New and confused

[miyuki]

Hi, I recently had my doctor screen me for diabetes because I was having concerning symptoms. The main ones were basically losing about 20 pounds in 2 months without trying, blurry vision, dry mouth, and bad headaches.

I only had my blood tests yesterday, so it might seem like I'm jumping the gun. But I won't be able to see my doctor for a follow up for a couple weeks because of thanksgiving, and I feel kind of lousy so I'm obsessing.

My fasting blood glucose was 100 yesterday after going 13.5 hours without food. When I checked online I noticed that I had it tested last year as well and it was 115 then. Which, I guess aren't particularly alarming when taken by themselves.

I decided to take it upon myself to buy a cheap meter and keep a log of what I eat and my blood glucose so I can show it to my doctor once I see him in a couple weeks. I'm realizing as I'm writing this now that I probably seem kind of ridiculous and over the top. I swear I'm normally really laid back and I'm really not the type of person to assign myself homework.

But, I noticed that after eating my blood glucose gets very high.

Before eating some pad thai it's at 116, 2.5 hours after it's 156, 3.5 hours after it's 154.
Before eating some pita bread and chocolate soy milk it's 99, 1 hour after it's 167, 2 hours after it's 150.

I know that those aren't very good signs.

But, I'm just really confused because even if I'm overweight, I'm actually athletic and muscular. These past couple months I haven't been as active as usual due to having to do some physical therapy after hurting myself playing ice hockey and school, but I walk everywhere. I'm 28 years old. I have low blood pressure. I have normal LDL and high HDL. From what I've read, I think that might be unusual for prediabetes?

So I'm just a little confused and I guess a little upset. Since I'm otherwise healthy, it just sort of seems like I wouldn't be having a problem. Or at least, less of a problem. But I guess the numbers are there and you can't really argue with them. Or at least I can't because I don't know anything.

And isn't prediabetes asymptomatic? If that is the case, then why am I experiencing symptoms, right? Is it at all possible that something else is causing similar symptoms? Could all this be caused by stress?

Also, do some people just normally always test positive on those ketones sticks?

Sorry for the long post. I'm probably overreacting and being a little silly. It's just that 2 weeks seems like a very long time to wait for answers and I'd rather start doing something productive now. I mean, it's cool to lose weight without effort, but I could do without some of the other stuff.

Real intro: Hey, I'm a student. I'm about to graduate and start my first career, which I'm excited for. I like to play my instruments and ice skate, even if I'm not particularly great at either. Cats are great even if they're fluffy jerks.

 

[Jo_the_boat]

Well done for taking a proactive role in looking at what's going on.
I'm no medic and yes, you have a frustrating wait but if it does turn out to be diabetes related you've come to the right place here. There is a mass of help and understanding.
Hopefully someone will come along and offer more sensible advice than mine but meanwhile, good luck.
I too play keyboard - badly. Brilliant in my spare bedroom - appalling to anybody else unfortunate enough to hear it!

 

[pavlosn]

Hi Miyuki and welcome to the forum.

I know the wait is frustrating but you really need to wait for the results of your blood test before you can draw any conclusions.

The fasting levels you describe are in the pre-diabetic range. The symptoms you describe could be signs of diabetes or they could be due to something else entirely. Only your doctor can diagnose you.

You could try calling the doctor's clinic and find out if your results are available earlier, even if the doctor can only see you in two weeks.

 

[miyuki]

Thanks for answering.

I have the results. The hospital posts them to your account and you just go online to look at them. For the most part, I just don't know what the numbers mean.

I guess the reason why I'm so concerned is that my mother is the one who is insisting that I have prediabetes. She's an RN and has like a hundred texts on diabetes. I guess it's what she mainly studied for her masters or something. She also had gestational diabetes when she had me.

And I get the feeling that my doctor will just sort of ignore the results because they aren't horrendously bad. And because in about a month I'll be moving and changing my insurance provider.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. The unexpected weight loss and young age is a strong pointer to Late onset T1 (LADA). Hopefully your Doc is doing a GAD and c-peptide test as well as HBA1C? I may be wrong but don't worry as there are meds to suit T1 or T2 in addition to the right diet. Keep the carbs under control and have enough proteins, fats and veg/fruit. Cholesterol measures aren't really related to diabetes so think about those outside of the diabetes context

 

[Grateful]

Welcome to the forum. Now that you have your test results online you need to have them interpreted by your doctor at your next visit.

I am in America, like you. Your fasting blood glucose levels, on their own, are not nowadays usually used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes in this country. In my case, those levels were "suggestive" (and waaaaay higher than yours) when taken during my routine annual "wellness" medical nine months ago, so they then ran an additional test called the HbA1c that led to a diagnosis.

Do you have a result for that HbA1c blood test? This is the test used in the States (and elsewhere) for the initial diagnosis, and for follow-up later if needed. An explanation of the test is here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html. Those are the British guidelines; the American ones are very similar.

As the other posters have said, your symptoms (as we know them so far) could indicate a range of different things, and pre-diabetes is just one possibility.

I don't think you are overreacting or being silly. You are 26 years old and having some symptoms that need explanation. I know that the wait for an answer from your doctor is difficult. Take care.

 

[pavlosn]

Do your results include one for Hba1c test. Depending on where you are the result could be a in mmol/mol or more likely in your case a percentage.

 

[miyuki]

Thanks for the responses. The only other thing the doctor did was check to see if I had a stroke or something, I think. And refer me to an eye doctor that I will see today. I've never seen one before so I guess that's a new life experience.

There was no HbA1c test result from the most recent lab.

The only one I have is from over a year ago when I kept getting infections. It was 5.2% then, which I think is pretty good? So I guess that makes it less likely, then.

I'm sort of resigning myself now to not getting any real answers from a doctor until middle of January. My current doctor's availability isn't that great and the town I'm in is small. I guess it's free so I can't really complain, but that might be why it takes so long, because there's a lot of red tape the doctor has to deal with. But once I'm on my company's health insurance in January, things should get moving, hopefully, if there's still a problem. Bright side is that I guess I'll be thinner, haha.