Hello everyone! I am new here.
My lovely husband spent a good 18 months or more tired, losing weight, noticed difference in vision, numbness in hands and feet, infection in groin area etc. All very unusual for him! He has never been someone to suffer ill health.
Had blood tests and investigation for bowel cancer (family history) - all clear. Eventually his GP tested him for diabetes and he was diagnosed end June/beg July 2023 with Type 2 DM (HbA1C 103 mmol/L).
He was 49, didn’t eat biscuits, crisps, sweets, cakes, much in the way of fatty foods etc. Didn’t/doesn’t drink or smoke. Not overweight (nor had he ever been) and his arms/legs/buttocks had in recent times had become visibly depleted.
He took Gliclazide for an initial period of 2 weeks and Metformin ongoing. Removed the one spoon of sugar he used to consume a day from his diet, plus sultanas. Reduced his carbs. Continued to take the Metformin.
By 9th October his HbA1C was down to 55 mmol/L.
He was having hypos in the night and whenever he went for even a small walk or washed the car, so his Metformin was reduced from 4 tablets a day to 2.
His vision was tested in December and background retinopathy was confirmed in both eyes.
He had continued to lose weight and his diabetes nurse said she wanted him to be referred to the hospital to be tested for Type 1.5 or LADA (which we had never heard of).
His HbA1C was tested on Dec 15th and is down to 47 mmol/L.
He had a free trial of Freestyle Libre which we fitted on Dec 26th and it drove him mad - in the end he turned the alarm off. Whenever he ate carbs, his blood glucose would shoot up, often to 15-17, setting the alarm off. In the night the alarm would go off because he was having a hypo. So I think it is fair to say his blood sugar is pretty unstable… or is this normal? It was like a yo-yo.
He has started losing weight again - another 2.5lbs this week. He is 6ft and down from c13st to 11.5st. BMI 21.8. I appreciate this is still in the healthy range, but he looks skinny and does not want the weight loss to continue! He has started lifting weights and I have been giving him lots of lovely protein and fats to try to keep weight on him, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
He spoke to a different nurse last week and she told him that he didn’t need testing for LADA. Asked if this is something we had “read about on Google”… “No, it was your colleague!!” When he said about the Abbot Freestyle Libre, she said he was looking into things too closely and as he now has an HbA1C of 47, he should stop his finger prick glucose testing too.
He was totally confused by this and said he still wasn’t feeling brilliant. She offered him statins but didn’t explain why - said he should have been told about them on his DESMOND course. Our understanding was that total cholesterol should be under 4.0 mmol/l for diabetics (Guy’s was 3.8). HDL should be over 1.0 (Guy’s was 1.1). LDL should be under 2.0 (Guy’s was 2.1) - would this tiny difference in LDL be why she offered statins?
Guy has only ever had the basic non-fasting test to obtain his HbA1C. I read on here about a GAD antibody test - he has not had one of those. Are there other bloods he can have done to check he is actually a Type 2 diabetic and not LADA? Are we able to get these done privately if the NHS are choosing to write him off due to his HbA1C being where they want it? He is still tired, hungry soon after meals, losing weight etc.
I’ve booked an appointment with the surgery for 12 noon today, but not sure where that will get us. Thank you for reading!
My lovely husband spent a good 18 months or more tired, losing weight, noticed difference in vision, numbness in hands and feet, infection in groin area etc. All very unusual for him! He has never been someone to suffer ill health.
Had blood tests and investigation for bowel cancer (family history) - all clear. Eventually his GP tested him for diabetes and he was diagnosed end June/beg July 2023 with Type 2 DM (HbA1C 103 mmol/L).
He was 49, didn’t eat biscuits, crisps, sweets, cakes, much in the way of fatty foods etc. Didn’t/doesn’t drink or smoke. Not overweight (nor had he ever been) and his arms/legs/buttocks had in recent times had become visibly depleted.
He took Gliclazide for an initial period of 2 weeks and Metformin ongoing. Removed the one spoon of sugar he used to consume a day from his diet, plus sultanas. Reduced his carbs. Continued to take the Metformin.
By 9th October his HbA1C was down to 55 mmol/L.
He was having hypos in the night and whenever he went for even a small walk or washed the car, so his Metformin was reduced from 4 tablets a day to 2.
His vision was tested in December and background retinopathy was confirmed in both eyes.
He had continued to lose weight and his diabetes nurse said she wanted him to be referred to the hospital to be tested for Type 1.5 or LADA (which we had never heard of).
His HbA1C was tested on Dec 15th and is down to 47 mmol/L.
He had a free trial of Freestyle Libre which we fitted on Dec 26th and it drove him mad - in the end he turned the alarm off. Whenever he ate carbs, his blood glucose would shoot up, often to 15-17, setting the alarm off. In the night the alarm would go off because he was having a hypo. So I think it is fair to say his blood sugar is pretty unstable… or is this normal? It was like a yo-yo.
He has started losing weight again - another 2.5lbs this week. He is 6ft and down from c13st to 11.5st. BMI 21.8. I appreciate this is still in the healthy range, but he looks skinny and does not want the weight loss to continue! He has started lifting weights and I have been giving him lots of lovely protein and fats to try to keep weight on him, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
He spoke to a different nurse last week and she told him that he didn’t need testing for LADA. Asked if this is something we had “read about on Google”… “No, it was your colleague!!” When he said about the Abbot Freestyle Libre, she said he was looking into things too closely and as he now has an HbA1C of 47, he should stop his finger prick glucose testing too.
He was totally confused by this and said he still wasn’t feeling brilliant. She offered him statins but didn’t explain why - said he should have been told about them on his DESMOND course. Our understanding was that total cholesterol should be under 4.0 mmol/l for diabetics (Guy’s was 3.8). HDL should be over 1.0 (Guy’s was 1.1). LDL should be under 2.0 (Guy’s was 2.1) - would this tiny difference in LDL be why she offered statins?
Guy has only ever had the basic non-fasting test to obtain his HbA1C. I read on here about a GAD antibody test - he has not had one of those. Are there other bloods he can have done to check he is actually a Type 2 diabetic and not LADA? Are we able to get these done privately if the NHS are choosing to write him off due to his HbA1C being where they want it? He is still tired, hungry soon after meals, losing weight etc.
I’ve booked an appointment with the surgery for 12 noon today, but not sure where that will get us. Thank you for reading!
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I must emphasize I'm no expert, just interested . These reports are an intense read. I believe over 30% plus Caucasians have those markers. Also 85% of diagnosed type 1's have no family history. So it's the risk factor that is important. There are other factors at play like environmental factors. I tried to emphasize that it's not inevitable. It's a question of increased likelyhood. And in reverse my mother and my mother's father had Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but neither myself or my brother have RA.