Mmmm…I’ll go there for a moment, but not without a mild PTSD shudder…I was 57 years old when told I was T2. I leapt to my feet and yelled at my doc. And exited at high speed, not to return for a long time. Checked out every Diabetes book at the library, studied a lot and eventually got a meter, which lived under the glass of a cheese tray on the dining room table for a month before my beloved pharmacist and my husband helped me figure out how to use it.
That was in very early 2007. As much as my doc at the time was clueless and lacking in any kind of empathy, she caught me very early. So even though I fired her because I had to tell her that saying something nice when my A1c dropped from 6.5 to 4.9 in months, I thank her for the early catch…
In the previous fall, she had told me pre-diabetes (mostly dad’s genes) and prescribed that Damn Dash Diet, which I followed religiously, while continuing my regular exercise. That was before a major surgery, which changed everything in my life for the worse.
So I am very thankful she caught it early, and that I found TuD within 6 months to make adjustments. But I also find unforgiveable fault with her advice—which yes, did represent the uninspired thinking on the subject at the time…Enough…Don’t want to go back there…Shudder!
I’m thankful you shared your story @KBJ86. Eeryone I hear from says they didnt have pre-diabetes, they had blurry vision, itchy and so on. But, I wonder was their feelings up until then? Just felt perfectly fine and then, boom one day they woke up at BS at 200? Was everyones check up and regular yearly bloodwork always fine? Its just crazy to me. I’m 105 usually fasting every morning whether I had dinner or not and I take metformin daily and still have that as a fasting glucose and A1C usually 5.7, last blood test 5.6 I know my functional medicine doctor works on preventitive and thats why I was put on metformin in the first place. I wonder now, If I’m going to get type one or type two, can I do anything about it now. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this too, I wish I had better docotors here. I’m such a mess, feeling wise. Fatigued, weak, lots of numb, tingly feelings around my mouth and nausea, headaches. Nobody seems to help me and I dont know what else to do.
Mine wasn’t overnight like that, more like 3 weeks, maybe 4, from first noticing a kind of vague but persistent interior discomfort to getting seriously symptomatic. Felt perfectly normal before that, except for a nasty cold, which I’ve always thought might have been the trigger.
I had noticeable symptoms (insatiable thirst, peeing a lot, hunger, tiredness, weight loss) for a couple of weeks before I was diagnosed. I was a kid, so I don’t remember exactly how I felt before that, maybe I felt vaguely unwell for a couple weeks more, but I don’t remember having any symptoms during the summer, only after school had started (school started about a month before I was diagnosed). So, in my case, I think that the symptoms and autoimmune attack came on very fast. It happened to me again this past winter with Graves’ disease (autoimmune attack against the thyroid). Most people develop that slowly, but I only had clear symptoms of hyperthyroidism for a few weeks before I was diagnosed. Thinking back, I could really only say I felt vaguely unwell for a month at most before I was diagnosed. I didn’t have yearly blood sugar checks when I was a kid, but as an adult I did have yearly thyroid checks (of TSH only), and they were utterly and completely normal until they weren’t (including one that was done nine months before I was diagnosed). So I do think that can happen and probably isn’t that rare in the case of Type 1 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is different, as it’s not caused by an autoimmune attack, so probably tends to develop much more slowly over months to years.
I was diagnosed with type1 in February of this year. Symptoms had been showing for a few weeks before I went in. My blood sugar was 350, with A1C at 12.3. Can’t wait until my second A1C, when I can really see my progress!
Yes, I’m kinda surprised more people with T2 haven’t weighed in on this thread since that’s what the term is usually associated with. It seems like physicians are being a lot more vigilant toward it, too–I know a number of people who have been told they are “pre-diabetic” due fasting BG numbers that for me would be in the “Yippee! Good job!” range.
