pseudoscience/
 

Hi i can understand what you are going through, i to have pain hitting areas of my body, my left side is affected more than right, found this article on site maybe helpful, i hope you can get this sorted out, as i am in simular situation to you and still have not found answers,i think this must be affecting more people with diabetes. http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/pain/nerve/diabetes-pain.htm

Diabetes Pain
Pain expert Dr. Scott Fishman answers questions about nerve pain:

Q: What makes diabetes painful and what can be done about it?

A: Diabetes can destroy small blood vessels, which in turn can damage the nervous system, and these damaged nerves can cause pain.

The most common forms of diabetes, juvenile and adult onset, can damage many organs and systems. Diabetes can make it hard to digest food, cause heart disease, and destroy small blood vessels, while the nervous system becomes an innocent, injured bystander. The disease's most common pain syndrome is diabetic neuropathy.

The pain arises from nerves that are injured or malfunctioning. These crippled fibers can be found anywhere along their path, from the tip of the toe to the brain. Diabetes eats away at the thread-thin blood vessels that feed delicate nerve cells.

This is why diabetes pain usually strikes first in the hands and feet. A common pain syndrome from diabetes is described as "stocking and glove" pain because it appears in the hands and feet and usually makes it painful to wear gloves or socks.

Diabetes alters sensation in the smallest nerves, which happen to lie at the end of the peripheral nervous system, in the hands and feet. Diabetes starves these tiny nerves. As a result, the nervous system becomes confused about what is and isn't painful. Stockings, gloves-anything that that touches skin served by these tiny, hypersensitive nerves-is going to send signals to the spinal cord, where they may be mistaken for pain.

It is like having a stereo with frayed wires in the speakers so that you cannot hear music at a normal sound level. To adjust for the poor connection, you crank up the stereo to the highest volume. While the music may get louder, it doesn't necessarily get clearer.

Treatments for this pain are aimed at the nervous system and calming the nerves that are misfiring. The nerves are undergoing tiny seizures and these have to be halted to alleviate the pain. I often start with a five-minute infusion of the local anesthetic lidocaine. If this diminishes the pain, I know that similar drugs that can be taken orally will work for the patient. For instance, I may start with an oral version of an anti-arrhythmic drug, a heart medication that smoothes out irregular nerve activity and acts as an analgesic.

When lidocaine is not effective, I try other types of drugs. Anti-convulsants also quiet erratic nerve signals, and such drugs as carbmazepine (Tegretol), clonazepam (Klonopin), gabapentin (Neurontin), phenytoin (Dilantin), valproic acid (Depakote), and others are as fundamental to pain medicine as sutures are to surgery.

Researchers recently have been looking into other kinds of drugs that halt or slow down the overactive nerves. Animal studies testing a class of drugs called selective calcium channel blockers are raising tantalizing results for easing pain. Scientists are beginning to learn more than ever about newly discovered calcium channels and their tendency to alter the flow of calcium and electric signals in and out of cell membranes.

For years, drugs in this class such as verapamil, nifedipine, diltiazem, nicardipine, and nimodipine have been prescribed for hypertension and arrhythmia. Now, scientists are finding new calcium channel drugs that have special properties, one of which may be potent pain relief.
 
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