Peeing that much is absolutely not normal. Needing to drink that much is absolutely not normal.
I knew someone who was diagnosed at age 16, insulin-injecting since then, and who died ten years ago at 66 while under medical care for an infected spleen, after he’d repeatedly faced surprised reactions by medical professionals that he was alive at all (at age 40, age 50, age 55, age 60, age 65…). Most of his life he did not have the advantage of using humulin (human-specific insulin), or other recent advantages.
Carl was a methodical guy, and he knew early that you have to keep the three in balance: insulin levels, food intake (quantity and type), and exercise (muscle mass and calorie burning)(and low body fat). Watch out for the medical juju idea that the amount of insulin is the magic controller, it is all three together.
So you wake up, test yourself, do your shoot-ups/breakfast/exercise (I forget the order), do your day’s work, test yourself, eat your dinner/shoot up. If you’re sick with a fever that day you burn more calories, adjust accordingly. Regular insulin* “peaks” 12 hours after shooting, and if you’re going to have an insulin reaction (low sugar, confusion, headache, losing consciousness) that’s when it happens, and that’s when you need to consume sugar immediately because that’s when you can die immediately. The rest of the time it’s high blood sugar that is doing slow damage to your circulation, kidneys, eyes, feet, and on, so you want to maintain the middle range of sugar level.
Yes indeed it can be done. Statistically (in those days) Carl was dead at 40 if not before. He didn’t feel excessively burdened by the habits he got into to deal with it.
The other thing he knew from a very young age, was that his primary physican was Dr. Carl.
*there is also faster-acting insulin for immediate reduction
So Carl lifted weights and kept a basic Greek God physique, without the Muscle Beach attitude. He worked at a physical job.
If he burned more calories he ate more food. If he tested high or low, he adjusted activity/insulin/food correspondingly. He didn’t get blitzed drunk except on rare occasions, due to the risk.
I remember riding with him and he began to realize he was low blood sugar, so we stopped and got a bottle of orange juice. Illustration of the stupidity that happens, he took it and began to peel off the price label slowly and laboriously, so I took the bottle and unscrewed the cap, and handed it back. He said Thanks and drank it, and within a few minutes was back to normal.
At one point he came under the care of a doctor that would test him and try to bring his sugar to exactly 100 or whatever the perfect number is. Carl had always kept it just a little higher that that, 10 or 20 points, due to the crash factor when it went too low. So the doc would raise the insulin, at some point in the day his blood sugar would drop, and he would have to eat to make up for it, and after a short while on this regime he began to develop abdominal fat. More fat cells undermine your regulation.
And he would not eat white bread, white rice, white sugar. Kept his salt intake down so ‘normal’ American salt levels tasted too high, which they are, but his food tasted just fine (I found out when I made the adjustment).
His method of tracking food involved the “exchange” diabetic, where if you burn 2200 calories a day, you are allowed X fruit exchanges, X meat exchanges, X bread exchanges, X fat exchanges, and so forth. Half a banana is one fruit exchange; hate bananas, eat an apricot or whatever.
He wasn’t one for saccharine desserts and other fake sweet foods. I suspect you lose some of your desire for sweetness when sweet is a fake flavor.
And please notice how much of the flavor of fast foods and junk foods come from fat, salt, and sugar. Well seasoned chicken or broiled beef or ripe peaches or wholewheat toast & butter & eggs taste as good or better.
Wo, data dump. For an excuse, I hope it may be useful.
I wanted to thank all of you for the information and the anecdotes. It’s been very helpful and believe it or not, a big relief. I won’t have my results for a couple of more days but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna find out I have the big **“D.” **
I’m nervous yet anxious to see the doc but if I am diabetic I just want to know so I can start doing something about it and hopefully start feeling better.
I’m still welcoming more posts if anyone has any info to add or wants to share their own experience.
Good luck to you all!
The Chao
And if you all are curious I will give you an update on Friday after I speak with my Dr.
Somebody mentioned vision change. That was the symptom that sent me to the doctor: I already had rapid weight loss, overwhelming thirst, and fatigue, but it was when my vision became blurry that I went and got tested (a week after turning 40). It’s very odd: sustained high blood sugar actually causes the shape of your cornea to change slightly. For a few days I had close to “normal” vision, and stopped wearing glasses.
After getting my diagnosis, I passed a Dairy Queen on the way home and almost cried. But since then, I’ve been able to control the blood sugar without medication, and occasionally can indulge in some ice cream. It’s a liveable condition.
light bulb lights above head
So that’s why it happens. I’ve had that problem myself for a while as well. I solved it by having a low GI snack at night. It seems to work.
I was diagnosed 10 years ago now; like others in the thread, I had a family history, and my GP, who was pretty much on the ball, insisted on regular blood tests to catch things in the bud. I did however, before then, start feeling very thirsty and having to go to the toilet every hour or so, like many others.
Nowadays, I’m on repaglinide and metformin, which keeps things really tightly under control, to the extent that I can have a desert every now and then, without it affecting my blood sugar levels at all. But that said, I do base my diet on the glycemic index of foods, and try to keep it as low as possible, it certainly helps a lot.
I can tell when my sugars are high, as I just feel ‘odd’. Telling when they’re low is slightly more difficult for me, sincce for some reason, I no longer get that “heart racing” thing when I go hypo. Instead, I end up feeling clammy, but really hot at the same time, and slightly “out of it”. I’m getting better at recognising that now, but every now and then, the SO has to point out that I ought to check my sugars, because I’m feeling clammy, or I’m acting odd.
Can we get an update?
StG
Peeing and thirst.
