• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Hi! New here! Really need some advice!

BeckyBea

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
He everyone,
I'm new here, and although I have never been diagnosed with diabetes I am in a high risk category for developing it and could do with some advice.
For over a year now I have been having some really weird symptoms. They got so bad that last summer I went to the doctor and they seemed quite sure that it probably was diabetes. They ordered a blood test (not sure what this test was) and told me they would have the results back within a week. When I rang a week later I was told the tests weren't back yet and to ring the following week. When I rang again they still weren't back and so I rang again the following week. 3 weeks later I was told that the test results still weren't back from the lab and so I just gave up after that and have heard nothing since (yes I know this was silly as I never chased it up).
Anyway I test my own BG using my own monitor but only usually test upon waking and before bed. My blood sugar seems to be all over the place, ranging from blood sugar readings of 3's on fasting to high 7's several hours after my last meal. I am recently out of hospital having suffered from a serious kidney infection which had started spreading to my blood and had issues with blood sugar in the 3's in hospital which were rapidly dropping and meant they had to try and bring it back up quickly. I also had 2 seizures in the space of 10 minutes whilst sitting in A&E on the date I was admitted (I was diagnosed with epilepsy 4 years ago).
Anyway that is just a bit of background info. The symptoms I get are very severe sometimes and are as follows:
Most mornings I have to go to the toilet to pee at least 4-5 times in the first hour of waking.
I also have to get up in the early hours of the morning and several times after going to bed before going to sleep to pee. Sometimes I have to go and pee between 10/20 times a day at its worse.
I am excessively thirsty. I have never been a big drinker but often drink several litres a day because I am so thirsty. Often I just have to stop drinking even though I am still thirsty because I am drinking too much and nothing will quench my thirst. I also often have a dry mouth feeling and a strange unpleasant sweet taste in my mouth.
I feel tired all the time, drained and exhausted even when I have got enough sleep. Sometimes I can hardly keep my eyes open throughout the day.
Physically shaking and general feeling of weakness. Sometimes this can get so bad that I am shaking so much I need to sit down, and I feel so weak it makes me breathless as though all the energy has been sucked out of me.
I often have episodes of nausea where I just can't eat or periods of insatiable, ravenous hunger.
Strange cravings for sweet foods, carb foods and dairy (especially for large amounts of milk which I normally hate)
I have had frequent infections and UTI's over the years which have also on occasion spread to my kidneys and can be persistent even with long courses of anti-biotics.
I also have anxiety and severe mood swings which effect me very badly.
I have had incredibly poor circulation for someone of my age since I was a teenager (I am now 29), especially in my hands and feet. My feet are constantly cold and the normal colour of my toes is a kind of bluey/purple most of the time.
I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was in my early 20s. At the time I was told that I was in a higher risk category for diabetes due to insulin resistance but my GP saw no reason to regularly test for it. There is also type 2 in my family. My great aunt had it, and so does my 2nd cousin (her son).
I'm sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much information as possible to see what people on here think I aught to do now. It is almost impossible to get an appointment with my GP and they don't seem to take much notice even when I can. I feel like they have just given up on me because of my complex health problems. To be honest I don't think they can really be bothered anymore. Every year I am getting iller and at 29 I feel as though these should be the best and healthiest years of my life. Any advice would be so much appreciated as I just want to get to the bottom of this once and for all so that I can start feeling better and get on with my life!
 
It sounds like it could be diabetes but as I not a doctor I would return to doctors and ask for a further blood test and make sure you get the results. Best of luck.



Edited by a mod
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi and welcome, with such a myriad of symtpoms I would ask for a full blood test covering thyroid, hormones, blood sugars etc. You should be taken seriously, but sadly sometimes you have to be quite forceful before anyone takes action. Good luck, hope you get some answers.
 
You certainly seem to have some of the symptoms of diabetes In your shoes I think my first step would be to take control myself and test my blood sugar, so I at least know what I am dealing with .

If you read round on here you will see that even if you were to have diabetes its not the end of the world, and indeed, if that is the diagnosis, many of your health issues may become better with some simple dietary changes. Many of us don't actually get medications, indeed I only actually see my doctor as a courtesy to him,not because he's actually provided anything particularly helpful.


Edited by a mod
 
Last edited by a moderator:
With those symptoms - I'd say ring the doctors and ask for an appointment - you need to get checked - the sooner the better! Do you have a local drop in clinic? I went to mine (after work) with what I thought was a water infection, and the doctor I saw said did I mind my sugars being checked? At the time - mine were 29! Shall I say ouch! I went home at 12.30am that night with a diagnosis of steroid induced diabetes. They can run the tests quickly in a hospital - they don't have to wait 3 weeks for a result. You need to be pushy I'm afraid and with your symptoms and family history I'd be concerned.
 
