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Newly diagnosed and so so confused

pam_x_pam

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi guys.
My name is Pam, I am 23 and from Ireland. I have been recently diagnosed with diabetes but haven't been told yet as to what type I am. But let me tell you the whole story first.
At the end of January 2015 I ended up in hospital with serve headaches, blurred vision/ random blindness ( I would lose my sight for few second every so often), pins and needles all over the body and extreme tiredness. Some days I would sleep for over 15h straight. Also I was very dizzy and couldnt walk straight. It all happened suddenly and over two days. Once in hospital I had CT and MRI done (nothing found), my eyes checked (high pressure) and was told my blood pressure is stroke high (220/180). Had 4!! spinal taps done and was told I have Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension which causes all my symptoms. The spinal taps removed a total of 400ml of fluid and helped a good bit. I spent 3 weeks in hospital. During the stay one of the nurses noticed that sometime after I eat I would go pale and shake and feel horrible. She got me a blood glucose monitors because she thought I may have hypos. My glucose was all over the place from 14.5 fasting to 2.5 2h after I ate. Doctors said it was because I was sick and my body was going crazy. I finally got better and was told to speak with my GP about my glucose. My GP got me to monitor my glucose for another week, which was a bit better but still on high side ( range of 5.9-6.9) but left it at that. I had a 24h blood pressure monitor fitted in May and my blood pressure is perfect with average of 128/85. Two month ago I got letter from fertility clinic (trying for baby) with all the blood tests I need to get done before I see them. One of them was glucose tolerance test. So I went back to my GP and he did it no problem. And thats where it all went bad. I went back in last week to finish off the bloods, and nurse said that she was just about to ring me as my blood glucose was sky high at 13.5 fasting and 11.5 after 2h of drinking 75g of glucose. She made me an appointment to see my GP this Friday 21st of August.
I am totally confused as to why my glucose will get so bad out of sudden? I am not on any meds, or stressed, or sick. The nurse just mentioned its diabetes probably type 2 but to speak with doctor. I am since a bit nervous and confused as to what is going to happen now? I still have my monitor at home and been testing the past week and my BG is high in the morning (10.5-14.5) and quiet low in the evening before bed (2.5-4) which doesnt make much sense to me at all. Also the BG after meal would be lover than before meal. Is that even normal?? Or am I some freak of nature? I am going to get my eyes checked tomorrow, as I find my glasses no good anymore, everything is blurry, which is surprising as I only got new glasses in March.
Anybody any ideas? Is it definitely diabetes? It is going to be a long week waiting to see my GP.

Sorry for long post.
Pam
 
Hi Pam,
Yes I recognise those symptoms!
Please read the thread about 'reactive hypoglycaemia' in the ' Ask a question' forum.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/reactive-hypoglycaemia.71083/


I may be wrong, but I think you could suffering from a form of hypoglycaemia!

If it is, it can be controlled by diet!

I am in perfect health!

Welcome to the forum!

By the way most doctors have never seen a hypoglycaemic patient.

And your not a freak of nature just unique!
 
Hi guys.
My name is Pam, I am 23 and from Ireland. I have been recently diagnosed with diabetes but haven't been told yet as to what type I am. But let me tell you the whole story first.
At the end of January 2015 I ended up in hospital with serve headaches, blurred vision/ random blindness ( I would lose my sight for few second every so often), pins and needles all over the body and extreme tiredness. Some days I would sleep for over 15h straight. Also I was very dizzy and couldnt walk straight. It all happened suddenly and over two days. Once in hospital I had CT and MRI done (nothing found), my eyes checked (high pressure) and was told my blood pressure is stroke high (220/180). Had 4!! spinal taps done and was told I have Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension which causes all my symptoms. The spinal taps removed a total of 400ml of fluid and helped a good bit. I spent 3 weeks in hospital. During the stay one of the nurses noticed that sometime after I eat I would go pale and shake and feel horrible. She got me a blood glucose monitors because she thought I may have hypos. My glucose was all over the place from 14.5 fasting to 2.5 2h after I ate. Doctors said it was because I was sick and my body was going crazy. I finally got better and was told to speak with my GP about my glucose. My GP got me to monitor my glucose for another week, which was a bit better but still on high side ( range of 5.9-6.9) but left it at that. I had a 24h blood pressure monitor fitted in May and my blood pressure is perfect with average of 128/85. Two month ago I got letter from fertility clinic (trying for baby) with all the blood tests I need to get done before I see them. One of them was glucose tolerance test. So I went back to my GP and he did it no problem. And thats where it all went bad. I went back in last week to finish off the bloods, and nurse said that she was just about to ring me as my blood glucose was sky high at 13.5 fasting and 11.5 after 2h of drinking 75g of glucose. She made me an appointment to see my GP this Friday 21st of August.
I am totally confused as to why my glucose will get so bad out of sudden? I am not on any meds, or stressed, or sick. The nurse just mentioned its diabetes probably type 2 but to speak with doctor. I am since a bit nervous and confused as to what is going to happen now? I still have my monitor at home and been testing the past week and my BG is high in the morning (10.5-14.5) and quiet low in the evening before bed (2.5-4) which doesnt make much sense to me at all. Also the BG after meal would be lover than before meal. Is that even normal?? Or am I some freak of nature? I am going to get my eyes checked tomorrow, as I find my glasses no good anymore, everything is blurry, which is surprising as I only got new glasses in March.
Anybody any ideas? Is it definitely diabetes? It is going to be a long week waiting to see my GP.

