Hello everyone, I have been having strange symptoms that I have long since suspected were type 2 diabetes for about ten years - but I have been to the doctors about it twice, and each time they said no. All blood tests were normal, except for slight dehydration.
However, is it possible for doctors to miss it? I was/am already adhering to a low-carb diet, so perhaps my blood sugar readings came back normal at the time of testing and the problem was missed.
Please let me give you a little background information on me, and any advice or insight you might have would be much appreciated. I am a. 35-year-old female, not overweight, don’t smoke. I have had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) since my late teens, and in my mid-twenties, went on a low-carb diet as I had read this could significantly reduce IBS symptoms.
I was very strict with it, and ate no sugars, grains or starches for about two years. It did help with my IBS, and I also lost about 15 pounds. After about a year of doing this diet, I went to stay with a vegetarian friend, who served a relatively high-carb meal of jacket potatoes and hummus. I decided taking one day off from my diet would be okay, and ate this, but then woke up in the middle of the diet feeling awful - a splitting headache, nausea, dehydration, and just generally terrible. My symptoms persisted into the next day, I had no appetite at all, and the only thing that started to ease the symptoms was alcohol - I drank a couple of vodka and Diet Cokes, and gradually the symptoms receded, until I was back to normal.
After that, the same thing happened repeatedly. If I ate carbohydrates, I would experience significant discomfort the next day, and the only thing that would get rid of the symptoms was alcohol - presumably because it was lowering my blood sugar.
For the next few years, I could avoid these symptoms simply not by eating much carbohydrate - or if I did, eating them with alcohol - but in the last six months or so, that doesn’t seem to help any more. No matter what I eat, I am getting some manifestations of the symptoms the next day. Not as extreme as when I first experienced them, but still very noticeable - the two main symptoms being dehydration and dry mouth (a feeling like all the water has been sucked out of my body) and fatigue.
However, these symptoms are NOT accompanied by excessive thirst, excessive hunger (actually when I have these symptoms, I have no appetite at all), excessive urination or slow wound healing. My immune system seems to be very good, and I don’t get frequent infections etc. I have also never in my life woken up at night to go to the toilet, and don’t go very often in the day.
To further complicate this however, I have recently developed cataracts, and had one removed. I know diabetes can cause cataracts, but I also have an inherited eye condition which causes early cataracts, and according to the ophthalmologists, that is what caused mine. I don’t have glaucoma and apparently my retinas look healthy.
I have reported all these symptoms to the doctor, and had my blood sugars tested, but as I say,, everything came back normal. However, this was a few years ago. So any advice much appreciated - does this sound like it could be diabetes that has been missed?
However, is it possible for doctors to miss it? I was/am already adhering to a low-carb diet, so perhaps my blood sugar readings came back normal at the time of testing and the problem was missed.
Please let me give you a little background information on me, and any advice or insight you might have would be much appreciated. I am a. 35-year-old female, not overweight, don’t smoke. I have had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) since my late teens, and in my mid-twenties, went on a low-carb diet as I had read this could significantly reduce IBS symptoms.
I was very strict with it, and ate no sugars, grains or starches for about two years. It did help with my IBS, and I also lost about 15 pounds. After about a year of doing this diet, I went to stay with a vegetarian friend, who served a relatively high-carb meal of jacket potatoes and hummus. I decided taking one day off from my diet would be okay, and ate this, but then woke up in the middle of the diet feeling awful - a splitting headache, nausea, dehydration, and just generally terrible. My symptoms persisted into the next day, I had no appetite at all, and the only thing that started to ease the symptoms was alcohol - I drank a couple of vodka and Diet Cokes, and gradually the symptoms receded, until I was back to normal.
After that, the same thing happened repeatedly. If I ate carbohydrates, I would experience significant discomfort the next day, and the only thing that would get rid of the symptoms was alcohol - presumably because it was lowering my blood sugar.
For the next few years, I could avoid these symptoms simply not by eating much carbohydrate - or if I did, eating them with alcohol - but in the last six months or so, that doesn’t seem to help any more. No matter what I eat, I am getting some manifestations of the symptoms the next day. Not as extreme as when I first experienced them, but still very noticeable - the two main symptoms being dehydration and dry mouth (a feeling like all the water has been sucked out of my body) and fatigue.
However, these symptoms are NOT accompanied by excessive thirst, excessive hunger (actually when I have these symptoms, I have no appetite at all), excessive urination or slow wound healing. My immune system seems to be very good, and I don’t get frequent infections etc. I have also never in my life woken up at night to go to the toilet, and don’t go very often in the day.
To further complicate this however, I have recently developed cataracts, and had one removed. I know diabetes can cause cataracts, but I also have an inherited eye condition which causes early cataracts, and according to the ophthalmologists, that is what caused mine. I don’t have glaucoma and apparently my retinas look healthy.
I have reported all these symptoms to the doctor, and had my blood sugars tested, but as I say,, everything came back normal. However, this was a few years ago. So any advice much appreciated - does this sound like it could be diabetes that has been missed?