I also had signs of pre-diabetes. First, my bg was 95. Not pre-diabetic, but higher than it had been. Doc said we need to keep an eye on it. Next year’s bloodwork it was 110. I was eating a very healthy diet and exercising frequently. I cut back some carbs and ate more fiber as instructed. Next blood test it was higher (I think 118). They sent me to a nutritionist who was very little help. My PCP moved, so I went a little over a year without a physical. I was having some bloodwork done for an allergy thing and asked the allergist to throw in lipids and glucose since they were tapping in to me anyway. Fasting glucose came back 261. At this point, I finally did some research and realized I had all the symptoms. I was traveling a lot for work,so I thought the fatigue was from all the hotel nights, the thirst was from airplane dehydration and the urination (4 times a night) was my middle aged prostate. I was sent to an endo and diagnosed 51/LADA. Fortunately, I avoided the misdiagnoses and hospital stays that are part of so many people’s stories. Except for the occasional low, I feel a lot better now. I had a lot to manage in my life before. This is one more big thing to manage, but at least so far it is manageable.
I did have some hints in the last month before diagnosis, but nothing sooner than that. About a month before diagnosis I was starting to get longer walks in, trying to prepare for a trip to Vancouver BC, where we would be doing a lot of walking. The flat terrain near home wasn’t a problem but I seemed to be getting thirstier than usual. Not drastically so, but enough that the possibility of diabetes did enter my mind. However, the temperatures at the time were the hottest of the year, so I also considered that the thirst might be just that.
On the trip to Vancouver BC with the walking up and down the hilly city there were times I was really huffing and puffing. While the thought that it might be something else physically vaguely entered my mind, a more predominant thought was, “I guess my age is finally catching up to me.” I was, after all, age 70 at the time. In retrospect, it is a wonder I didn’t have a heart attack. The way we were eating on that trip, I suspect that my BG was over 500 and possibly higher most of the time. And heavy exercise with that high BG can definitely put one in danger.
It turned out that I have autoantibodies to both IA2 and GAD65. As I understand it, the more different autoantibodies one tests positive to, the more likely is a fast onset. Many LADA patients who test positive to only one can have a much slower onset, so if caught early might be in the pre-diabetic range for a while. But a lot of it is still individual differences, factors unknown.
I was diagnosed in June 2009. A1C of 13.4% and random blood glucose of 437. When I first went in to see my diabetes nurse, she said, “I remember you.” Then the doctor came in and I didn’t get to ask her what she meant. A few days later, I remembered her comment and searched through my medical records. I found that in a blood test a year earlier, I had an A1C of 6.8%, but it didn’t show up again. I also don’t remember being told this in 2008! A heads up would have been nice.
There was no talk of Type 1 or Type 2, so I didn’t get a C-peptide until a year and a half later. At diagnosis, I was immediately put on Lantus, but didn’t start Novolog until my A1C started climbing and I had the autoantibodies test.
It was February 1981 just before my 18th birthday, I was studying really hard for my A’Level exams, I was really tired & I couldn’t stop drinking water that went straight through me, I was getting up 5 or 6 times a night to pee, & I was loosing weight. So my mother took me to the doctor, He tested my urine & said he thought I had diabetes, I think he drew blood & sent it to be tested. I had never even heard of diabetes so I had no idea what was coming. I think I was admitted to hospital within a week where I stayed for about 3 weeks. I had a wonderful nurse, we did the usual practicing injections on an orange & one day she said OK, now do it on your thigh. I looked at my flesh & the syringe needle (quite large in those days) & froze. The nurse got impatient & said “OK do it on me” & I injected her arm, I always think that was the above her call of duty.
I went home with insulin, glass syringes & needles & clinitest tablets & testing kit & gram scales. I did everything myself from the begining, my mother just made sure I remembered.
I’m T2 and was never warned about pre diabetes. I assume all my results came back at normal levels, because nobody every said anything to me (and I never asked).
I found out about a year ago, last May. My husband and I were having difficult conceiving, and I only got a diagnosis after extensive testing. I was dx’d with PCOS and put on Metformin right away. Then a fasting test came back at 250 (!!!), and A1C confirmed the T2 diagnosis at 8.6. From May 2015 to December 2015 my A1C dropped to 5.3 (last test last week came back at 5.4). I don’t know if C-peptide was ever tested.
