early signs of type 2 diabetes?



W

Wilson

Guest
(xposted to alt.support.diabetes)

Greetings folks -

I was dxed as hypoglycemic years and years ago (at 9). Blood
sugar issues are a lifelong thing for me.

I am getting checked soon, and think I may have many early
signs of diabetes. Also diabetes runs *very* strongly in my
family - virtually everyone in my dad's side of the family
(except for my dad) is shooting insulin. My dad himself has
started reading mild spikes on his diabetic wife's meter.

I'm 30. I'm somewhat overweight (about 30 lbs), but trace
back a lot of my symptoms to before I became overweight, and
think I became overweight *because* of the blood sugar
issues. Actually I was stick-thin and COULDN'T gain weight
or keep it on until my mid-20s which is about the same time
that my suspected-diabetic symptoms started showing up.

I haven't had the classic drink-a-lot/pee-a-lot thing, at
least yet. Actually I find myself drinking and peeing *less*
since I cut back my caffeine intake.

What were your symptoms, folks, in the beginning, or that
led up to your dx?
 
[email protected] (wilson) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> (xposted to alt.support.diabetes)
>
> Greetings folks -
>
> I was dxed as hypoglycemic years and years ago (at 9).
> Blood sugar issues are a lifelong thing for me.
>
> I am getting checked soon, and think I may have many early
> signs of diabetes. Also diabetes runs *very* strongly in
> my family - virtually everyone in my dad's side of the
> family (except for my dad) is shooting insulin. My dad
> himself has started reading mild spikes on his diabetic
> wife's meter.
>
> I'm 30. I'm somewhat overweight (about 30 lbs), but trace
> back a lot of my symptoms to before I became overweight,
> and think I became overweight *because* of the blood
> sugar issues. Actually I was stick-thin and COULDN'T gain
> weight or keep it on until my mid-20s which is about the
> same time that my suspected-diabetic symptoms started
> showing up.
>
> I haven't had the classic drink-a-lot/pee-a-lot thing, at
> least yet. Actually I find myself drinking and peeing
> *less* since I cut back my caffeine intake.
>
> What were your symptoms, folks, in the beginning, or that
> led up to your dx?
>

I will append a list of the classic symptoms at the end,
but they are the least important information for you in
this answer.

A diagnosis of hypoglycemia, at least of reactive
hypoglycemia you don't state the specific diagnosis, is an
independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes. A family
history is an independent risk factor for diabetes. You
don't state the type of diabetes of your various
relatives, so not much more can be said on that score. The
bottom line is, as you seem to realize, you are at
significant risk for diabetes.

The reason that the symptoms are the least important aspect
of this answer is that the damage that results from type 2
diabetes can start and continues for years or decades before
overt symptoms occur. An individual, like yourself, should
be monitored regularly so that diabetes, or it's precursors
Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) or Impaired Fasting Glucose
(IFG), can be caught well before symptoms start. In fact,
many of the classic symptoms of diabetes are really the
symptoms of diabetic complications of many years duration.

You need present your history to a doctor, and one who
understands the requirement for regular monitoring at that.
The level of the monitoring will depend on the complete
picture of your clinical situation, a picture that you can't
fully present here even if we were qualified to make medical
decisions, which we're not.

The thing that you can do right now is start exercising and
lose that weight. It is hard and there are many conflicting
theories about why it is difficult. Regular exercise (3, or
better more, best 7, times/week) lowers insulin resistance
which is a major component of type 2 diabetes. Weight loss
also lowers insulin resistance. The laws of physics have not
yet been overthrown. If the calories in (what you eat) are
lower than the calories out (exercise and living), you will
lose weight.

Symptoms: note that most presenting diabetics only have a
subset of the following, many diabetics are symptom free,
and there are other problems that can cause each of these.

Polyphagia (frequently hungry) Blurred vision (rapid change)
Polyuria (frequently urinating) Fatigue (unexplained)
Polydipsia (frequently thirsty) Weight loss (rapid and
unexplained) Poor wound healing (cuts, scrapes, etc.
especially in the extremities) Dry mouth Dry or itchy skin
Impotence (male) Recurrent infections such as vaginal yeast
infections, groin rash, or external ear infections (swimmers
ear) Numbness in the extremities

--
-------
Charly Coughran [email protected]
 
