I was in the hosp. for an unknown problem. (turns out was Valley Fever). Dr. walks in looks at my id, and says… Well Don how long have you been a diabetic ?? Gee Dr. about 10 secs. My bg was over 300, my Hb1 was 12…
I was diagnosed after having a terrible stomach virus. Everyone in my family had the virus, but mine lingered. I went like 5 days throwing up and unable to hold anything in my stomach. I was actually sleeping on the bathroom floor, with a rolled up towel as a pillow! Finally my son took me to the urgent care center, they did bloodwork and everything. Called me the next day and told me I needed to follow up with my doctor, because my bloodwork looked “funny”. Turns out I had Pancreatitis, and was then diagnosed as Type II Diabetic. What a roller coaster ride. And still is to this day. It’s been 4 months and I’m still waiting for it to get easier!
I had stayed 115 to 120 pounds since my 20’s-I’m 59 now. I quit smoking and gained up to 130 pounds. I looked better; I felt better. Then i started staying tired all the time, thought my blood count was low again. I was having to go to the bathroom constantly; thought my kidneys were going bad. Then I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks.Kept losing until I got to 106 pounds. I knew something bad was wrong, but I had no pains and no symptons. I was reading a magazine and it listed ALL the symptons of a diabetic. Then I knew what was wrong with me. That was on Thursday, I was at the doctors office Monday. My test results showed 310 after an overnight fast.
I was put on the pill. I am keeping it regulated with diet and pills. Sometimes I get stressted and don’t eat right and it goes up. Then i get back on track. But I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t read that article. Now I encourage everyone I talk to, to have their sugar tested at least once a year. I feel like there is not enough information about diabetics out for the public. I am blessed to be a member of TuDiabetics.
My doctors ignored my blood sugar because my fasting levels were always normal. About a year ago I took at look at some old GTT’s and saw that they were positive, but they were not positive enough for my doctor to care. The high was only 202. I went out and bought a glucometer and found that my fasting BG was still in a good range, but my pp BG could easily get over 200 if I ate 50-60 carbs. My doctor laughed at me when I said I wanted an A1C. He told me no doctor would treat me as my fasting BG looked good. I fired him. I have now gone on a low carb diet and can keep my BG below 120 at all times if I don’t stray. My current PCP say he will work with me and prescribe medication if necessary to keep my blood sugars at a good level.
I drink two bucks of water in a day and my left arm froze up, what an eye opener!!
Everyone in my family has diabetes. My younger sister is type1, the rest are type 2. My sugar had been testing borderline the last few months.
Mid July I went to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic on vacation. I got really sick (turned out to be appendicitis) and the initial Doctor asked if I had any chronic health conditions. I told him that I had been testing borderline for diabetes. They did a finger stick and my blood sugar was 188. I had not eaten in 2 days. In the back ground I heard someone say, “Why, She’s diabetic”. I was going downhill fast so they transferred me to the hospital by ambulance… really messed up my vacation to have to have open abdominal surgery rather than playing in the ocean! They did not treat me for diabetes at all there. I was too sick to remember to ask about it.
When I got home to the US I went to the Dr and told him that they said I was diabetic and asked for an A1C. It came back 7.2. I got a phone call from the nurse, “Your A1C was 7.2, that’s consistant with a diagnosis for type 2 diabetes.” She went on to tell me they had called in a med, take one every morning. That’s all!
I wasn’t shocked because everyone in my family of origin is diabetic. I think it just didnt hit me immediately. I called them back in a day or 3…and said…you know…I have no clue what to do. They answered that I would be contacted regarding Diabetes Ed. classes. Another week went by…and I called them again…they finally let me have the direct phone number so I could call.
I am now 7 weeks past surgery and just to where I am not in pain…although it is still painful when I get tired…so I wonder how much that affects my blood sugar. I have had 2 diabetes ed classes, and am pretty over whelmed, just returned to work last Monday…so am behind at work. At least I work in a library and have LOTS of diabetes books I’ve been reading.
Still feeling pretty clueless though. I’ve read several diabetes books, and have more at home waiting.
Yes, I would expect the stress of the surgery and the pain after would be the thing that may have pushed you over the line to diabetes. I don’t think the role of stress in doing this to us who are prone to diabetes has been really communicated much. That is what happened to me, I know. And you may do better once you are completely healed.
I was staying so sick all of the time…I was having stomach issues everytime I ate something and then I would be SO tired all of the time. My stomach would ache after every meal and that’s what really got my attention. It was like food was just making me sick. I would keep it down, but I felt miserable after eating… I had an upper GI done but when my blood came back they noticed the blood sugar.
I had had a regular physcial with a fasting blood test and it was “pre-diabetic” 126 according to the doc.
Then this past winter I lost 40 pounds out of the blue and for about 3 weeks solid I could not get enough to drink and couldn’t get very far from a bathroom to pee.
One day the light went on…I think I have diabetes so I called my doc’s office for a blood test. It was 300. Who knows when I “flipped over”. It took a few months to get into the endocrinologist. By then my wife and I had absorbed a ton of reading and the CDE presented nothing new.
