Hi, I’m looking for some help trying to understand where I fit in the “world of diabetes”.
Had the usual symptoms, constantly tired, excessive thirst and urination, constant hunger yet lost 3 stone. I started to feel worse with my breathing becoming laboured and got worse over the next week and lost my appetite. Finally went to see the doctor, (also a rather large perianal abscess appeared the same morning). I was sent straight to Hospital as I was in DKA! I left the hospital 8 days later with a diagnosis of type 1 and on mixed insulin injections.
The consultant at my first appointment was useless, he put me on metformin as I was overweight and that was it, so asked my GP. He explained that I didn’t seem to fit the exact criteria for either of the types so needed to test and see what happened, but he was leaning more towards type 2, until he read the results from the hospital.
My HbA1c was 14.1 with fasting bloods of high teens on admittance to hospital. GAD test was negative but said that didn’t mean I wasn’t type 1. I had perfect blood pressure and cholesterol and the dr said he thought these would of been higher if type 2 and my c-peptide test was on the low side of average which again he said he would have expected the readings to be much higher if I was type 2, especially with my readings from the hospital. However due to being overweight he said they can’t rule out type 2.
HbA1c down to 7.6 in June on low dose mixed insulin and reducing carbs so they stopped my insulin and put me on Victoza along with the metformin. Next HbA1c was down to 7.1(which surprised me as my readings had increased slightly) so they stopped my test strips and arranged to go back at Christmas. I started getting some of the old symptoms again which started to get worse. I got out my spare meter and every reading including my fasting was never lower than 12 with most in the mid teens and several in the 20’s. My HbA1c at Christmas was up to 8.6. He started me on Glimepiride then doubled it up at the beginning of January but my readings never moved.
I started low carbing (under 20g most days) as I was sick of feeling ill. HbA1c in February was actually slightly higher at 8.7 so they increased my dose again.
My concern now is that it is taking 2000mg of metformin, 1.2mg of Victoza, 3mg of Glimepiride and a low low carb diet to get my readings in the high 5 to high 6 range with fasting levels high 6’s.
I am over weight and have been since I was younger due to an illness and subsequent medication. I’ve just started wondering now if that illness may be connected to my current issues. When I was 11/12 I was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency or Hypopituitarism (at one point my skeletal age was nearly 2 years behind my biological age) and spent the next few years in and out of hospital and being treated with growth hormone and steroids whilst going through puberty (hence weight gain). Neither I nor my family can remember if they actually gave a reasoning as to why I wasn’t producing enough, but after reading about it it seems it can be caused by auto immune issues which is why I wondered if there could be a link. I have lost 2 stone so far but I haven't noticed any change to my levels.
I would be grateful for any thoughts anyone may have, either regarding possible type or the connection to old illness (which I fully understand will just be opinions). Also is there anything I should be asking or requesting from the doctors. For example would it be useful to ask for another c-peptide test to see if anything has changed over the year?
Apologies for the length of the post, I wanted to get as much info down as possible, cheers.
P.S. If this is in the wrong section again my apologies.
Had the usual symptoms, constantly tired, excessive thirst and urination, constant hunger yet lost 3 stone. I started to feel worse with my breathing becoming laboured and got worse over the next week and lost my appetite. Finally went to see the doctor, (also a rather large perianal abscess appeared the same morning). I was sent straight to Hospital as I was in DKA! I left the hospital 8 days later with a diagnosis of type 1 and on mixed insulin injections.
The consultant at my first appointment was useless, he put me on metformin as I was overweight and that was it, so asked my GP. He explained that I didn’t seem to fit the exact criteria for either of the types so needed to test and see what happened, but he was leaning more towards type 2, until he read the results from the hospital.
My HbA1c was 14.1 with fasting bloods of high teens on admittance to hospital. GAD test was negative but said that didn’t mean I wasn’t type 1. I had perfect blood pressure and cholesterol and the dr said he thought these would of been higher if type 2 and my c-peptide test was on the low side of average which again he said he would have expected the readings to be much higher if I was type 2, especially with my readings from the hospital. However due to being overweight he said they can’t rule out type 2.
HbA1c down to 7.6 in June on low dose mixed insulin and reducing carbs so they stopped my insulin and put me on Victoza along with the metformin. Next HbA1c was down to 7.1(which surprised me as my readings had increased slightly) so they stopped my test strips and arranged to go back at Christmas. I started getting some of the old symptoms again which started to get worse. I got out my spare meter and every reading including my fasting was never lower than 12 with most in the mid teens and several in the 20’s. My HbA1c at Christmas was up to 8.6. He started me on Glimepiride then doubled it up at the beginning of January but my readings never moved.
I started low carbing (under 20g most days) as I was sick of feeling ill. HbA1c in February was actually slightly higher at 8.7 so they increased my dose again.
My concern now is that it is taking 2000mg of metformin, 1.2mg of Victoza, 3mg of Glimepiride and a low low carb diet to get my readings in the high 5 to high 6 range with fasting levels high 6’s.
I am over weight and have been since I was younger due to an illness and subsequent medication. I’ve just started wondering now if that illness may be connected to my current issues. When I was 11/12 I was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency or Hypopituitarism (at one point my skeletal age was nearly 2 years behind my biological age) and spent the next few years in and out of hospital and being treated with growth hormone and steroids whilst going through puberty (hence weight gain). Neither I nor my family can remember if they actually gave a reasoning as to why I wasn’t producing enough, but after reading about it it seems it can be caused by auto immune issues which is why I wondered if there could be a link. I have lost 2 stone so far but I haven't noticed any change to my levels.
I would be grateful for any thoughts anyone may have, either regarding possible type or the connection to old illness (which I fully understand will just be opinions). Also is there anything I should be asking or requesting from the doctors. For example would it be useful to ask for another c-peptide test to see if anything has changed over the year?
Apologies for the length of the post, I wanted to get as much info down as possible, cheers.
P.S. If this is in the wrong section again my apologies.
