Hi,
I’m new to this site, but from looking through it so far I believe it would be a good place to start with my questions and situation.
A little background info about myself and my situation:
I’m a 22 year old college student. I’m a healthy weight (5’6"/135lbs). I work out at least 3-4 times per week, I’ve always played sports, and I love to hike. I’m an Army ROTC cadet and I always excel on my physical fitness tests. Contrary to most college kid’s diets, I actually eat very well. Very rarely do I eat fast food or heavily processed foods. The only family history I have of diabetes is my Aunt who is Type 2, and my grandfather who is pre-diabetic.
In March 2015, I was at a training event with ROTC at Fort Jackson, South Carolina when I first had any symptoms/issues that could be diabetes related. I had nausea, headache, I was completely exhausted no matter how much rest I got, and I was so dizzy that I could barely walk. I was taken to the hospital on post where they didn’t do any tests and told me I more than likely had a virus and needed to stay hydrated and take it easy. My instructors gave me gatorade after gatorade and it didn’t make me feel better at all (probably because gatorade mine as well be sugar water). Because I was nauseous, I didn’t have much of an appetite so I drank lots of fluids (water and gatorade) to make up for the lack of food.
When I returned home from training a day later, I still felt awful. All I wanted was to drink water. A couple of days later I finally went to my doctor at home and requested to have blood work done. Initially, my creatinine levels came back slightly elevated and my non-fasting blood glucose level was 64 mg/dL. However, they didn’t say anything about the low-ish blood sugar and focused on the creatinine levels. Three weeks later (April 2015) I repeated the same blood tests, but this time I fasted. On this go around, my blood glucose level was 96 mg/dL.
Fast forward to three months later in July and I was still having much of the same issues as before, only now they were lasting for days at a time rather than a day here and there. I moved home for the summer since I didn’t have to take summer classes. At this point I was able to see my regular physician, so I scheduled an appointment. He again did the same blood work, non-fasting. In fact, I had eaten frosted flakes about 45 minutes before coming in for the appointment. On this occasion, by blood glucose level (non-fasting) was 51 mg/dL. So they took notice of the low level and told me I more than like was experiencing post-prandial (after eating) hypoglycemia.
Fast forward once again to August 2015. I had my annual visit with the Ob/Gyn and when I explained to her all that was going on, she became alarmed. Someone in my physical condition should not be experiencing these symptoms as uncontrollably as I have been. So she ran numerous tests (hormone levels, thyroid, and an A1C test). Everything came back normal except the A1C test which fell into the lower end of the “pre-diabetic” range at 5.7%. The only instruction I was given was to increase cardiovascular exercise and try and maintain a low-carb diet. Well, that’s great advice, but that’s what I’m already doing and it’s not helping with my issues at all.
Which brings me to my real questions, and why I posted this within this forum. Has anyone else who was diagnosed with LADA had a similar experience? After researching a bit about the various types of diabetes, LADA seems to fit me more than any of the others. I’m not trying to self-diagnose or get an internet diagnosis on here, but I’m honestly tired of feeling awful all the time and I have absolutely no control over it. I don’t feel like myself, I don’t look like myself because I’ve lost weight, and I just generally feel defeated. I’ve watched my blood glucose levels go up and down in the beginning and now they seem to be slowly increasing, and no one can seem to give me any guidance. I’ve spoken with my Ob/Gyn about getting a referral to an endocrinologist. They agreed to set me up and appointment, but I have yet to hear back. At this point, I’m just really frustrated and I don’t know where to go from here. How does someone who is young, of a healthy weight, with a healthy lifestyle end up type 2 pre-diabetic?
On another note, this is also a huge issue with my potential military career. Having already spent four years in ROTC working toward a commission, it puts me in a huge bind. For anyone who may have experience, is being pre-diabetic a permanent disqualification for the military? I am supposed to graduate in December, but I can’t even really plan what to do with my life next because I don’t know if I’ll be in the military or not. If I can’t go into the military that’s fine, life goes on, but I don’t even know where to begin if I don’t have any clue where I might end up.
Thank you all so much for your time, help, and suggestions. I apologize for the long post, but I don’t know where else to go at this point.
-Kate