Another symptom?

[fencesitter]

Hi all
I was clearing out the back of a cupboard just now 🙄 and found two large bottles of lactulose (!). The date on them was late January, six weeks before William was diagnosed with the usual raging thirst, dashing to the loo. He was very thirsty for some weeks before that, looking back on it. It occurred to me that constipation might be another warning symptom for GPs to look out for ... after all, if your body is trying to expel all that sugar then it would be taking water from wherever it can get it. Googling just now, a few sites mention constipation as a symptom, but it's not usually on the list. I'd be interested to know if anyone else had the same problem prior to diagnosis. It was unusual for William and he hadn't changed his diet, but the GP didn't question why he suddenly had this problem - just dished out the lactulose. William was subsequently in a lot of pain with suspected cellulitis (turned out to be benign tumours in his tibia, long story) and went on to IV antibiotics for weeks. I mentioned his thirst, but no-one thought it significant (said his body was trying to flush out the antibs) except, in the end, one vigilant nurse who said 'lets do a test'. The rest is history! I've rambled a bit here, but my question is: should unusual constipation be considered a possible symptom of diabetes?

 

[sally43]

Hi,

This makes interesting reading! My son too had the constipation problem. He actually went to the docs originally because of pains here, there and everywhere. He was told it was likely that he had severe constipation. He was given ant-acids and a laxative and sent for a blood test. It was only through the blood test the diabetes was picked up. The pains he was experiencing were all in the areas that would be pertinent to his condition - kidneys, liver, pancreas etc. He also had the thirst, going to the toilet and exhaustion. He does have a very long history of urinary stuff so the drinking water and then going to the loo wasn't really a warning to him. He needs to drink to keep his system flushed! Obviously the body was having trouble dealing with everyhting at once.

We are now though getting to grips with all this!

 

[Robster65]

Very interesting observations.🙂

I can often tell how well hydrated I've been the day before from certain indicators in that area.🙄

It would definitely be another indicator for GPs to think about.🙂

Rob

 

[sally43]

I think that one of the problems is that GPs are just that! General Practicioners! And we often expect them to have all the answers. 🙂 Unless your problems match their particular area of interest things can easily be missed.

 

[lizabetic]

This was a nice post to come across whilst eating my lunch 🙂

Can't recall any problems with this myself! But an interesting point put across

 

[Hanmillmum]

Ditto re: lactulose at the back of the cupboard. Found it last month and chucked it, bought back memories of the diagnosis. My daughter was very constipated, she had a "virus" with a rash, It was "good" she was drinking so much to flush it out. We tried the lactulose and all that syrup make her vomit, went straight to different GP and straight to hospital with a very toxic infant Yes it was a sign of dehydration.