I’ve started wondering if I have developed diabetes. So, I’m seeking health professionals’ opinions and/or diabetics’ opinions.
Symptoms that have developed over the last couple months:
Lightheaded episodes - starts with a sinking feeling then a little heart flutter and general unsteadiness on my feet. Occurs at random times and places but seems to happen when I haven’t eaten a lot or when I’ve had too much to eat.
Rapid weight loss - I’ve lost 20 lbs in 5 months. Granted, I have been trying to lose weight over a couple years but I usually average about 25 lbs per year. This year, I have dropped a bunch of weight even though I haven’t been exercising as much.
I feel hungry all the time even after I have eaten.
Frequent urination - it’s getting so bad that I’m having trouble sleeping. Last night I had to urinate 5 times. 5!
Bruising - I have a bunch of mystery bruises on my body. I don’t remember being too klutzy or rolling down a rocky hill.
Fatigue and concentration difficulties - I just wrote this off on winter doldrums and holiday stress but it feels like more than that. It’s so bad that I have trouble sitting through a DVD that I choose to watch.
Family history - my dad and grandfather are diabetic and one of my cousins suddenly developed diabetes when he was 22 which he controls through diet and exercise.
Am I being paranoid or does this sound like something? Sometimes when I read about a condition/disease, I convince myself I have it. On the other hand, I have correctly diagnosed myself on several occasions plus I have 6 aunts who are nurses. I’m going around in circles here… help!
I am not a health professional, but my DH is diabetic.
Get yourself to the Doctor, please. Frequent urination, sweating, light-headedness, mood swings, irritability, concentration problems and family history of diabetes are all symptoms of diabetes. My DH lost 40 pounds in a year and one-half.
and if I recall correctly so is the bruising or slow healing of wounds.
So please go get yourself checked out. My DH is type II and controls his diabetes with a pill and diet.
I would say “yes.” Your symptoms sound almost exactly like what I had about 8 years ago. I have been a Type I diabetic ever since.
It is very scary to lose weight like that - I lost over 30 lbs (having only started out at 135 for a 5’7" man) Extreme thirst is also another symptom which I don’t think you mentioned. I made the mistake of trying to quench this thirst with grape juice(!) before realizing what was wrong with me. Of course, that led to your #4 symptom - frequent urination, as well as registering a blood sugar somwhere around 500 when I finally saw the Dr.
In addition to agreeing with the advice to see a Dr. asap, I would note that it’s possible to get urine glucose test kits at a pharmacy for not too much money.
These allow you to test for glucose levels at home, and could provide a more solid piece of evidence for your situation.
Even if it’s not diabetes, it sure as heck sounds like something. A workup from head to toe, including blood work and urinalysis is called for. RIGHT NOW!!
Ahem.
I hope it all comes out ok and turns out to be just a bit of bad chicken you ate.
Go to a doctor now. Not next week. Today or tomorrow. As soon as possible. I’ve been a Type I diabetic for 15 years and if I had any one of those symptoms now, I’d be visiting my doctor or at least be on the phone with him. And with the history of diabetes in your family, if you have any kids, it would be wise to have them screened every year or every two years as they approach and go through puberty.
Well, folks I’ve got a doctor’s appointment for Tuesday. Tomorrow, I’m visiting my dad and he’s going to let me use his blood sugar doohickey to check my sugar levels. This has happened so rapidly, it’s odd. I wonder if some holiday food indulgences broke my pancreas. I talked to my doctor in November about the lightheaded episodes and he gave me a heart monitor that could record my heart during any lightheadedness. My heart is fine. Hopefully, I’m hypoglycemic. I’ve waited my whole life to have a doctor order me to eat! Thanks again for making me feel more secure with my suspicions. Too often doctors dismiss women’s health concerns, telling them they’re being hypochondriacs. Thanks y’all!
Hypoglycemics are NOT supposed to eat high sugar foods, you know. And frankly, I urge you to go to an urgent care clinic TODAY if at all possible, don’t just get a finger stick.
Go to the ER. When my mom was diagnosed her sugar was like, 460something. It’s not good to walk around with it really high like that. Yours might be lower, or it could be even higher (probably not). I’m not trying to scare you; this just isn’t something to screw around with. It really can’t wait.
Just go to the ER and let them stick you so the rest of us will quit worrying. If you’re diabetic, you’re going to need the appointment you already made with your doctor on Tuesday, anyway, so he/she can start helping you control it. If you’re not, you’re still going to need it so you can tell them you’ve been tested and yet have all these symptoms so would they please find out what’s wrong.
I’d like to suggest that if it turns out it’s not diabetes (which I agree with the others it probably is), you may want to consider having your thyroid checked. Some of your symptoms are consistent with hyperthyroid disorder or overactive thyroid. On the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt you to have it checked either way. Your thyroid and your pancreas are part of the same system (endocrine) and problems with one can often lead to problems with the other. I personally am at higher risk of developing diabetes because of my thyroid disorder (I’m hypothyroid or have underactive thyroid). A simple blood test can rule this out for you.
Best of luck!
I’m hypoglycemic, my mom is Type I diabetic. Your symptoms are those of diabetes, not hypoglycemia (which in my case are mostly lightheadedness and occasional vision problems). In any case, good luck.
I was away all weekend at my folks’. I’m going to move my doctor’s appointment to tomorrow because of all your concern/feedback and because of my own experiment results. After testing my blood sugar all weekend, I know something is wrong. It wasn’t high. It was in a pretty low normal range (83-94). It did dip into 77 and 78 in the mid-day, after I had had eaten. And I haven’t gained a pound even though all week, as part of my experiment, I didn’t exercise and ate crap. I could have a thyroid disorder. My mom has hypothyroidism and the family cat has hyperthyroidism. Another question for diabetics: Do you sometimes get these iridescent light squiggles on your peripheral vision? Well, wish me luck on bumping up my doctor’s appointment! Thank you all for your feedback.
I only get weird things happening with my vision when my blood sugar dips below 45, and then I get tunnel vision and some mild vertigo. With lows, I mostly get really severe headaches, shaky hands and knees, and cold sweats. I also get this weird sensation like helium balloons are tied to my elbows and slowly dragging upwards, but my arms don’t actually move – they just feel like it.
Good luck with the doctor’s – I know it’s nearly impossible to move appointments. Should you ever need support if the box for diabetes comes back checked, drop me an e-mail and I can pass along a great sugar-free chocolate syrup recipe along with a sympathetic ear, when you’re missing visiting the dessert table. My sweet tooth is the size of Texas, and I’m a Rhode Island sized person.
My mother has diabetes and the doctors didn’t diagnose it until it was almost too late so I suggest you see a doctor as soon as possible and suggest Diabetes to them. If at all possible you could get hold of some of those sticks that you urinate on that tell you how much sugar is in your blood and how many keytones you have. Keytones are the dangerous thing. They make you increasingly tired and incredibly thirsty. If something isn’t done to stop the rising level of keytones it can be fatal. If you start to hyperventilate seek medical advice immediately.
Don’t mean to worry you or anything, it sounds similar to type 1 diabetes anyway that you might have…the one controlled by diet and tablets, without insulin injections so the keytone problem might not affect you.
Good luck and best wishes.
I talked to my doctor in November about the lightheaded episodes and he gave me a heart monitor that could record my heart during any lightheadedness. My heart is fine. Hopefully, I’m hypoglycemic. I’ve waited my whole life to have a doctor order me to eat! Thanks again for making me feel more secure with my suspicions. Too often doctors dismiss women’s health concerns, telling them they’re being hypochondriacs. Thanks y’all!