T-2 diabetes

[chunky monkey]

Hi I'm new to the diabetes forum and I've had diabetes for over 10 years and ive suffered from feeling tired and lack of energy for months now what am I doing wrong

 

[Antje77]

Hi I'm new to the diabetes forum and I've had diabetes for over 10 years and ive suffered from feeling tired and lack of energy for months now what am I doing wrong

Hi @chunky monkey , do you test your blood glucose? Fatigue can be caused by high numbers, but also by a thousand other things of course.

 

[Mark Rawlinson]

what if any medication are you on ?

 

[KennyA]

Hi and welcome

High blood glucose levels can make you feel as you've described. I used to fall asleep any chance I got. Even if you're not testing your BG as you go along, can you remember what your last HbA1c result was?

 

[chunky monkey]

It was 47 at my last hba1c test which I was told was good

 

[Antje77]

It was 47 at my last hba1c test which I was told was good

47 is just on the cusp between prediabetes and diabetes, so not bad.
But it doesn't tell you anything about spikes and drops in blood glucose during the day.

Testing with a fingerprick before and after meals, or even testing when you feel particularly tired may tell you if your fatigue may be linked to diabetes or if a different cause is more likely.

Apart from that, have you seen a GP for your symptoms to do some blood tests on other causes of being tired all the time?
Not everything is diabetes related.

You've been diabetic for a long time but the fatigue is new.
Have you changed medication before this happened? Anything else changed?

 

[KennyA]

It was 47 at my last hba1c test which I was told was good

Normal range is around 38 and an HbA1c of above 41 is usually thought of as being out of range - see the attached graph. The 48 figure is artificially set - it simply represents a level where, above that, diabetic retinopathy becomes much more likely (Bilous and Donnelly 5th ed). It doesn't in any way mean that you won't have diabetic symptoms (including retinopathy) below that level.

So it's not necessarily that you're doing anything wrong - it's maybe to be expected that you'll have some high BG symptoms with your BG where it is. And it's by no means certain that what you're experiencing is due to T2.

The question for you is what you want to do - reduce BGs further? maintain the level you're at?