Strange Symptoms

Type 1 and LADA
1

I have had Type 1 since 1992 - so 17 years now. I have retinopathy and some kidney changes. Friday night, I had some weird swelling in my right foot/ankle only - propped it up and went to sleep, and by Saturday morning it was gone. Didn’t think much of it, other than it was odd that it was only swelling on the right side of my body and that sometimes in the night it looked swollen and sometimes it did not, but it always felt swollen (kwim?). Saturday afternoon around 4, started again, same symptoms, gone Sunday morning. Ugggh…repeating weird symptoms, started to worry me. Had a doc appointment this Tuesday anyways, so figured I would mention it. Sunday night, you know the drill, but Monday morning it did not go away - the weird swelling went up to my knee, and by lunch was up to my hip. Tried to get my appointment switched to Monday, but they couldn’t help me. I am not usually a mid-day napper (I am very high energy), but I was so tired I laid down and woke up two hours later at 4 pm with swelling up to and including the right side of my face.

Ugggh…got a babysitter, went off to the acute care clinic, they sent me to ER. ER thought the sypmtoms were weird, but couldn’t figure out why they were happening. ER Doc did ask me about my dialysis treatments (told them I had beginning kidney changes, not kidney failure) and tried to diagnose my diabetes (after being told about a zillion times I have Type 1), so I don’t know if he was firing on all cylinders. They did send me home. But the symptoms persist, my right side of my face and body is puffy, and I have intermittent nausea/pain in the swollen parts. Any ideas what might be causing this one-sided swelling and general ickiness?

Sorry for the book, but this is definitely starting to concern me…

2

Had another appointment this morning, and another doc had no clue. He is referring me out to yet another doc, and thinks I may need to see the neurologist. Needless to say, I am more than a little freaked out about all of this…

3

I’ve lived with the big D most of my life and don’t remember experiencing what is happening with you. Each one of us have different experiences with this disease. I hope you are able to get an earlier appointment soon.

4

Ask your endo if this could me another autoimmune disorder. As a T1 you are at risk for other autoimmune disorders. The fact that you are tired adds to this too. I had terrible swelling in one leg, tiredness that was the worst I have ever felt, and then both legs swelled. Then I got pain all over my body like I had worked out too hard or something and it wouldn’t go away. They sent me to a rheumatologist and it took over a year to get a diagnosis. The first thing that was done was a venous doplar on the veins and arteries in my legs to rule out a blockage of some kind. I had tons of other tests to rule stuff out before I was diagnosed with myositis and sarcoidosis. Let us know what you find out!