Coming to terms with the reality that I will never feel well

As some of you know I’ve noted in many of my postings here my sensitivity to my glucose levels. Over the last few weeks I’ve documented a few sugars right around 100mgdl and was convinced based on how I felt (horrible) that the level would have been at least 20 points higher or lower. Some have suggested having my thyroid checked which I haven’t gotten around to doing but I just can’t believe how horrible I feel from this. It makes me wonder if there was a cure tomorrow would all this go away? I can’t imagine a non-diabetic checking their glucose, seeing 100 and feeling anything like me. All the symptoms feel sugar related yet a few documented 100mgdl levels and I’m besides myself. Still I do get days and moments where it seems to hibernate but the majority of time not. I am at a complete loss and would love to find someone that may have experience and knowledge to why my body is having so much trouble with this and maybe has a solution. I just don’t know any other diabetic that “Feels” so horrible so “Often” at rather normal levels.

The thyroid thing really is so important to check. The symptoms correlate greatly with those of Diabetes, and from my own life experience, I could tell you that I could easily confuse them with high blood sugar, if I didn’t know any better. Thirst, dry skin, feeling terrible all the time, depressed or moody, constipated, extremely tired, impotent, intolerant to cold, inability to focus, hair loss… and the list is really big… and since the list isn’t all mutually exclusive, it can really make it seem like you’re just high… It’s not a bad thing to get looked at.

Hi:

Are you receiving treatment for depression at all? Sometimes people chalk symptoms up to an underlying illness when really what’s going on is that they are depressed. My husband felt awful, no energy, was falling asleep right after dinner, etc. He thought he had a number of different things but he became a changed man, medically and otherwise, once he was on the right antidepressant.

One time MrsAcidRock got carried away shopping (10:00 AM until 3:00 pm or something like that, since she didn’t have me holding her back…) and came home and said “I think I have low blood sugar, give me some food” and I availed myself of the opportunity to see just how low she was and she was @ 81. It was a very unscientific experiment but, nonetheless did substantiate her perception that perhaps she was a shade low?

I have to agree with DWQ that perhaps it’s something besides BG messing you up if you feel that bad at 100?

Gary,

Is the A1c in your profile correct? If so, your day-in day-out average BG is 197. In which case, when you dip down to 100, you probably are just feeling like cr*p since it feels like a low BG because your body is used to running so high.

If you bring your average BG down to normal (<120), then your body will adjust to that and you should feel fine. It will take time, but you seem to know what you need to do to get there.

If this problem ends up be related to my thyroid and there is treatment for it I will be happy as a pig in you know what. I mean yes 85 to 90 is probably closer to what most non-diabetics run pre-meal but 100 is still well in the normal range. It would make sense if I was pushing closer to 125 and didn’t feel well. I guess I need to have it checked if nothing more maybe just maybe its part of my problem. We still desperately need a cure and something tells me if my body was working the way it should none of this would be going on. Right now my prayers are with CureDM to deliver their regenerative therapy.

My Alc’s like most diabetics have varied. For a few years I was in the high 5’s to the mid 6’s then I had a few in the mid 7’s to low 8’s. My last A1’c was 6.5.

It is sounding more and more like it is thyroid related. Also, there are other parts of your endocrine system that may be misfiring as well. Do you have an endo? That’s his area, see if you can have some other endocrine testing. Your discomfort may not be diabetes related at all. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants? Do have your thyroid checked and see if your endo can do a profile on you to see if there’s something else that is amiss. You shouldn’t have to feel awful all the time, not in this day and age. Depression may also be a factor – it manifests itself in physical symptoms as well.

Well, its what came first the chicken of the egg. If I feel awful I get depressed. I haven’t been seeing an endo for many years. I see a nurse who specializes in diabetes but she’s not an endo. Hypothetically If I feel good and my sugar is at say 85 and I eat something to spike it up to 100 I will feel the spike and become irritable and under distress. Is something like that remotely normal for a mild sugar spike or does that sound like some other underlying problem?

It may not be a diabetes thing, but something else. Have your endo do a full medical profile and check out all of your systems.

