Need your HELP Am Scared

In my own (type 1) experience of what I would call 'raging thirst' @speedking668 , before my own diagnosis aged 11, I was drinking endless amounts of water each time the bell went at school for the end of a 'single period' lesson - so every 35 minutes. My thirst was endless. Until I had the foresight to take into school a plastic beaker from home (these were the days before children at my school were permitted to have access to their drinks apart from at lunchtime) I was sucking on the cold tap every time I went to the loo. I was weeing at the start and end of break time (break was 20 minutes), and every time we changed rooms for lessons (either every 35 minutes or every 1hr 10 minutes). Everything exhausted me. I was wetting the bed, waking up soaking wet from having done so (I'm presuming it happened several times a night - it would never wake me) and sticky all over with sugary wee. I lost 2 stone in 6 weeks. I was very poorly indeed.

I don't consider drinking 2 litres of water a day to be 'raging thirst'.

In your original post you don't mention having any symptoms at all. You said: 'For some reason i thought id buy a blood sugar testing kit to check my blood. '

I'm curious as to what your reason would have been?

I hope your doctor is able to reassure you. As far as I (as a non-medically-qualified layperson who has experience of type 1 diabetes) can work out from your original and subsequent posts, you are in my opinion worrying unnecessarily.

Very best,

Snapsy

Raging thirst for me was......
10 + cans of fizzy pop whilst at work over an 8 hour shift. Actually set up a tab in order to be able to pay for them at a later date.
Visiting the toilet 4 to 5 times a night, literally sitting on the toilet urinating whilst drinking cold water from the tap. Thank heavens for the person who planned the lay out of that bathroom.

speedking668 said:

Okay thank you, should i perhaps spend today monitoring before and after meals ?
Would that give a better indication ? I will apply for the Hba1c test , i do see some companies offer it online, however, i have noticed that the results are based on the previous 2-3 months, during this time my diet has actually been really bad .

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I'm afraid that all the 'you did it to yourself' blame game is just that - if you are diabetic then a 'normal' heathy diet will cause you to have a high result, and a 'bad' diet will show just the same - it might - possibly be a bit higher numbers, but if you have got diabetes then your Hba1c will show it.

If you are diabetic and a type two, and lucky as well, then eating an unusually low carb diet will give you normal readings - like me.

Raging thirst... the best way I can describe it is to say that it was as though water wasn't wet any more. It started when I got up in the morning, when I would challenge myself to wait 15 minutes for the first drink, and 30 minutes for the first toilet trip. By the evening, it was every five minutes. Tap water wasn't doing anything, so I decided to walk up to town and buy a two litre bottle of mineral water, which I drank in one go. That didn't do it either, so I thought maybe something 'fresher'. I hate orange juice, but we had some in the fridge, so I forced myself to drink some of that, in case that would help. It's all you can think about; it consumes everything, and the only thing on your mind is where the next source of liquid is going to come from. It's taking a water bottle to school with you, and it being empty before the end of registration (the fifteen minute first period).

Extreme tiredness is kind of what it says on the tin. Sitting there with your fingers literally holding your eyelids open, because if you don't you will fall forward and go to sleep on the desk. Having to sit down and have a rest on the fifteen minute walk home from school, because I just didn't have the energy. Not being able to get out of bed in the morning - I don't mean finding it difficult, or not wanting to, I mean physically not having the strength.

Obviously, as a T1, this is likely to be a bit more extreme than a pre diagnosis T2 might experience, but that should give you the picture!

speedking668 said:

Thank you everyone for the information, ill rule out the raging first then i guess as it I don't think i have that compared to some of the stories ive heard. I never wake up in the middle of the night to go pee but always have to go in the morning, after about 8-9 hours of sleeping.

Also i dont have that kind of tiredness either, the reason why i bought this machine was because about 2-3 years ago i had a bupa full check up and i remember the doctor saying to me then that you should try and keep your diet clean and make some lifestyle changes as you are in the higher range of acceptable, i dont remember the exact number but i think it was 6.4 or something, blood was taken from the vein.

Im always on and off with gym and sometimes i'll lose 10-20kg and sometimes ill gain it depending on what i feel like doing with my body at the time, anyhow after id say about 3-4 months of poor diet i thought id just get back on the health regime again so did thinks like check blood pressure etc, then I figured i may as well check BS, so thats why i did it.