"wilson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> (xposted to alt.support.diabetes)
>
> Greetings folks -
>
> I was dxed as hypoglycemic years and years ago (at 9).
> Blood sugar issues are a lifelong thing for me.
>
> I am getting checked soon, and think I may have many early
> signs of diabetes. Also diabetes runs *very* strongly in
> my family - virtually everyone in my dad's side of the
> family (except for my dad) is shooting insulin. My dad
> himself has started reading mild spikes on his diabetic
> wife's meter.
>
> I'm 30. I'm somewhat overweight (about 30 lbs), but trace
> back a lot of my symptoms to before I became overweight,
> and think I became overweight *because* of the blood
> sugar issues. Actually I was stick-thin and COULDN'T gain
> weight or keep it on until my mid-20s which is about the
> same time that my suspected-diabetic symptoms started
> showing up.
>
> I haven't had the classic drink-a-lot/pee-a-lot thing, at
> least yet. Actually I find myself drinking and peeing
> *less* since I cut back my caffeine intake.
>
> What were your symptoms, folks, in the beginning, or that
> led up to your dx?

In my opinion it's better to find out you have diabetes
through blood tests, rather than wait until you get
symptoms. The symptoms could be of diabetes out of
control, or of complications. If you have the slightest
concern, see a doctor.

Henry
 
10:16:24 Thu, 11 Mar 2004misc.health.diabetes
wilson at wilson <[email protected]> writes:
>I'm 30. I'm somewhat overweight (about 30 lbs), but trace
>back a lot of my symptoms to before I became overweight,
>and think I became overweight *because* of the blood sugar
>issues. Actually I was stick-thin and COULDN'T gain weight
>or keep it on until my mid-20s which is about the same time
>that my suspected-diabetic symptoms started showing up.
>
>I haven't had the classic drink-a-lot/pee-a-lot thing, at
>least yet. Actually I find myself drinking and peeing
>*less* since I cut back my caffeine intake.
>
>What were your symptoms, folks, in the beginning, or that
>led up to your dx?

In the beginning, I was pretty thin, but in my 20's, like
you, I put on weight for no obvious reason, other than that
I had left home and so was feeding myself and perhaps
overindulging a bit. That could have been cause, or it could
have been effect, or a bit of both. I was only a modest
amount overweight, that is, 14-40lb overweight, depending on
how well I was managing it.

In my late 30's my hands would go dry, I would get thirsty
and pee a lot, I would get irritable for no obvious reason.
This turned out to be low sugars brought about by the
insulin incapacity roller-coaster (hyperglycaemia followed
by hypoglycaemia between each meal); I needed to eat on time
or else. I later found that eating 5 smaller meals instead
of 3 large ones helped. I was in any case frequently hungry
and *had* to eat (the hypoglycaemia made me seriously
hungry, and the adrenaline that flowed and made me irritable
also made me somewhat panicky if food was delayed and I
risked frequent migraines - a delay of an hour pretty much
guaranteed one). All that eating made weight control more
difficult: a vicious spiral upwards, basically. Now, I low
carb and consider the problem solved.

Also, throughout this period, I considered myself a lazy
person, as experience showed me that despite my best efforts
to motivate myself, I seldom had the energy to do anything
properly. In retrospect, I believe that this has seriously
affected my career in that I have in no way realized my
apparent early potential. That lethargy, as it turns out, is
a symptom of high blood sugars, and it started way, way back
when I was about 17 or so. I doubt very much that I had
*any* detectable features of the disease at that age,
especially not high blood sugar levels, and the laziness or
lethargy may indeed have been psychological rather than
physiological, but I cannot be sure. Now, if my blood
glucose goes up to about 8 (about 140 in the US units), the
lethargy returns (I feel like **** - like the morning after
the night before) only to go once my glucose levels go back
down again. I am still somewhat lazy, but at 44 years old,
I've had lots of time to pick up bad habits. :) At least
the energy is there now.

Note: by the time a person is diagnosed officially, on
average, they have already lost 50% of their beta
cells (the ones that produce the insulin) and they
already have substantial insulin resistance. Low
carbing is probably the best way to resist this
process, plus perhaps various vitamin/mineral
supplements. Low carbing plus exercise has got my
weight back down to its proper level pretty painlessly
and it is very rare for me to get any of those
symptoms any more, although I am definitely type 2 and
keep the carbs down to 25g or less at each meal to
avoid a spike. I exercise every third day at the local
gym, and go for frequent long, brisk walks to keep my
insulin resistance down and build muscles that can
absorb surplus glucose rapidly.

Get your HbA1c tested. If it is above 6%, and it sounds like
it will be, you are at higher risk of retinopathy and
neuropathy and heart problems.

Check this lecture out (it is a slide show and repays close
study of the diagrams and tables. Pay attention especially
to the first speaker of the three):

http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/145

You will need to register with medscape, but it is free.
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