Chronic illness and depression are frequent bedfellows. Your endocrine system is responsible for all kinds of things and not just the insulin and beta cell business. You may be suffering through a perfect storm.

hi gary,

on late night tv i once saw a medical show regarding a ‘little old lady’ who had the worst itching and was up all night scratching.

medically, they couldnt do anything for her.



so what they did was try NOT to make this itching the ‘centre of her life’, just really to try and take away her focus a little from this problem



they made her join a club of little laddies, and with her new social life, not think about her itching 24/7.



sure this is not the answer to your problem

there may be a real organic and medical basis for you not feeling well



but maybe changing your routine a bit, by trying new things, may alter your life perception of this diabetes dominating, control and influencing your life so much



i know this is not a big help, but every bit of information adds up to help you fight this damn bastard condition



some ideas (help me out people)

do volunteer work at the diabetes association

take more guitar lessons

help out at the church

start a blog (squidoo.com is great) or wordpress.com to start a blog

start cycling…



best of luck…

If it is, the meds will help big time, though they may take time to kick in, and sometimes it takes time to find the right dosage you need. I was definitely depressed and angry a lot when I was hypothyroid… It was soooo hard to focus, at all. I’ve only had two extreme depression moments in my life: a.) When I got diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, and it got controlled with treatment, and b.) When I was diagnosed with Diabetes, and as soon as I got my numbers in good range, it went away… I guess just try to stay positive, and give yourself time outs when needed… I put myself through school, hypothyroid and depressed… and it is NO fun at all. :confused:

School, forget about it. I’d last about 2 minutes in a classroom. I can’t focus for nothing. In high school I used to have nightmares about not being able to get out like it was prison. Not sure the diabetes really had anything to do with it but I am literally petrified to be in a school environment. To be honest I think my whole nervous system is screwed up from the diabetes.

I couldn’t get out cus of my strict, Latino parents… :frowning: But one semester I almost failed out with a GPA of 0.5 … Boy, it was terrible times, back then…

I feel awful most of the time and my bloodsugar is also in the normal range. My thyroid is fine as is the rest of my bloodwork.

I suffer from anxiety and depression and know that my crapola feeling is all related to stress and anxiety and the fear of going low or high, etc.

To add my two cents to the others, having thyroid (& adrenals) checked out is worth doing. Endocrine system is inter-related & intimately related to moods. It is a chicken & egg situation.

Interesting…Karen. I am not in anyway convinced there is another underlying problem such as my thyroid but it can’t hurt to have it checked. This morning while getting up I felt all buzzy and kind of edgy assuming again Id be out of range and guess what, 91 right on the money. Now after about 15 of being up the symptoms started lessening and its been about 1/2 hour since I took my breakfast shot and I’m now feeling even a little better. It just seems ridiculous that I could actually feel more or less OK or even well at 85 to 90 but at edgy/irritable at 100. At the same time last week I had a real bad low in the early morning, overate and after I started coming out of it my mom asked how I felt and I said fine expecting it to be normal and after rechecking it was 200. Its just baffling to me. The reality is our bodies really have no chance to get used to any range because we can’t keep them in a tight range whatever that may be.

Gary, I’m gonna go with everyone else here and say, get your thyroid checked. And not just the TSH, have a full panel done. T3, T4 and antibodies. When I was DX’ed hypothyroid years ago I was only slightly low and my GP did not want to put me on medication. But I pressed because I felt bad and was gaining weight. Turns out my thyroid antibodies were thru the roof. So they termed it “clinical hypothyroidism”, meaning the numbers are near normal, but for my body they were low. That whole experience got me in with my current Endo. Which was very lucky cause the I developed Type 1 last year (2010).

I will say that if your feeling “buzzy and edgy” you could be hyperthyroid. I know in the past when I’ve been slightly over medicated it does have that kind of feeling to it.

This is a little off-topic but I do get mildly surprised at the number of non-D people around me who will tell me they have low blood sugar anytime 4-6 hours have passed since their last meal/snack. I’m like, honey, you have no idea what going low really means! I think the next time a non-D says that to me I will insist on testing their BG. If nothing, it would be a good opportunity to change my lancet hahahaha!

When you get your thyroid checked, make sure the tests run are free T3 & free T4. Many docs don’t run the proper tests. Having cortisol levels (adrenal) done is very important also. Wouldn’t hurt to get testosterone levels tested also.