Honestly, I sometimes think that I may be LADA. My endo diagnosed me as type 1 because I was already in DKA (can LADA go into DKA?) and my a1c was so high. I needed to be on insulin immediately so I got the T1 diagnosis. But I showed symptoms over a course of about 4-5 months before hitting DKA, not weeks. And I had that “prediabetic” fasting test a few years prior. I also have endometriosis, so there’s an autoimmune component there (although I know both LADA and type 1 are autoimmune anyway). But I don’t experience any insulin resistance - isn’t that sometimes associated with LADA? I’m on 13 units of Lantus and my insulin:carb ratio is 1:20 so I rarely end up taking more than 20 units/day.
The different stages of type 1 theory makes sense to me just because it’s very similar to what I experienced. I only knew about that prediabetic reading by chance; I never would’ve known otherwise. I think no matter what, it’s important to keep an eye on your blood work. @momof21, have you done a glucose tolerance test? I’d be curious about those results. The “stage 2” mentioned in the article is defined as "Autoimmunity plus abnormal glucose tolerance (fasting BGs >100 mg/dL; random BG over 200; an elevated A1C of 5.7%+, or generally increasing A1C values) "
I’m no expert, but I don’t believe there is any diagnostic difference between T1 and LADA. I thought LADA was just a term used to describe autoimmune diabetes (T1) in adults. The antibodies killing my beta cells are the same. I believe there are lots of factors that determine how fast the process takes. It generally takes longer in adults than children but it is the same process. Again, I’m not an expert, but that is my understanding.
Ohhh interesting. I hadn’t thought to look much into LADA until now, so I don’t know much about it. I always thought it was a mix between type 1 and type 2 (autoimmune + insulin resistance…or something like that)
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious condition that is linked to diabetes. If you don’t have enough insulin to help your body process sugars (glucose), your body will start burning fat to fuel itself. As a result, acids called ketone bodies build up in the body.
If DKA is not treated in relatively short order, it will lead to death.
Just curious: do you still believe you have Type 1 diabetes?
well, My fasting Glucose has been 107 in the morning and about 142 after meals. From everything I read, Fasting in healthy people should be 80-90 highest. And in normal non-diabetic people Glucose should be around 120 after meals. Mine is 142. What do you think @rgcainmd, I’m taking metformin 1 x a day in the AM and fighting a constant low TSH, my thyroids a mess. It doesnt look great for me down the road. I wish my Endo worked in preventative care and understood my numbers are leading in the bad direction. But because she probably see’s people at a 200 BS and much worse, she probably doesnt see me as a problem.
And to answer, I think I’m Pre-diabetic state and not getting the proper care. My endo told me to come off of metformin but I’m to scared as a fasting 107 would be way worse off of it. I’m worried about my heart and future issues as High suagr eventually causes serious heart issues
I’m not an endocrinologist, but the numbers you’re reporting are within the margin of error of your meter. Honestly, they are not very high! Something to consider - are you eating very carb heavy meals? A non-D person could also have excursions into higher numbers, depending on the context.
Thanks for writing. You know Sunday, I felt very sick after I had a chicken breast sandwich, for whatever reason, but I felt sick as usual. So I ended up curled up in bed, nauseous. I hadnt eatin since 1pm that Sunday and went to bed on an empty stomach. My glucose in the 9am time frame was 105. That in itself seems high for such a long time without eating. But to answer, I’m not even sure what to eat anymore. I’m almost starving and when I started to feel sick with some crazy virus around Feb this year, I went downhill from there and lost alot of weight. I’m already small, usually around 115 but in months I went down to 108, thats a lot in 2 months. I try to eat more veggies and I dont eat meat. I was eating soy but now I read it can bother my hypo thyroid, so once again, I dont know what to eat anymore. I’m really upset about it as my husband just looks at me…hes perfectly normal and can eat anything. If I’m not pre diabetic then why do I have to try so hard to get a normal BS reading. Just so down about this. Dont know what to eat, and what to take to help me
