New and looking for some input

[B12]

Hi all,

I'm a 25 y/o male (slightly underweight and before all this I was in great shape and a competitive tennis player). I don't drink, don't smoke but I was eating a lot of carbs before these events. I'm new to this forum and I am not yet diagnosed with diabetis at this point. However I have a number of symptoms that have been bothering me (and stopped me from functioning) for the last 3 months (I had blood tests but as far as the doctor's concerned I'm totally healthy only slightly hypothyroid). Also no family members with diabetis.

So here's my story, 3 months ago, I woke up feeling a little under the weather (like I was getting a cold). From that point I was thirsty all the time and I suffered from frequent urination. Being a little ignorant I ignored the symptoms until suddenly (about a week later) as I was going for lunch and I suffered from a serious episode of hypoglymecia (the symptoms came very sudden), I experienced these symptoms before but this felt almost like I was going into a coma and I was on the floor for 30 minutes until someone gave me some apple juice and drove me home. After the juice I recovered but I kept feeling miserable for days (stuck in bed). As soon as I got a bit better I went to the doctor (suspecting diabetis at this point and ready to accept it). A nurse tested urine and took blood. However all tests came back negative (a1c 5.1 (with my high carb diet)) and fasting glucose 4.3 and no sugar in urine (which I find hard to believe as I've got skin infenctions whenever urine gets trapped).

The doctor told me it might have been a panic attack but now 3 months later I'm still suffering from the same symptoms, I feel "wired" and foggy after meals, get hypo's in between and my eyesight has also decreased. I even get this when I'm totally relaxed so I don't think it's panick or stress related.

I also changed my diet (as I also thought about a gluten / dairy intolerance) but it doesn't make a difference to how I feel (although cutting out gluten improved my energy levels and my mom has celiac). I went for another blood test last week (a1c) but it seems that it's again nothing. Measuring my own blood sugars (doing over 80 measurements) I recorded some peaks of 9.6 - 9.2(especially after heavy exercise) but often my values stay around 6 and my fasting glucose is always around 4. I'm due to see a specialist but even my parents and my girlfriend think I've lost my mind. It's frustrating as I know something's wrong (I even had to quit my job). I'm sort of trying to live with this at the moment but its a
battle. All my hope is now with this specialist.

I've done some research and it looks like an a1c isn't the right tool to diagnose anything and that even fasting glucose can be a bit flaky.

I'm currently eating really low carb and while it helps, it doesn't solve my problem.

Any advice / similar experiences?

 

[Lazybones]

Dear B12,
I read your recent posting and must admit that like you I am somewhat puzzled. Indeed you do have many of the symptoms associated with diabetes and my initial thought was of Type 1, but there again your HbA1c and fasting B/G leves don't support this, so there must be some other reason that is causing these symptoms.

You say that you are underweight, well being underweight can modify B/G reading particularly so if the individual is seriously underweight with a BMI below 20, so if it's not that, then I would 'badger' your GP into conducting further diagnostic testing and amongst other things have your Thyroid levels checked out. You don't mention steroids, but these are also known to interfere with B/G levels.

Using the HbA1c gives a good indication as to whether you are diabetic or not, and this can be furthur supported by a fasting blood glucose or OGTT test. Indeed it is iven possible to say if someone is diabetic or not from just the HbA1c test alone, which makes it an extreemly powerful diabetic diagnostic tool.

One way or another you do need to get this resolved as soon a possible.

Best Regards - Lazybones

 

[Lazybones]

Dear B12,
Last night I gave some further thoughts to my original reply to your unusual 'diabetic' problems and spent some time going through my own diabetic notes to see if I could possibly find an answer. Obviously not being medically qualified I would never attempt to make any diagnosis, but I did find in my diabetic notes something which matches most of your unusual symptoms.

It's only a guess on my part, but you may well be suffering from a condition known as 'Diabetes Insipidus' which is not diabetes as 'we diabetics' have come to know it in the conventional sence, but is the end result of a hormonal imbalance within the body. I should point out that this type of diabetes is very rare, yet it still gives the sufferer many of the classic symptoms of diabetes, frequent use of the toilet, dryness in the mouth, erratic B/G control, with No Glucose being detected in the urine, and a HbA1c reading that is more often than not relatively normal.

This type of diabetes is caused by problems that are associated with the Pituitary Gland and is easily detectable in the same blood/test that I suggested that you undertake to have your Thyroid function checked in my previous reply. Because this type of diabetes is very rare it is frequently miss-diagnosed. Fortunately it's usually easily treatable once its been clearly established, so don't delay and 'badger' your Dr for the appropriate blood tests.

Please let us know how you get on - Best Regards - Lazybones