• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Type 2

VinnyJames

VinnyJames

Well-Known Member
Messages
624
Location
Liverpool
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
How long would you estimate you were type 2 before being diagnosed.

I think for myself around 5 years.

I'm asking this question as I think a late diagnosis could perhaps make it harder to get your blood sugar levels lower.
 
Possibly only a few months. I reckon I was pre-diabetic for around 10 years though, and was doing my best to turn things around myself, but didn't quite manage it. Having pneumonia twice in 4 months pushed me into full blown T2 diabetes.
 
I dunno - maybe 5 to 10 years. Maybe longer. That's based on weird previously explained medical issues that went away after I got my blood glucose levels down to pre-prediabetic levels.
 
I have no idea, and it doesn't feel that important any more.
 
Who knows? I really don't and to me it's of no importance.For about a year before being diagnosed as prediabetic I was aware of symptoms which I now think were hypo-like and I remember being worried that I might be diabetic. Didn't stop me enjoying doughnuts and ice cream though.
 
It's of huge personal importance to me!
I have a theory that the longer that type 2 has not been managed then the bigger the damage to the beta cells in the pancreas.
This would explain why some need to be very low carb and others seem to get by with less effort.
Just a hypothesis at the minute.
 
VinnyJames said:
It's of huge personal importance to me!
I have a theory that the longer that type 2 has not been managed then the bigger the damage to the beta cells in the pancreas.
This would explain why some need to be very low carb and others seem to get by with less effort.
Just a hypothesis at the minute.
Click to expand...

Whilst I can understand your sentiment, but it's not something you can change or even influence. If you knew you were a long time un-diagnosed, would you try any less hard to control things, because you believed it to be harder?
 
My severe symptoms lasted 3-4 months pre the official diagnosis, but I believe I was suffering from this for far longer. I was told I had a fatty liver 2 years ago, and have had glucose in my urine on a number of occasions previously. I was told that I was "in danger" of getting Diabetes, but until you actually get the disease it is hard to come to terms with it.
 
I had my first prediabetes diagnosis around 1993 but so little was made of it, I didn't really take it seriously. Had another diagnosis around 2004, but again, nothing much was made of it and it went away again after weight loss. Final diagnosis of Type 2 in 2012. But regardless of official diagnosis, there was definitely a degree of metabolic syndrome going on over those 20 years. I tend to think you may be right about the length of time affecting the pancreas and ability to reverse symptoms.
 
I had serious brain fog and exhaustion for about five years before I was diagnosed, but was told it was probably due to "my weight". My HbA1c was high enough at a semi-annual check up around March 2013 for me to have been diagnosed but I wasn't told until my next check up with a similar high HbA1c again in November 2013. So probably at least a year.

My levels came down dramatically over 2-3 months just by my cutting out all sugary foods, and then down further when I started low carbing but have stayed at 40-41 since then - and similarly with regular daily testing which I started 3-4 months after diagnosis, which hasn't changed much but is now possibly more stable. But since my body was probably getting a bit clapped out from old age anyway, I'd be hard pushed to put any real blame on longer term undiagnosed diabetes.

Robbity
 
VinnyJames said:
I have a theory that the longer that type 2 has not been managed then the bigger the damage to the beta cells in the pancreas.
This would explain why some need to be very low carb and others seem to get by with less effort.
Click to expand...

Indy51 said:
I tend to think you may be right about the length of time affecting the pancreas and ability to reverse symptoms.
Click to expand...

Yes, I see a logic to confirm this. T2D folks will have higher amounts of sugars in the blood that damage different parts of the body. Then insulin resistance plays its cruel part too. The longer the diagnosis time (longer the time without any action or intervention such as dietary adjustments or medication), higher the damage to the person. This, to me seems obvious.
 
Funny some times i did feel weird and would eat something sweet then it would go away ...never thought I would be diabetic, never entered my head even when they sent me to an endrocologist to find out if I was on the right dose of levothyroxine, he didnt find it he said all was fine ....but afterwards when i went to the doctors with a terrible thirst she asked me what i had had to eat before going to see him I said nothing why? she said my levels were high then ....so I ask myself WHY they didn't look at it before seeing as I went to see him 6 months before ....o_O I would say I had it for a while before I knew I had it :banghead:
 
Just over a year. Had acute pancreatitis, then had gall bladder removed. Feel a bit annoyed that I wasn't warned about the probability of getting diabetes, and it was only after requesting blood tests for the second time that they discovered the diabetes, plus under active thyroid - no wonder I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat and had a craving for sweet things, when previously I preferred savoury things. Still trying to find the right combination of medication, but feeling really well.
 
I was tested prediabetic in 2008 but nothing was said at the time, then periods of listlessness, exhaustion etc prior to diagnosis in 2014. No other symptoms though, and in particular no eyesight issues or raging thirst/need to urinate. I reckon possibly a couple of years but could of course be five. Nothing I can do about it now apart from continue with low carbing and protect whatever I've still got.
 
About 6-7 years at least. I used to have funny episodes where I would go into a deep sleep for 4 hours and no one could wake me up. This happened about 3 or 4 times.
 
Back
Top