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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Newbie , sooo tired.
- Thread starter Simon P
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rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome.
Sorry to hear that you are feeling so weary. It would be helpful if you could let us know which medication you are taking for your diabetes and if you are finger pricking to use a BG meter, what sort of range your readings are in?
I would also ask who is overseeing your diabetes management? If your diabetes developed as a result of pancreatic surgery, then you are not Type 2 diabetic, but Type 3c. This may seem like I am nit picking, but as a patient it makes a world of difference regarding the support you get and the technology you potentially have access to. This should not be the case but unfortunately it is and you need to be treated like a Type 1 diabetic and referred to a specialist diabetes clinic. Some Type 2 medication can even be less than helpful, if you are Type 3c and it is likely that you will need insulin at some point if not now if your levels are very high.
The more info you can tell us about your pancreatic surgery and the medication you are currently taking as a result of it ie. Do you take Creon as well as diabetes medication and who oversees your diabetes, then we can better advise you on what should be happening and what to push for.
I will tag some other Type 3c diabetics, who will also be able to compare notes with you and point you in the right direction....
@Proud to be erratic @soupdragon and @eggyg
Sorry to hear that you are feeling so weary. It would be helpful if you could let us know which medication you are taking for your diabetes and if you are finger pricking to use a BG meter, what sort of range your readings are in?
I would also ask who is overseeing your diabetes management? If your diabetes developed as a result of pancreatic surgery, then you are not Type 2 diabetic, but Type 3c. This may seem like I am nit picking, but as a patient it makes a world of difference regarding the support you get and the technology you potentially have access to. This should not be the case but unfortunately it is and you need to be treated like a Type 1 diabetic and referred to a specialist diabetes clinic. Some Type 2 medication can even be less than helpful, if you are Type 3c and it is likely that you will need insulin at some point if not now if your levels are very high.
The more info you can tell us about your pancreatic surgery and the medication you are currently taking as a result of it ie. Do you take Creon as well as diabetes medication and who oversees your diabetes, then we can better advise you on what should be happening and what to push for.
I will tag some other Type 3c diabetics, who will also be able to compare notes with you and point you in the right direction....
@Proud to be erratic @soupdragon and @eggyg
Thanks for your response, i did say about type 3c to my doctor but he said he had never heard of it! Im on 4 metformin tablets a day now as well as blood pressure medication a statin and now Ramipril for kidney protection following a urine test showing protein. Also taking Creon tablets as i no longer produce digestive enzymes. I've just this week seen a new doctor who was concerned about my kidneys and the pain im having in my feet and muscle spasms in my lower legs, im having a blood test to check my h1c (i think) in a week and a half. Bit concerned about everything!
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It really doesn't surprise me that your GP hasn't heard of Type 3c diabetes but I wonder how he expects your pancreas to continue to make as much insulin as you need if some of it has been removed. If your Dr has never heard of Type 3c then he shouldn't be trying to treat a patient with it, but should instead be referring them to a consultant who knows what he is doing. I am not knocking GPs but there is a limit to their understanding and they should be referring people on if it is beyond their scope.
Was it a Whipple surgery that you had on your pancreas? The more you can tell us about that surgery the better we can understand your circumstances.
I would be happier if that HbA1c blood test was sooner. Do you know the result of your last one and when that was? Do you have any means of testing for ketones, like Ketostix to dip in your urine?
If your BG levels are very high, that will make you feel tired and anxious. It can also make the kidneys work overtime and cause lower leg pain. Did your Dr do a finger prick test to get a rough idea of your levels?
In your shoes I would buy a BG test kit and start doing some testing myself to get a better idea of what is going on. A basic test kit can be as cheap as £15. For people self funding, the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 are both found to be economical and reliable by people using them on this forum. The cost of the test strips is usually the key factor as you tend to go through a lot and they are not universal, so some test strips can be 3x the price of others, which is why those particular meters I have mentioned are recommended. You will need at least 1 extra pot of test strips as the kit only comes with 10. Most of us reuse the lancets as long as we are just testing ourselves and not other people, so the 10 lancets you get with the kit could probably last you 10 years at my rate of change (St Swithin's day is the recognized annual lancet change day here on the forum..... unless you are a "goody two shoes" and treat them as single use 🙄 )
Anyway, good luck whatever you decide to do but let us know what transpires and be prepared to be politely pushy to get the help and support you need.
Was it a Whipple surgery that you had on your pancreas? The more you can tell us about that surgery the better we can understand your circumstances.
I would be happier if that HbA1c blood test was sooner. Do you know the result of your last one and when that was? Do you have any means of testing for ketones, like Ketostix to dip in your urine?
