24 years old and living with Type-2 for 5 plus years

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JimC

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Type 2
Hi everyone, Jim here,
As the title says I’m currently 24 years old and have been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes for over 5 years now. I decided to finally join these forums because I wanted to see if there was others like myself of this age dealing with a few complications.

To give you all some back story, when I got diagnosed with diabetes I didn’t take it seriously at all, I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms and thought being young I wouldn’t have to worry about it. At the time I got diagnosed I was 19 and classed as obese and had a BMI over 40 and my HbA1c was at 91. I would binge all the unhealthy foods you could think of and never exercised. All that had been going on since I was young so thinking back now it was all avoidable.

Since 2019 and all the last 5 years up to today I rarely took any medication I was prescribed. Metformin and others were all given to me by my GP but the truth is I didn’t think I needed them so I just never took them. That was up to a few years ago when I then started getting numbness and tingling in my feet, again being the idiot I was I chose to ignore it all and would occasionally take some of my meds but that would only last a week then I would give up.

Miraculously I managed to get my HbA1c down to 55 back in 2020, this made sense as I managed to loose 4 stone and drop my BMI to the 30s however since then it has started going back up and as of November 2023 it was back at 87. My weight has stayed the same since 2020 but still I ate all the terrible sugar foods and didn’t take any medicine.

This all leads me to a few months ago when I started getting hand tremors and twitches and coordination issues. I would start dropping things and my hands and feet were and still are incredibly cold most of the time, my guess is circulation issues as my veins in my hands and feet have enlarged considerably over a few months period. This all lead me to dozens of A&E trips just to be told there was no signs of anything serious and all the neurological tests were fine. To be clear I could and still to this day have full use of my limbs and hardly any muscle weekness but my hands and feet are considerably different now in terms of their muscle atrophy and circulation problems. Balance is now an issue and walking is challenging as I tend to drift left and right and I catch my feet dragging sometimes.

I have also been experiencing faster heart rates and swallowing and chewing issues, the swallowing isn’t serious but would love to know if anyone here also has that specific issue.

I guess I was able to get away with hardly any health issues for 5 years because I was and still am young but I’m afraid I’ve now had it all catch up to me and have now been feeling the wrath of my foolish actions.

I am now taking all my prescribed medication and have already seen my GP multiple times and finally got my hands on a blood sugar testing kit, as a side note throughout those 5 years I never had a testing kit so never knew what my blood sugar levels were. Only when I would go to hospital for other things and told them I was type-2 diabetic they would check my blood sugar levels and it would always read above 20, even I knew that was high and yet it has sadly taken severe symptoms to finally get me to take it all seriously.

Being young and starting to get foot and hand atrophy and numbness is scary and I only have myself to blame, I can now just try to limit the damage and stop it all from getting worse. As you can imagine my mental health has took a nose dive because of all this and I’ve even been reading that chronically high blood sugar levels can damage brain blood vessels resulting in mood swings and cognitive changes, all which I have been experiencing for the last few months.

This post isn’t meant to be a pity session for myself but rather a chance to see if anyone can relate and has any advice, also happy answer any questions as well.
 
Yes, I can relate they do not give out monitors for type 2 and I guess they do not see the danger as I guess it is not as acute as a hypo so they just let you get into high figures.
In my opinion, it is just that we need to know and it has helped me get a record of where my sugar is at to bring it down and also be aware of what works for me.
I went into denial so I really went through a phase of having my head in the sand and this will go away alone. Unfortunately, it's for life and pity you do not want but this is a very dangerous disease and we do have to address it.
My advice would be to buy a monitor and test and try a low-carb diet to see if you can get into remission as lowering blood sugars will help reduce any more problems you will possibly get if you continue the way you are.
You can also take some comfort that your hormones will be causing mood swings too yes that can go into your late 20s as well as teens so you are young enough to get this all under control.
I hope others here can chat and give you more pointers. Good Luck. New Year coming and a New start for you. Make it good.
 
I would say that you should really get checked out for peripheral artery disease (PAD) if you haven't already, for the hand & foot circulation issues. This is normally an over-50's thing but it does hit young people also.

The classic symptom is calf pain on exercising which goes away with rest, but cold hands and feet an also be indicative.

I would say you should also try to make sure you get your cholesterol tested & you understand the results - again this is something that even young people need to take seriously, especially if you have T2D and circulation problems.

( "Understand the results" doesn't include listening to the uninformed & often misinformed opinions of people posting prolifically on message boards like this one. it does include referring to expert guidance from bodies like the NHS: https://www.england.nhs.uk/aac/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2020/04/lipid-management-pathway-v6.pdf )

The other classic risk factor is blood pressure, for health in general but also specifcally for circulation. I think one issue is that GP's and nurses will often incorrectly assume that none of these issues are very important for youg people. In fact, the opposite is true.