So when i use the finger prick and saw 6.7 in a fasting state i started to sweat thinking im diabetic for sure.

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Hi @speedking668 - I'm so pleased to have read this thoughtful and considered post of yours - thank you for updating - it puts it all in context.

Let us know how you get on @speedking668 on receiving your hba1c result. Good luck!

speedking668 said:

Hi Everyone

For some reason i thought id buy a blood sugar testing kit to check my blood.

I had fasted for about 8-10 hours, i woke up and checked my blood sugar level before eating or drinking anything , ( only brushed my teeth )

My reading came up to 6.7. Does this now mean that i have diabetes?

What should I do ?

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Situation depends on if your having high or low blood sugar symptoms in diabetes then the answer is yes my advice is to see a doctor about it

therower said:

Raging thirst for me was......
10 + cans of fizzy pop whilst at work over an 8 hour shift. Actually set up a tab in order to be able to pay for them at a later date.
Visiting the toilet 4 to 5 times a night, literally sitting on the toilet urinating whilst drinking cold water from the tap. Thank heavens for the person who planned the lay out of that bathroom.

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our bathroom is like that. very useful when the norovirus hit, too.

Raging thirst for me was drinking a bottle of water before paying for it. I felt I would die waiting to pay. (A little dramatic I admit!)

Please do yourself a favour and don't use the test kit, wait until after you have seen the Dr. If your only symptom is a meter reading in the normal range and Dr Google. If you become really sick, don't use it even then, go to a Dr. They will have kits if they need to use one.
Test kits do occasionally give very false readings and if you test just after drinking full strength coke your test result could be very high.
To keep it simple there are 2 types of Diabetes. The symptoms can be the same but the root cause is totally different.
Many type 2's can have it and not know for many years and it is frequently picked up by a routine drs visit. If untreated the damage can be devastating, but damage will occur over many years, of course there are exceptions and some T2's will exhibit symptoms like type 1's.
Type 1's especially with children and young adults can go from normal and healthy to literally on deaths door in less than a week. Adults can stretch this decline out for much longer.
The list of symptoms are all over the place on this forum so I won't repeat them, but thirst and urination are real give aways. I changed from urinating once and at worst 3 times a day, up to well over 45 times a day.
If you are really concerned you have Diabetes for the next 3 weeks stick to a very tight diet, the do not eat list for a Diabetic until they are on medication is
DO NOT EAT (abbreviated list)
Cakes
Candy
Puddings / deserts
Starchy vegetables
Sweet vegetables (Sweetcorn etc)
Most fruits
Breads
Alcohol (there are a few exceptions but until diagnosed stay away from it all)
Sugar, Maple Syrup, honey etc
Ice cream, custard
Basically if it looks and tastes good don't eat it
If you aren't diabetic leave the meter alone and enjoy Christmas my fasting 'finger prick' test was 8.7 and that was insulin assisted and although much higher than I would have liked I'm not worried. I had 2 meters (same brand different models) 2 good test strips from the same batch and the same blood sample one was below 1.5 the other was over 30.

speedking668 said:

Can you explain exactly what raging thirst is like? I drink a lot of water, i always have been, usually around 2 liters a day, also again what exactly is extreme tiredness, how do you describe that as a symptom. I mean sometimes i feel tired, one of the symptoms of being "fatigued" is kind of vague, I feel fatigue some times? What are the levels of this? What would be a diabetics definition of thirsty and fatigued? Also what other symptoms?

I can only wait now till i see the doctor nothing much more i can do.

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Never had either myself as I did not have any symptoms but others have described the thirst being one you just can't satisfy so just drinking more and more and the tiredness I think is still feeling totally exhausted even after sleeping all night and having very little energy and needing to sleep during the day

speedking668 said:

Do you think I should completely cut all carbs today and take the test tomorrow or should i perhaps do the reverse ie eat what i want carb and sugar or not and see how it effects my blood for tomorrow morning. ?

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I would recommend that you do neither. You can neither diagnose nor reassure yourself with either course of action. Please see your doctor for proper testing and reassurance.