If your BG levels are very high, that will make you feel tired and anxious. It can also make the kidneys work overtime and cause lower leg pain. Did your Dr do a finger prick test to get a rough idea of your levels?
In your shoes I would buy a BG test kit and start doing some testing myself to get a better idea of what is going on. A basic test kit can be as cheap as £15. For people self funding, the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 are both found to be economical and reliable by people using them on this forum. The cost of the test strips is usually the key factor as you tend to go through a lot and they are not universal, so some test strips can be 3x the price of others, which is why those particular meters I have mentioned are recommended. You will need at least 1 extra pot of test strips as the kit only comes with 10. Most of us reuse the lancets as long as we are just testing ourselves and not other people, so the 10 lancets you get with the kit could probably last you 10 years at my rate of change (St Swithin's day is the recognized annual lancet change day here on the forum..... unless you are a "goody two shoes" and treat them as single use 🙄 )
Anyway, good luck whatever you decide to do but let us know what transpires and be prepared to be politely pushy to get the help and support you need.
Thanks Barbara , i was home testing and getting results mostly between 7.5 and 15 with some 20s and occasionally down to 3 at lowest. I was told by the diabetic nurse to stop testing as the result was not relevant and probably wrong the only thing to rely on was an annual blood test so I've not tested in the past month or so. To answer the pancreas question, i had gall stones for 25 years and was told regularly they were only small and would cause no problems, despite fairly regular pain which i now know was pancreas trouble. In 2020 whilst on holiday i had an acute pancreatitis attack which almost killed me, after 2 weeks in hospital (1 week intensive care) i was discharged and told i had an abcess on my pancreas that required urgent treatment! So i spent 2 months in and out of my local hospital on and off intravenous anti biotics untill eventually i ended up in the hands of a specialist in Derby, by then id lost about 4 stone in weight and was very ill. The specialist starred me on creon and i was operated on Christmas 2020 . Gall bladder removed and half my pancreas removed (the already dead half) there followed another year if antibiotics to clear up a persistent infection, and a seemingly ever increasing number of pills.
soupdragon
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 3c
Hi @Simon P
I have very little pancreas left after pancreatitis but have always been treated as Type 3c - treated with insulin the same way as if Type 1.
If you've lost half of your pancreas and need Creon then, in my non medical opinion, you need more specialist help.
You really need to be pushing for a referral to an endocrinology hospital department. Are you still under the pancreatic (HPB) team? They may be able to push that through for you.
You do need to be correctly diagnosed to allow access to the technology and medication that you need.
In the meantime I totally agree with @rebrascora that you need to be testing yourself or get an HBA1C test as soon as possible.
Good luck with being pushy.
I have very little pancreas left after pancreatitis but have always been treated as Type 3c - treated with insulin the same way as if Type 1.
If you've lost half of your pancreas and need Creon then, in my non medical opinion, you need more specialist help.
You really need to be pushing for a referral to an endocrinology hospital department. Are you still under the pancreatic (HPB) team? They may be able to push that through for you.
You do need to be correctly diagnosed to allow access to the technology and medication that you need.
In the meantime I totally agree with @rebrascora that you need to be testing yourself or get an HBA1C test as soon as possible.
Good luck with being pushy.
Proud to be erratic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 3c
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm not surprised your Doctor (GP?) has never heard of T3c. Sadly neither have many other Health Care Professionals (HCPs), including my own GP and my 1st Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN); at least the DSN knew that my diabetes was different and she felt her hospital A&E Doctors wouldn't know what T3c meant either.
That doesn't mean that T3c does not exist ...
I also, from a non-medical position, agree with @rebrascora and @soupdragon you need to either go back to whoever did your surgery (or get a referral) and politely but robustly get yourself categorised as "T3c, as if T1". This should then out you in the right category to get the necessary support for your current recognised 2 co-morbidities: pancreatitis and diabetes.
Thankyou folks, nice to know others have had similar issues to myself. I am in a tricky position for pushing for better treatment at present as im due to move to the other side of the country in a fortnight and right now im staying 250 miles away from my present GP . Im hoping when we move i will be able to get everything sorted out and start feeling a bit better.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Thanks, im feeling let down by my present medical team, apart from the young dr i saw last week who seemed to recognise straight away that something wasn't right and seemed to listen to me.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hardly surprising, though Type 3c is quite uncommon (and relatively recently coined as a category), and even something well established like Type 1 may be a fairly rare experience for general practitioners to encounter in their career.
Hopefully you can get a referral to the hospital clinic in your new location without too much jumping through hoops.
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