Sometimes you don’t recognize the symptoms in yourself even when you know very well what they are. That was me. For about 6 months, I had an unquenchable thirst, which I tried to satiate with Coca Cola. I thought I was going to the bathroom more because I was drinking more (a six-pack during my 7-hour work shift). That was my primary symptom before diagnosis. I may have had some vision problems, but as I also suffer with painless migraines (usually only getting vision disruptions), so I probably mis-associated that. I didn’t experience any weight loss, but then, I was a carb-freak. Potato chips and coke! YUM!
I was diagnosed while hospitalized for pneumonia and have been on oral medication (metformin and glipizide) ever since. I rarely experience increased urination these days, but now, if my sugar goes high, I will get a headache, which is something I never noticed before I was diagnosed. I will also feel very tired.
While I am very good about taking my daily dose of medication, I am not always so careful with my diet. Five years later, I’m beginning to experience the consequences. There’s a slight numbness in my toes, especially the top of the big toe, which means that capillaries have been destroyed by sugar crystalizing in them. There’s also a slight decreased sensitivity in my fingertips. My feet will also chill faster than previously which indicates reduced circulation.
Finding out if you have diabetes is a simple matter. If you have any doubt, go get tested. If you have diabetes, be vigilant. Don’t wait until you have cold, numb feet or impaired vision to get serious about your condition, because the next step may be amputation and/or blindness. High blood sugar may not ever make you feel sickly, but it is constantly and continuously doing damage to your circulatory system and, through reduced blood flow, to your various organs and body parts.
UPDATE
Well, this is odd. I went to the doc this past Friday and I’m fine. 
My fasting blood sugar was 79. Go figure. So why I have all the symptoms remains a mystery. The only oddity in all the blood work that was done was a high white count so that has to get retested in October.
I’m really stumped.
Tentative YAY!!
Chao,
I know how you feel.
I had two grandparents (one on either side) who had diabetes. It was a direct factor in one’s death and an indirect in the other.
I have always been thirsty a lot. And have always gone to the bathroom a lot. I generally get up once or twice in the night to use the bathroom (although there have been times when I’ve gotten up four or five times).
One time, I came into work early (about 7:30AM) to help install a new server. I had nothing to drink that morning before coming in to work. While there, I drank a 16oz. bottle of Diet Coke. Over the next hour and a half, I had to go to the bathroom five times! For me to go five or six times over the course of a typical workday is usual.
I’ve generally been heavy most of my life as well. And fatigue somewhat easily.
Every now and again, I have myself tested. So far, so good. So, why all the thirst and bathroom? I have no idea. I pretty much know that at some point, I’m going to be diagnosed with it - but so far, I’m still good.
Zev Steinhardt
Another reason why I love the Dope. After reading this thread, a lot of things started clicking for me- my constant hunger, thirst, bathroom trips, leg pains, fatigue, etc. I went to my doctor and got tested, and I am in the early stages of Diabetes Type II.
The average diabetic has the condition for 8 years before they know it. How long might it have been for me if I hadn’t read this thread? I don’t even want to think about it!
Ditto this. My mother’s family has a strong history of diabetes. My mom, one of my aunts, one of my cousins, and all five of my grandmother’s siblings (my grandma somehow escaped) are or were Type 1 diabetics. Additionally, one of my aunts is a Type 2 diabetic (and she refuses to be treated! argh!) I have been looking for symptoms in myself my entire life. As a kid, I was terrified of the day I wouldn’t be allowed to eat ice cream anymore and have to have two shots a day. My mom talks about “when” I’ll become diabetic, like it’s an established fact that it’s going to happen.
One of the symptoms my mom mentions that I haven’t seen in this thread is bruising. Now, I am always coming down with unexplained bruises. Giant, horrible bruises that I can’t remember getting. Every time…panic. But I’ve been tested numerous times and nada. In fact, I’m hypoglycemic. But I still worry.
Take care of yourselves.
I was hypoglycemic for many years when I was younger. I was told by a couple of doctors at the time that I had a good chance of developing diabetes at some point in my life. Having one condition does not preclude the other. And Diabetes itself is usually preceded by insulin resistance, so there are things to look for before it becomes full-blown DM. Keeping control of your weight with diet and exercise is a big part of staving it off, so you take care of yourself, too! I have to admit, being slightly overweight and physically active only at work, I realize that I haven’t been treating myself right. But the thought of having my feet cut off or going blind or having kidney failure in my later years is going to be a big motivator for me to change my lifestyle! I have no doubt that I can quickly turn it around and see normal blood sugar tests, with the right changes.
I’m not going to speculate, but there are other medical conditions that can cause symptoms similar to those of diabetes.
In my case, I’ve had skin problems that have lead docs to suspect diabetes, so I’ve been tested thoroughly and… no, that is not my problem (more likely, my skin is in such turmoil due to eczema and the like that it’s easily infected)
I also have numb spots on my feet, which have lead to docs leaping in panic for the diabetes tests - um, no, that’s from frostbite when I was much younger. (Sometimes, docs, you need to talk to the patient. Not only ask their medical history but actually listen to it)
And my vision sucks - but that’s bad genes, not diabetes. It has always sucked, and sucked in a stable manner.
So when I get a new doc it’s almost inevitable I get hauled off for diabetes testing despite my protests. Yes, the guy I’ve been using as my primary doc for about 15 years now does a check along with a bunch of other routine stuff during physicals because anyone might turn up diabetic, but he doesn’t go off those other “symptoms” since we already know they have a different cause.
So it could be there’s something up that has similar symptoms, but isn’t a blood sugar problem. Whether it’s serious or not… well, I couldn’t possibly answer that.
Before I got diagnosed, while I was waiting for the week or two it took to see a doctor, my wife looked up all the symptoms in some diagnosis reference book. She said it might be Toxic Shock Syndrome… :dubious: I pointed out there was a reason they called it “toxic…” and the fact that I was still, you know, breathing indicated that that wasn’t likely…