Probably the biggest single metric to focus on is waist-to-height ratio. https://www.nice.org.uk/news/articl...eight-updated-nice-draft-guideline-recommends This is important because a waist larger than half your height is a pretty good indication of dangerous central adopisty - fat around the middle and internally, around your liver etc - which is causal for insulin resistance and "metabolic syndrome" factors like high BP and a bad cholesterol profile.

It's a great metric because reducing it via weight loss can normalise BG, BP, cholesterol, inflammation markers etc.

A focus on carb reduction might also be a bit useful in the shorter term but it's not the be all & end all.

Good luck!
 
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Welcome @JimC 🙂 Sorry to hear about your problems and your understandable worries. It’s great that you’ve had neurological tests done - that’s one thing you can relax about. I agree with @Eddy Edson that you should get your circulation checked out. Also, have you had blood tests for vitamin deficiencies. That sounds like such a minor thing, but a relative had foot problems similar to what you describe - numbness, tingling, foot dragging, unsteadiness - and was found to have deficiencies in some of the B vitamins. They think this was an absorption issues possibly, but anyway with vitamins their problems completely resolved.

It’s good you’ve now got a blood sugar testing kit. If I were you, as well as getting your hand and foot problem checked out, I’d undertake a schedule of testing so you can see how your diet is affecting your blood sugar. It’s clear you’re going to have to make adjustments to lose weight and control your blood sugar, but the good news is that if you do that you should see good results.

You’re so young. Don’t let diabetes take over your life. You can turn this round 🙂
 
Welcome also
You make no mention of what your diet is like now, have you made any changes, I assume so as you managed to lose some weight.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for meals, it is a low carb approach which many find successful at both losing weight and reducing blood glucose but it does require some effort but still allows filling tasty meals, https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
What medication are you now taking as that might influence whether a low carb regime is suitable but unless you are taking insulin I expect it will be OK. However if you are still eating high carb foods then cut down gradually over a few weeks to allow your body to adjust.
 
Thank you for all the replies, I will definitely take everyone’s suggestions, to answer some questions,
I’m currently unaware of my cholesterol but will get that checked ASAP

2 months ago I was found to have slightly low Vitamin D3 levels and slightly low Folic Acid, however I’ve been on supplements for the entire 2 months and all my symptoms have remained or worsened, hopefully it just takes longer to correct but time will tell with this one

As of last week I started making efforts to eat a way more nutritious diet (plenty of vegetables, chicken and fish etc) I do feel fuller for longer and have cut out the sugar drinks so it’s a step in the right direction. Starting this at Christmas was a mistake

I’ll mention the peripheral artery disease (PAD) to my GP and also bring up my circulation issue as I haven’t really mentioned that to them yet.

Again thanks for everyone’s help I do really appreciate it
 
Hello @JimC! All the main points have been discussed and taken on board by yourself. However, I want to pick up on PAD which has been a preoccupation of mine for many years. The UK sadly lacks behind Western Europe and the US in its diagnosis and treatment. A female relative had a successful bypass to treat PAD in Germany in her eighties whereas I had a LBKA (Left Below Knee Amputation). despite bring twenty years younger (mine was caused by over 50 years of Type I diabetes and hers by approaching 70 years of smoking). The test you need is a Doppler with ABPI (Ankle Brachial Pressure Index). The DSN at my GP practice said my pulses were fine but I felt things were not right and on the way out told the receptionist I had been told to book "a Doppler with ABPI". Sadly I was right and was diagnosed with PAD six weeks later. Don't accept any "ifs or buts" as unfortunately most GPs are not really up to speed.

Whilst most in my amputee physio group are in their sixties a mother in her thirties near where I used to live .lost both her legs and an arm to PAD after years of neglect. In an interview she said she felt fine with her BG in the 20s.
 
Hi @JimC i was diagnosed in November 23. At 35 years old and was surprised to get type 2 at what I considered a young age. So sorry to hear the symptoms and stage you’re at, but it’s great news that you’re doing something about it. You’ll get loads of good advice on here, I’ve found it really helpful to read up on diabetes and how to manage it and about remission/reversal. I’d definitely recommend Dr Michael Mosley ‘Blood Sugar Diet’ and professor Roy Taylor’s ‘Life without diabetes’ as good reading material.

I know the impact on mental health can be really tough too. Keep posting here and connecting with people might help, feel free to pm me if you want to chat more privately too!
 
Hi I am a younger type two, first diagnosed age 21 and now 45 and suffering serious complications including many of those you have mentioned, you have been given some excellent advise here, I was interviewed in summer re the changes to funding for our age group and it’s a area Duk are working on, highly recommend you sign up to the learning zone and definitely stay in touch with us all here as it’s a great benefit if your struggling. I went down the weight management route and bariatric surgery and it helped me achieve remission until other illnesses scuppered things, definitely glad your taking charge of things but you will get the odd bad food day and putting it behind you each time helps so you can focus on preserving your health for the future.
 
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