I was put on oral meds and I go see the doc again on Friday for the first time in 6 weeks. I have been staying between 110 and 170 most of the time, except for the occasional weak choice for meals. (All you can eat sushi sent me over 300 and then a day with pizza, 250…)
The glucophage is not having much in the way of side effects so far so good…
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten about my health was from a friend of mine who’s a paramedic. He said, “Kelly, don’t let anyone ever tell you’re borderline! You either have something or you don’t.”
I’m surprised that in your case and in Suzanne’s case they didn’t send you for an “Oral Glucose Tolerance Test” to verify a diagnosis. (That’s where you drink the disgusting orange drink and then they test two hours later.) Everything I’ve read said you can’t rely on one random test to rule out diabetes.
There’s three ways to diagnose diabetes that I’ve read (I’m converting from the Canadian measure so it may not be exact):
- a random test of over 198 on two or more occasions
- a fasting glucose of 126
- an oral glucose test result of 198 or higher (which is about 5 servings of carbs two hours after a meal)
It does seem like you had to take on a lot at once! Hope you’re feeling better now. And give it time, eventually you’ll know more about diabetes than you ever cared to.
It’s funny, I didn’t realize how tired I was until after I was treated for diabetes. I was six months pregnant and all of a sudden I felt like I could run a marathon!
To keep it short…
- Went in for a referral to see a dermatologist
- Blood pressure was high
- Doc decided to do blood work
- Fasting was at 192
- Thought it was a glitch and retested
- Results came to 132 (F*CK ME)
For the last couple of years my health has gone down heal. Chronic kidney stones, always tired, sick alot. Well the last few months it has gotten worse. I kept telling myself, “I just need to exercise and loose some weight.” Well I never did.
Then last week, I woke up not feeling so good and my eyes were real blurry. So I go to the doctor and he checks my BGs. they are high so he does some blood and urine tests. Ketones in my urine and my A1C was 10.5. BAM. Diabetes. He puts me on some drugs to keep me out of the hospital and tells me to come back in 2 weeks to see where we are at. And to come back immediately if i start feeling worse.
I was ok for about a week, then this past Tuesday I woke up feeling bad and could hardly see. I go straight to the docs office and my BGs are over 600. Needless to say, he sends me down the street to a specialist, and they get me on insulin immediately. And the rest if history. Type 2 diabetic…
Hello Everyone,
Just joined this community today and been reading as much as I can about this disease. I found out I had diabetes because I had a chronic yeast infection for about a year. It got so bad that the infection was more on than off even with medication. Finally, my gynecologist blurted out to me that I had diabetes and sent me to an internist next door. This happened August 19 of this year. I had a blood test, (not the orangy liquid test everyone talks about), and my numbers were at 260 fasting. Dr. prescribed Metformin 500mg. but after a week the fasting #'s were still high, went to 1000mg, I will go back to the Dr tomorrow. (Sep. 4th). I’ve lost 11lbs, consume 1,200 calories a day, no sugar, carbs, etc. Started walking about 40min a day. I don’t know what’s next if my numbers are still high. I wish not to take more meds, It is quite scary
I was very thirsty and urinated a lot but the major symptom was vision so blurry I couldn’t read street signs. I checked myself into the ER saying I was concerned that an aneurism on my brain was blurring my vision. They did a CAT scan and found nothing but never checked blood sugar.
Happened to have a doctor appointment two days later and described blurry vision. They checked BG and sure enough it was over 400. Never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted this. I have no family history, am athletic, not overweight and eat healthy. However, I had Hepatitis C for 27 years and believe it caused autoimmune diabetes. I treated and cleared the Hep C which seemed a lot more serious than diabetes but now I’m finding otherwise. As Gilda Radner said, it’s always something!
Hi Cynthia,
Can you explain the “blurry vision” symptom to me? How fast would you say your vision went from being good to where you couldn’t read the street signs? Did the blurriness go away once your blood sugar was under control? Do you wear glasses?
I’m just curious because my eyesight has gone downhill a lot and I wonder if it’s related to the diabetes.
Well as a nurse I should have known better but when you are working and raising children things get hectic and lines get blurred. It was towards the end of summer and so the excess thirst was just attributed to the hot weather and the excess urination to drinking more due to the hot weather. We were having a mini health fair at work and a couple of us went down to it and there I had my BG checked - 258. Went in to see my Dr the next day.
Blurry vision is often a symptom of high blood sugar. As the blood sugar rises, a person becomes more nearsighted. When the blood sugar gets back to a lower level, the eyes revert to the less nearsighted state. This change is caused by the lens of the eye swelling when the blood sugar is elevated. If your blood sugar is out of control, it is best to wait before you get a new prescription for glasses.
Other vision problems from diabetes are more serious. Diabetes increases the chance of developing cataracts and glaucoma. High blood sugars lead to blood vessel damage in the retina call diabetic retinopathy. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics/eye-complications.jsp
The area of the retina that is used for central vision can become edematous. This retinal edema is not only related to high blood sugars, but is more common in those taking Actos and Avandia. http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Certain-Diabetes-Drugs-…
Your greatest weapon against developing ocular complications is to have truly excellent blood sugar control. You may want to read Dr. Bernstein’s book Diabetes Solution.
I was told I was with diabetes type 2 after been in the er after having a very bad reaction to some pills for an infection in my thort so he did a blood test in er and it was 16.4 so it was high and I that was in feb 2007