So I’m wondering if two things I have are related:
I’ve become very sensitive to salt of late. Eating any significant amount of salt can lead to a “tightening-pressure” sensation in the head or mild headache and I often have to drink an entire bottle of water along with, or after meals, in order to cope with salt. It’s gotten to the point where I sometimes dilute food at restaurants by sloshing it in a bowl of water (gross, I know) in order to rinse off salt, because otherwise I have a hard time standing it. I also have to drink water a lot more than other people do - constantly thirsty.
I’ve mysteriously lost weight. A few weeks ago, I weighed around 138 pounds. Now a household weight scale tells me I’m about 126. If accurate, that would mean I’ve lost twelve pounds in less than a month. I’ve always been a skinny guy anyway. For an entire decade, my weight usually held steady at 135-145 pounds, but if I have lost a dozen pounds I don’t know why. Not much exercise or anything.
I thought this might be diabetes, but my fasting blood sugar is 93 and my A1C is 5.5.
Any theories/suggestions/explanations?
My theory is that doctors are good for this kind of question. I think what you’ve described is potentially urgent and not something to sit around musing about.
Well yes of course I will be seeing a doctor. But I just want to ask in case the SMDB had any early pointers or experiences, or to help me know better what kind of questions to ask the doctor.
b. Weight loss. Was it the same set of scales? If not then the numbers are meaningless. Are there any other signs of weight loss? When I lose 12 pounds you can see it in my face, my stomach, my jeans don’t fit any more, my belt gets tightened a couple of notches, etc etc. If you aren’t seeing this and the scales were different for each number I’d suggest you haven’t lost weight after all.
Sensitivity to salt and headaches could be a blood pressure issue… or even an impending stroke. If you have clots that are causing vasocongestion, you could be in serious trouble and fast. This sounds like something you need to see a doctor about yesterday.
The weight could be water weight. Eating a lot of salt can cause your body to retain water, so maybe if you drastically cut out salt you end up shedding water.
I’m worried that this may mean you’re seeing the doctor “some day soon”, which sounds to me like too much risk. I wouldn’t be too concerned at this point about questions to ask. Just get in as fast as you can (I agree that yesterday would be the latest appropriate) and tell them your symptoms.
Diabetes was my first thought, but you blew that away with A1C of 5.5 and fasting blood sugar of 93 (though: how long ago were those readings?).
What’s your blood pressure like normally? Have you ever measured it during or after one of these episodes?
Honestly my first thought would be kidney or cardiac issues, but I got my medical degree from Google University, which is not universally recognized as all that reliable.
The A1C and fasting blood sugar readings were from less than two weeks ago. I had a blood pressure test done a few weeks ago too, can’t recall the numbers but I was told they were normal.