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The NHS website

VBee

Well-Known Member
Messages
145
Location
Southend On Sea
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Baked beans
Is it any good? I have been reading their pages on diabetes, is it reliable information?
http://www.nhs.uk/Pathways/diabetes/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
The list of symptoms, for example are:

feeling thirsty all the time,
frequent urination,
tiredness,
weight loss,
muscle wasting,
frequent infections or slow-healing sores,
itchiness around the vagina or penis,
regular episodes of thrush, and
blurred vision.

The only one I got was the uhm.. thrush thing, but I had that sorted a few months ago. I won't say how - no details! :oops: :lol: and also the tiredness.
There was no weight loss, worse luck! :(
Rather confusing to a newly diagnosed person, that most of the websites dedicated to it seem to have conflicting information. The Diabetes UK site (I think it was that one if I remember rightly) has a "shopping cart" system where you enter what you have eaten for the day from "supermarket shelves" and then it analyses it for you. Taking into account what I used to eat, it told me I wasn't eating enough starchy food!
Surely all these medical associations should get together and get their information sorted. :?
 
that list of symptoms fits T1 better than T2, which often has very mild symtoms for years on end.
 
Hi Vbee

You can get one or more of these symptons and not necessary all of them...

A friend of my found out he was T1 diabeic after he went for a eye test because of blurring vision, the optitian sent him stright to his doctor who sent him straight to hospital for treatment!
 
i also had them all ,they came on so quickly that i thought i was dying and went and got help,i do think its mostly type 1 with ketones who get most of those symptoms :?
 
My mum's type 2 was picked up from a sight test as well, she went straight to her doctor who told her to take this tablet (Metformin) without explaining what its name is or even what it did. My mum, being a retired teacher and a stubborn so-and-so refused to take it until he gave her an explanation. Once she had this, she agreed to try it out but rather regretted it after a few days :oops: She's now on Gliclazide and Simvastatin. She had most of the classic signs, tiredness, thirstiness, blurred vision, urinating more often, although she didn't lose any weight :( or get the thrush (thank gawd!) She's now been diagnosed 4 years and is registered blind already.
 
I had the first 5 as symptoms ..... the rest of them post diagnosis.
Website like the NHS one give " General " information and have to cover many illnesses , its only a guide ! Yep it would be nice if all the sites that mention diabetes could say the same thing but just think about all possibilities
 
I had 7 of the symptoms. I didn't have a clue until I went to the docs to get a sick note because I'd been off sick for a week and still felt very rough.
I don't think the doctor was surprised! I just though I was getting older so it's 'just what happens when you get older'. I was in my early 40s!
I was so tired I'd go home and go to sleep for a few hours before I had the energy to have my evening meal. My blood pressure was very high at the same time, so that can't have helped :(
 
VBee said:
Is it any good? I have been reading their pages on diabetes, is it reliable information?
http://www.nhs.uk/Pathways/diabetes/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
The list of symptoms, for example are:

feeling thirsty all the time,
frequent urination,
tiredness,
weight loss,
muscle wasting,
frequent infections or slow-healing sores,
itchiness around the vagina or penis,
regular episodes of thrush, and
blurred vision.

That would be true for Type 1, less so for Type 2 of which there are numerous variants. Type 2 symptoms should include diabetic dyslipidemia, high BP and weight *gain* just for starters.

This is true of many "professional" sites, especially DUK and to a degree the ADA, they concentrate on Type 1 and write Type 2 off as a "lifestyle disease"
 
My interpretation of that type of info was potentially dangerous.
I thought, I must have type 2 because I was too old for type 1. I read that the treatment was to lose weight and eat more healthily. I couldn't really understand how going to a doctor and getting that advice would change anything. I was thin and getting thinner,(obviously all the gardening I was doing). I ate healthily, so I left it. Type 2 was only 'mild diabetes' and nothing to worry about (now it sounds stupid).
It was LADA, so things progressed slower than with classic type . I kept on prevaricating, putting off going to the doctor, then I lost more weight. In the end DKA intervened.
 
I knew what the common symptoms were, I hadn't seen that list, just knew from general knowledge (probably from watching Casualty!). I was sleeping most of the time, and when I woke up it was because I needed to urinate or because of the terrible thirst. I went to doctors and told them I was diabetic basically.

To be fair to that webpage, it says:
Symptoms of diabetes can include:

feeling thirsty all the time,
frequent urination,
tiredness,
weight loss,
muscle wasting,
frequent infections or slow-healing sores,
itchiness around the vagina or penis,
regular episodes of thrush, and
blurred vision.
which makes it clear you don't need to have all the symptoms to have diabetes nor is it an exhaustive list ('can include'), and it also isn't specific to type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
 
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