Last edited:
Hi. When ill or with some or your conditions diagnosing diabetes can be difficult. A blood sugar down to 3 mmol could cause hypo symptoms but diabetes is a high blood sugar not low-blood sugar condition with the exception that there are some rarer forms of diabetes which might explain it. Don't take much notice of fasting blood sugar readings as they can be affect by overnight sugar dumps from the liver. Test 2 hours after typical meals and just before if you can afford the strips. The normal blood sugar test for diabetes is the HBa1C which needs a phlebotomist to take your blood but the results should be back with a few days - mine always are. Try to get the surgery to do an HBa1C blood test. With regard to diet, keep the carbs down and have enough proteins, fats, veg and fruit to keep you feeling full. If you are on any drugs check their side effects as many (most?) have side effects the GPs don't tell us. You may still need to take them but at least they may explain some symptoms and you can always discuss the dosage with the GP.
 
Thanks everyone. I have an appointment with the GP again on Monday and plan on raising the issue then. It certainly isn't uncommon for me to have a fasting blood sugar in the high 5's and sometimes 6's when I wake up in the mornings, and I have still been in the 7's many hours after eating in the past. I have a meter and testing strips so am testing my own BG at the moment. I know that diabetes can cause nerve damage and another thing I have noticed is that when I came out of hospital the tops of my legs were completely numb as well as my stomach. I have regained a lot of feeling in the tops of my legs now but I seem to have completely lost feeling in my stomach. I am not sure whether this is related but will also discuss it with the GP. I'm seeing a doctor that I've never seen before so hope she might take it seriously as even if it is not diabetes something else is definitely wrong. I have already been diagnosed with epilepsy, asthma, PCOS, numerous allergies and skin problems as well as issues with circulation and frequent UT and kidney issues. It seems as though every year another piece of my goes! When I am well I eat well, love healthy eating and exercise regularly. Unfortunately as I get older my health just seems to be getting worse which I find very
 
@BeckyBea Those blood sugars don't look particularly diabetic to me. Diabetes is diagnosed with a blood sugar over 11, and blood sugar would generally be much higher than you've described to cause diabetes-related urinary frequency like that. I had to visit the toilet 3 or 4 times an hour when I was diagnosed but my blood sugar was 25+.

But nobody here is a doctor so we can't diagnose you.

However, as you've mentioned a serious kidney infection, I urge you to go back to the doctors as soon as you can as some of your symptoms could be related to your kidneys. Don't wait until Monday - give them a call now.
 
@BeckyBea Just for some reassurance, non-diabetic people have fluctuating blood sugars. I don't think many people realise that until they have reason to start testing, so it can sometimes be worrying to see the numbers change.

You say your doctors don't listen. I'm sure if you make an appointment today and remind them of your recent kidney problems, they'll see you as soon as they can, and do some checks for you and put your mind at rest :)

The nausea, etc, that you've described could be to do,with your kidneys or it could be something else, or simply anxiety, which you've mentioned you suffer from. Speaking to a doctor is the sensible thing to do and i personally would phone them and see if you can get seen before next week in case you have a UTI or another kidney problem.
 
@BeckyBea - There are many, many reasons why you could be feeling as you describe.

It's good you have an appointment with your Doctor and hopefully he/she will run some blood tests for you, just to settle your concerns.

To be honest, I wouldn't be at all keen for you to focus on diabetes as the issue. Looking at what you describe, I would be thinking with your frequent UTIs that so many of your symptoms could be related to those.

I don't have frequent UTIs, but like most women, I've had the odd one, over the years. When I have had them I have usually felt pretty rough, and sometimes very rough indeed, and they can take longer than you'd think to recover from. Antibiotics help, but then your body has to recover from the antibiotics, which can upset the tummy and so on.

If you are weeing a lot, it could be your bladder has become irritated over time by your UTIs and is still recovering from what you describe to have been a nasty recent infection. Infections of any sort can elevate your blood sugar levels from their more usual levels.

None of that is a diagnosis, because I'm not a doctor or practising health care professional. It's a view from an onlooker trying to ask you to not hang onto the idea a diabetes diagnosis is the solution to your issues.

Please do see your doctor and explain you've not felt well for some time now, and hopefully he/she will do a panel of blood tests, which would usually include at least one blood sugar analysis.
 
Do please get checked over by your doctor, and do return to let us know how your getting on. Could you get an earlier appointment than Monday.
 
Back
Top