I'd appreciate your advice

[Sandra P]

Hi, I've been wondering for a while that i'm starting to show signs of diabetes, I have had constant UTI's for the last 9 months and have now bought a pack of combur test sticks. I have M.S and the quicker I can get rid of a UTI the better,sometimes it's just my M.S symptoms that get worse, i don't always get the usual kidney infection signs.
Diabetes has been in the back of my mind for a while, and a couple of weeks ago I started getting really thirsty all the time, like my mouth is always dry, peeing loads, a really dull headache that just won't go,tummy ache, and my bladder feels tender all the time.periodic cold sweats & shaking, then last Friday (5 days after coming off my last lot of antibiotics I did an early morning pee test at home and yes it showed a bit of protein but nothing more, I put the test down and went to do something, I came back about 5 mins later and 1/4 of the glucose tab was really dark, an hour later it was completely dark, the same happened the day after but I've done one this morning and its not changed colour at all, im confused.
do you only read the results that come up after a few seconds? am i getting a false positive after an hour?
I seem to be at the Drs constantly at the moment, there is something thats ramping up my M.S symptoms, it could be just the UTI's, but there is something thats out of sink.
I've got an appointment on Thursday, do I take in the strips i've done at home to show her? do I tell her about my diabetes concerns?, im exhausted and not thinking straight and feel like a total hypochondriac at the moment,trying to get to the bottom of this and always feel awkward making suggestions of what maybe causing it.any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hello Sandra and welcome to the forum.
There is no point in taking old pee sticks to the GP as the colour changes the longer they are open or have been used.
Do tell your GP about your symptoms and ask if she can test you for diabetes. (very simple blood test)

Are you sure your exhaustion and not thinking straight is nothing to do with your MS? Having MS myself the constant fatigue and exhaustion is my main bugbear so know exactly where you are coming from in that dept., So you have my sympathy.

 

[Sandra P]

Pumper _ Sue thanks for your reply, Blimey, you have a lot to deal with. It is M.S exhaustion & brain fog but it's the kind I get when im batting something and coupled with all the other things im pretty crook at the moment.I always seem to be on a seesaw of recognising what's just M.S and what needs further attention (i'm rubbish at it) I miss the start of UTIs constantly because it goes to my legs, i get no symptoms apart from the fact I can't walk. but then if I over do it I can't walk either. the colour change over time was what I was wondering. thanks xxx

 

[mikeyB]

Can I ask who told you that you were “at risk” of diabetes?

I’m of the same mind as Pumper_Sue. One of the features of MS, and indeed the full collection of neuro disorders, is the profound bodily tiredness that you can get, particular during and after an infection. It’s not really a feature of diabetes. I don’t have MS, probably an MND variant, but they all behave much the same.

I agree about the colour change in the strips as well, you can end up with a full house if you wait long enough.

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @Sandra P, welcome to the forum. I second Pumper_Sue's advice to ask your GP for a blood test as it's the quickest and an accurate way for diagnosis.

Let us know what happens and we'll be happy to advise or support you as much as you need 🙂

 

[Drummer]

I can only report that after eating low carb for a long time, when I could get away from the attentions of doctors and nurses, I have always felt so much better than when eating all those 'healthy' carbs.
If you do have glucose in the urine then UTIs are more common, and thrush too.
I have sometimes wondered if eating more normal levels of fats rather than low carb might help people with MS as that involves destruction of the myelin sheath around nerves - and myelin is a lipid, a fat.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I can only report that after eating low carb for a long time, when I could get away from the attentions of doctors and nurses, I have always felt so much better than when eating all those 'healthy' carbs.
If you do have glucose in the urine then UTIs are more common, and thrush too.
I have sometimes wondered if eating more normal levels of fats rather than low carb might help people with MS as that involves destruction of the myelin sheath around nerves - and myelin is a lipid, a fat.

No offence meant but that's the biggest load of cr*p I have ever read. Low carb diets are not a cure all and for your info for many people with MS UTI's are part and parcel of the condition.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

@mikeyB I wonder if Sandra has been on a lot of high dose steroids thus the diabetes risk? Just a thought. 🙂

 

[Drummer]

No offence meant but that's the biggest load of cr*p I have ever read. Low carb diets are not a cure all and for your info for many people with MS UTI's are part and parcel of the condition.