Sorry for long post.
Pam

Your eyes will return to normal after you start your new lifestyle!
It is the fluctuating blood glucose levels that is making your blood vessels in the back of your eyes swell up. Once in control, they will return to normal!
 
Thanks for the replay nosher8355. I am on low carb diet since June, managed to lose a stone. I am obese, and the weight wont come off at all! I cannot exercise due to IIH, I am only allowed swimming so I do that everyday. Thus I was not expecting such a high BG! I will read the thread like you advised :)
 
Thanks for the replay nosher8355. I am on low carb diet since June, managed to lose a stone. I am obese, and the weight wont come off at all! I cannot exercise due to IIH, I am only allowed swimming so I do that everyday. Thus I was not expecting such a high BG! I will read the thread like you advised :)
If it is as I suspect, low carb may not be enough to stop you spiking (hyper), then after a few hours (2-4 hours depending on everyone being different) if you don't eat, you hypo!
I'll let you read the thread, post questions on there or here if you want!
 
Hi Pam,
Yes I recognise those symptoms!
Please read the thread about 'reactive hypoglycaemia' in the ' Ask a question' forum.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/reactive-hypoglycaemia.71083/


I may be wrong, but I think you could suffering from a form of hypoglycaemia!

If it is, it can be controlled by diet!

I am in perfect health!

Welcome to the forum!

By the way most doctors have never seen a hypoglycaemic patient.

And your not a freak of nature just unique!
Welcome @pam_x_pam yes you are pretty "unique" :) There aren't many people with this set of signs and symptoms. But the good news is, it should be manageable. BTW I know of two women with IIH who were able to have children so I hope that encourages you a little.

@nosher8355 should pam ask for a referral to an endocrinologist or will her GP be able to deal with this?
 
Welcome @pam_x_pam yes you are pretty "unique" :) There aren't many people with this set of signs and symptoms. But the good news is, it should be manageable. BTW I know of two women with IIH who were able to have children so I hope that encourages you a little.

@nosher8355 should pam ask for a referral to an endocrinologist or will her GP be able to deal with this?
Thank you. It makes me feel a bit better for sure! Actually a medical doctor referred me to endocrinologist back in March when I had my review for IIH as my prolactin was huge and my TSH was high and I will be seeing someone september/October (I rang and asked the reception and it's 4-6 months wait). Back then my prolactin was 65 ( norms are up to 25) and TSH was 4.94 (norms are up to 4.95 lol) but I got these tests done again last month and prolactin was 16 and TSH was 2.2 so maybe it was high cos I was in hospital and pretty sick.
As for pregnancy. How does diabetes work with that? I have read some threads on pregnancy forum but still not sure.... does bad glucose cause defects??? Makes it harder to get pregnant? ??
 
Thank you. It makes me feel a bit better for sure! Actually a medical doctor referred me to endocrinologist back in March when I had my review for IIH as my prolactin was huge and my TSH was high and I will be seeing someone september/October (I rang and asked the reception and it's 4-6 months wait). Back then my prolactin was 65 ( norms are up to 25) and TSH was 4.94 (norms are up to 4.95 lol) but I got these tests done again last month and prolactin was 16 and TSH was 2.2 so maybe it was high cos I was in hospital and pretty sick.
As for pregnancy. How does diabetes work with that? I have read some threads on pregnancy forum but still not sure.... does bad glucose cause defects??? Makes it harder to get pregnant? ??
I don't know if it makes it harder to get pregnant but from what I have read, T1 women try hard to have tight glucose control during pregnancy, as high glucose is not good for the baby. Maybe start a thread in the pregnancy subforum and ask?
 
Something I didn't mention earlier as I didn't know, but the max BP for diabetics should be under 130/80 (for non diabetics it is 140/90) so if you are diabetic then you might want to get your blood pressure down a bit from your average of 128/85.
 
Hi Pam and welcome, it is very confusing and a bit scary at first, hopefully your GP will be able to shed some light on what is going on. I also suffer from IIH although I am asymptomatic as I have had a Lumbar Spinal Shunt fitted. I also have Hypothyroidism. Thankfully, these illness ocured after I had my children.

Hope it all settles down for you

Deb
 
My blood pressure is fine since. Got 24h blood pressure monitor and the average daily blood pressure was 120/65
 
Diabetes may or may not affect becoming pregnant, but raised prolactin levels will definitely make it difficult to conceive.
 
Pan, sorry this is a quick message as in a rush but just read your post. When I was first diagnosed (Feb 2015) my glucose tolerance test also came back Lower. They suggested a type of MODY diabetes where one type typically sees that.
 
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