Feb 23 2009
Diabetes: Do You Think You Might Have It?
I was diagnosed wit
h diabetes in 1995. I had lost 45 pounds and should have felt great, but physically I felt like I had been run over by a truck and then had big rocks thrown at me. My mouth felt like a desert, I just could not get enough liquid in me. My body ached everywhere and I had to urinate several times an hour. At the time I was being treated for depression so on my next doctor’s visit, I mentioned how I was feeling. Doc sent me for lab tests and a few days later, they called me to come in right away. I went in and was asked how I felt. How do you think I feel? I began to cry because, well as I said, I was being treated for depression and it didn’t take much to make me cry at that point. I have since discovered that depression is often a precursor for undiagnosed diabetes. When the doctor came in, he looked at me gravely and said “Well, I don’t understand why you are walking around, your blood glucose was 945 and most people would be in a coma with a BG that high! Normal or good blood glucose levels should range between 80-130, what have you been eating?” I told him that I really haven’t been eating much, but I did crave sugary foods more than usual. I had been drinking diet sodas for more than 10 years, but suddenly they made me nauseous so I had switched recently to sugared sodas. I told him that it was hard for me to breath and just walking to the bathroom was a major accomplishment for me. Each step I took was agony and the effort of it took everything I had. He explained that my body had become dehydrated from the untreated diabetes and I was peeing out all my potassium and that is what our bodies need to give us muscle strength, so essentually, my muscles had no strength to support my body, that is why I hurt so much. Also, I couldn’t see, everything was very blurry and even with the reading glasses, I had trouble seeing clearly. He gave me an insulin shot and a prescription for glucophage and told me to come back tomorrow. Well as it turned out, the pills did nothing after a few days, so the doc put me on a regimine of insulin twice daily. It took more than 6 months to get my vision back and to get my blood sugar under at least a little better control.
I tell you this story, because obviously, I went quite awhile undiagnosed. If I had been diagnosed sooner, I probably would not have had such pain and most likely some damage was done to my internal organs, only time will tell on this. Please, if you have any of the following symptoms, go to your doctor and ask for a blood test to find out if you are diabetic. The sooner you begin treatment, the better your chances are that you will live a long healthy life.
- Excessive thirst
- Frequent urination
- Extreme hunger
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue, or a feeling of being “run down” and tired
- Rapid breathing
- Blurred vision
- Dry, itchy skin
- Headache
- Tingling or burning pain in the feet, legs, hands, or other parts of the body
- High blood pressure
- Mood swings
- Irritability, depression
- Frequent or recurring infections, such as urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and skin infections
- Slow healing of cuts and bruises
Uncontrolled diabetes causes so many life threatening complications, including, but not limited to heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and so much more. I will cover these in a future post.
Wow! What a powerful story. It’s a miracle you are alive after walking around with a blood sugar level of 945!!! I feel awful if mine is 245. I can’t imagine how bad you must have felt. Bless your heart. I’m glad you got diagnosed and began treatment.
Roxie
You are invited to sign the Recovery Wall
Thank You Roxie! I’m always happy to hear your opinion, and yes it was quite an ordeal. When I look back on it now, and realize how high 945 really is… it seems pretty remarkable that they didn’t put me in the hospital! LOL!
WOW!! 945…I didn’t think that was even a number you could survive from. I have battled with episodes where my glucose numbers were high (in the 400 range) but WOW.
Thank you for sharing.
That is amazing! My father suffers from diabetes and he contracted Diabetic Ketone Acidosis. His sugar level was 987 when they finally got him into the hospital. The doctor said that if he had been in that waiting room for another half hour he’d have been lying dead on the floor. The doctors treated him but the nurses nearly killed him! My mother left him at the hospital only to come back an find him with no call button, unable to speak, unstable, and lying in his own feces! They had damaged his voice box with the tube they put in. The laceration in his throat became infected resulting in voice damage, a swollen, white throat, Pneumonia, and of course, the DKA. He was finally released and is better now, but the doctor also said he was amazed my dad lived.
Thanks for your story!
Thewritingguy: Wow! And I thought i was sick! your poor dad! Yeah I was surprised that they said they were surprised I was walking around (which I barely was), but didn’t put me in the hospital. To be honest, I don’t think my doctor, whom I thought was wonderful at the time, really knew alot about diabetes. He had to call in a diabetic counselor to talk to me about how to give myself injections and how to recognize low blood sugar when I got it. Looking back, I really think I should have been referred to a specialist. I am really glad your father is ok now, but what an ordeal for him and your mom to go through! Thank you so much for your comment!
Grandy: Yeah I know, it was pretty crazy! I think if I had gone any longer then I would either not be here today to talk about it, or I would have been hospitalized for awhile. Thank you for stopping by and for commenting!