Should I push for more testing?

[LondonSmile]

I am not looking for a diagnosis here but i would like to share my experience and ask fellow diabetics if maybe i should push further in trying to figure out what’s going on.

in summary of what’s been going on; 4 weeks ago i got sick with what i thought was the flu, let it slide and a week goes by and i am coughing up bloody mucus, waking up in the middle of the night to extreme nausea and vomitting a very panicky feeling and urinating so frequently i can’t fall asleep again. go to GP to have them tell me it may be pneumonia because of my chest x-ray, was prescribed antibiotics i was on for 3 days before symptoms got worse. went back, GP says maybe it’s UTI , does all testing and it’s negative. leaves me with “maybe it’s pneumonia maybe it’s UTI i am prescribing you amoxicillin to make sure this clears up” a week goes by and I feel like I am deterirorating, constant urination so frequent you would think nothing is coming out!, nausea/vomittig died down and was replaced with migraines so dibilitating i had to ice my eyes on and off for 4 hours+, extremely thirsty, night sweats, weight loss, a constant low grade fever that sometimes turns into an actual fever,and random bursts of fatigue where i can’t remember what happened from the time I got tired to the time I fall asleep, and I am always waking up from 3-5am and not being able to sleep because of the urination and overall not feeling good. I go back GP says he has absolutely no idea what could be going on , so he googles my symptoms on his phone and proceeds to say maybe it’s just bladder spasms...... so he prescribed me oxybutinyn and sent me on my way, at this point i am sad angry, and have wasted so much time in the hospital i start googling as well, and everything is pointing to symptoms of diabetes if I don’t have UTI, mono, pneumonia or any of the other things they tested for i don’t understand what could be going on! Out of recommendation from a diabetic friend I go buy a blood glucose monitor and I do a fasting blood test 3 days in a row , first day 7.3mmol i thought maybe it was wrong so i re tested and it came up a 7.1, second day 6.9 and third day 6.2... On the day i felt the worst was when it was a 7.3...I thought maybe it was my meter so I asked my boyfriend to test his fasting blood and he came up a 5.5 ... however when i went to my doctor they did a blood test (no i have no idea which tests unfortunately my doctors are not very in depth..) and came to tell me everything in my blood work “seemed fine”
I do not feel fine, I know this isn’t in my head! Because I was a rather healthy 20 year old before 4 weeks ago, they don’t feel like they should look into this any further and instead have requested an ultrasound for my bladder.. which is fine , except for all of the other dibilitating symptoms i am experiencing that have stopped me from leaving my house. If my bladder is some how messed up, it would be great to get a diagnosis but there is way too many other symptoms for me personally to assume it would just be a simple bladder issue..

TLDR; Showing extreme symptoms, Should I be requesting more blood work ? How accurate is a Onetouch Ultra mini? would it give me a false reading even after taking the precautions to make sure my hands and testers were clean? How often do people get misdiagnosed with diabetes, I can’t imagine very often but this just seems off .... any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Bluetit1802]

The first thing I would do is ask for a print out of your test results. You can then see in black and white what they reveal, rather than rely on someone's opinion that they "seem fine". What does "seem fine" mean? It means nothing at all. They may well be normal, they may equally be teetering on the edge of not being normal, they may not even be normal. You need to see the actual levels and importantly, which glucose tests you had. (venous plasma, HbA1c, c-peptide, GAD are all possibilities)

All glucose meters conform to the same accuracy standards - they have to be within 15% at least 95% of the time. No meter is 100% accurate. (even the ones used in surgeries and hospitals) Testing consistently at the same time every day and in the same circumstances will produce an average that is likely as accurate as you can get.

I will also point out that what you put in your mouth by way of food and drink is only one factor in blood sugar levels. Stress, illness, medication and disturbed sleep all count, especially with morning fasting levels.

 

[Alexandra100]

How accurate is a Onetouch Ultra mini?

I can't comment on this meter in particular, but IMO any meter can give a false reading from time to time. However you got very similar readings 3 mornings in a row. IMO you can accept them, at any rate as an average. It was a really good idea to get a meter. Why not try testing just before eating a normal meal and then 1 and 2 hours after? Then try eating a low carb meal (no potatoes, bread, grains, porridge, muesli, pasta, rice and of curse no sugar and fruit). and see if the test comes out lower afterwards. And go on with the fasting testing. I suspect that your main problem is not diabetes, but nonetheless your body may have difficulty processing too many carbs and reducing them in your diet might be beneficial and leave you stronger to stand up to whatever other health problems you may have. Or you might find that eating carbs has no effect on your bg, in which case you will have eliminated the possibility of diabetes.

 

[SockFiddler]

Blood glucose levels elevate during illness. If you had a cloudy chest x-ray and symptoms of pneumonia following a bout of flu, see another GP for a second opinion. You can ask for an HbA1c at the same time and explain why (take your meter - it should have recorded your readings).

It sounds like your body is exhausted due to prolonged illness. That will elevate your FBG no matter the root cause. I'm not a doctor or medic of any kind. I suggest you urgently seek a second opinion with a different doctor / surgery. Maybe try your local A&E - if you go during the day, it shouldn't be too busy.

Good luck.