Low carb is a cure all for my conditions, I can assure you of that - after 40 years of personal experience with carbophile doctors and nurses - and high glucose and UTIs and thrush are common companions.
My son's mother in law has MS and lives nearby - so I have seen how things have gone with her. This is no place for negatives so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Low carb is a cure all for my conditions, I can assure you of that -

Well it hasn't cured your diabetes, and it certainly ain't no cure for MS. I am not be negative as you state, just pointing out the facts.

 

[Carolg]

Hello @sandrap
Hope you can bring up your worries at GP on Thursday. If it was me I would make a list as I would be worried in case I forgot to ask, then I definitely would forget to ask. I am not going to offer any other advice or comments but good luck on Thursday and keep us posted.

 

[mikeyB]

@mikeyB I wonder if Sandra has been on a lot of high dose steroids thus the diabetes risk? Just a thought. 🙂

Good thinking, though I’m not sure the thought would cross a neurologists mind to consider diabetes. Not the ones I’ve come across at any rate. I’m beginning to suspect that pre diabetes is the diagonisis de nos jours in the GP world. I’ll ask my nephew at the next Rovers game🙂

 

[mikeyB]

I have sometimes wondered if eating more normal levels of fats rather than low carb might help people with MS as that involves destruction of the myelin sheath around nerves - and myelin is a lipid, a fat.

Diet has no effect on the onset or progress of MS, as a cursory examination of the MS info sites will tell you. Yes, Myelin is a lipid, but so what? The myelin loss around the nerves in MS isn’t due to dietary deficiency, it’s an autoimmune disorder. And after the myelin is destroyed, the nerves get damaged - that’s what causes the symptoms. So you can stop wondering your simplistic thoughts, it’s much more complex than that.

 

[Drummer]

So no Lorenzo's oil effect - that's a pity.
As you say - after the myelin is destroyed - after - that was my thought on the subject.
Having had doctors shrieking and spiting saliva at me for daring to go low carb, it would take someone with a very quite and confident disposition to go against their beliefs.

At the moment I have just been told that my surgery wishes to do a health check.
If they did not have my notes - how would they know that I had diabetes?

 

[mikeyB]

Lorenzo’s Oil is designed to break down the long fatty acid chain accumulation in the brain of those who have Adrenoleukodystrophy. It’s disease specific, a disease which bears no resemblance in pathology to MS. It’s best not to comment about stuff you don’t know.

 

[merrymunky]

The urine strip results should be read between 30-60 seconds for an accurate result. If they change colour at all from the negative base colour then there is glucose in the urine. If this was the case then I would recommend going to the GP and asking for an hba1c blood test which would give you a measurement of the average level of glucose in your blood over the last theee months. The result is given in units referred to as mmol/mol

A reading below 42 will be non-diabetic
A reading between 42-48 would be classed as pre-diabetic.
Anything above 48 means a diagnosis of diabetes.

With the urine strips the measurement is done in mmol/l, they only show a positive result for glucose when your level rises above 10mmol/l so I wouldn’t take a negative reading as assuming you are safe. You could still have too high a level of glucose in your blood, since it doesn’t show up and spill into the urine until it goes past that 10 mmol/l.

If you are worried, the safest thing to do is get the hba1c or other glucose tolerance tests tarranged.

Best of luck.

 

[Drummer]

Lorenzo’s Oil is designed to break down the long fatty acid chain accumulation in the brain of those who have Adrenoleukodystrophy. It’s disease specific, a disease which bears no resemblance in pathology to MS. It’s best not to comment about stuff you don’t know.

Actually I used the phrase 'Lorenzo's oil effect' to mean the process of discovering something which would divert a process from a destructive pathway and so reduce the harm.
Sorry you did not pick up on the inference.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Actually I used the phrase 'Lorenzo's oil effect' to mean the process of discovering something which would divert a process from a destructive pathway and so reduce the harm.
Sorry you did not pick up on the inference.

"Snake oil" springs to mind?

However, to actually help the op, the only course of action would be to ask the GP to test for diabetes, which is a very simple blood test, and will provide a well needed answer.

 

[mikeyB]

Lorenzo’s oil isn’t snake oil, it does help in ALD, but only as a life prolonger rather than a cure. You can still buy it, and it’s still forming a basis for further research. Very much under the radar, obviously, because only around 45,000 of a world population of seven billion have this condition.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Lorenzo’s oil isn’t snake oil, it does help in ALD, but only as a life prolonger rather than a cure. You can still buy it, and it’s still forming a basis for further research. Very much under the radar, obviously, because only around 45,000 of a world population of seven billion have this condition.

I didn't say Lorenzo's oil was.