Diagnosed and accepted i'm a type 2 - but am I?

[lettey]

I was extremely ill a week ago, suspected gallstones - ended up in hospital and the blood test I had done whilst I was there showed raised White Blood Cells. I went to the docs when I got out of hospital and she sent me for a OGTT because I also had raised sugar levels whilst in hospital. She didn't give me any information about this, just to call the hospital and book the test - and fast.

I had been very ill that week, sickness - everything. I felt better the next day and they said I could go down for my OGTT. So off I went... I worked myself up so much after reading some bad things that I couldn't even focus my mind and was feeling quite stressed due to my illness and the possibility of having to change my entire life.

The results came back the other day, my fasting test was just fine - my 2 hour OGTT reading was 11.1 (right on the cut off from pre- diabetes and type 2). My doc told me I had Diabetes type 2. I took it quite well, I suprised myself - I walked out the doctors office a diabetic - and I was strangely positive and happy and willing to manage it.

I bought a Blood sugar monitor the other day and have been recording my levels. but they do not point towards having diabetes, they are rather normal.

My fasting is: 4.3 on average.
1 hour after standard meal is around 5.6 to 6
2 hour after standard meal is around 4.3 to 4.6

I spoke to my doctor about this and she said my OGTT could have been affected by my illness. So I suggested I take the OGTT again - she said they usualy don't allow this but if they did I would have to wait 6 weeks. I asked her if the OGTT showed up normal next time - would I then be classed as a non-diabetic - she said - they don't change it, even if it was a mistake - a reading is a reading and i'd simply be classed as a well controlled diabetic. That annoys me a little bit. I got no information about the test to begin with, if I had, I would have waited until whatever illness I had, had gone for sure. Maybe I am diabetic, maybe i'm not... so now.. I'll never know for sure and always have a doubt in my mind :s

I would love your thoughts on this, it's really bugging me.

 

[cugila]

Its one thing to be labelled as pre-Diabetic - a big step to be told you ARE Diabetic .......

Get a second opinion !

 

[the_anticarb]

I have tested friends and family on a few occasions, just because they are interested in the testing machine and how it works, and particularly after a meal (eg half an hour after) can find that these 'non diabetic' people can go up to 6,7 or even 8.5 (in the case of someone who had had a glass of fruit juice about half an hour before) but they show no other signs or symptoms of being diabetic and, crucially, come down to the 4s and 5s within an hour or two later.

According to your doctor, are these people diabetic also?

I think what's important is if you can get your blood sugars down pretty soon after the meal, that shows your pancreas is doing its job and producing just the right amount of insulin to deal with the sugar in the blood (oh how I wish mine still worked like that!)

It does sound a bit unfair that you'd still be labelled diabetic if the test was not right, I don't think any test is 100% accurate particularly if illness and stuff is affecting it, but at the end of the day you are what you are whatever you are labelled and if with no medication your blood sugars are at the levels you say (which sound normal to me!) then just thank your lucky stars that you are okay.
Although keep an eye on it in future I'd say.

 

[SophiaW]

Definitely get a second opinion. And I'd also question whether the first test was accurate and wasn't a result of some sort of error in testing. I'd be very upset to be labelled a diabetic when I'm not. Not that there's anything wrong with diabetics but my concern would come in if you ever needed a medical for some reason for example relating to health insurance etc. If a mistake has been made I'd want to know about it and have that diagnosis withdrawn.