Diagnosed with Type 2 but not too sure what I am

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arale1402

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Type 2
Hello everyone,

I am 33 and was 'diagnosed' Type2 in summer last year. When I say diagnosed, it's more that it was decided that I had diabetes due to high blood sugars (around 8) and that it has to be type 2. They never made a glucose test. It was never established what type I really am, and after 1 year my long-term sugar levels don't seem to have improved at all - it's always bouncing between 7 and 8 or more. I'm on Metformin 500mg and take one tablet in the morning and one in the evening. (They think about increasing my dose, which worries me very much!)

I guess, if I am really type2, I may account as an unusual case. At least the doctors seem puzzled by me. I am 5 feet 9 and weigh around 66kg/ 10 stone. My diabetes does not seem triggered by diet, as I love my vegg. I am rather frustrated for numerous reasons, but especially because the doctors haven't been very helpful...but before I start whinging, I shall stop here, as this is just to introduce myself.

Thank you for listening 🙂
 
Hi, welcome to the forum 🙂 Your levels do indicate you have diabetes, and not everyone who has Type 2 is overweight - just how it is always reported in the media. In fact 20% of people diagnosed with Type 2 are not overweight when diagnosed. You are on a very low dose of metformin, which I am sure I read recently is not an effective dose, so it may not actually be making a difference.

You sound very similar to me in build, same height and weight when I was your age. Are you very active? There is a possibility that you are not Type 2, but instead have a slow-onset version of Type 1, where your pancreas is gradually losing its ability to produce insulin. It's also known as Type 1.5 or LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) and we have several members here who have it, myself included. In my case, although I was showing a lot of the symptoms of diabetes the doctors think that, because I do a lot of running, I was using my dwindling supply of insulin very efficiently.

I think you need to go back to your doctor and ask for further tests. There are tests called C-peptide and GAD antibody that can show how much insulin you are producing and if you have an autoimmune response that is killing your beta cells that produce insulin.
 
Welcome to the forums arale1402 🙂

there are quite a few different types of diabetes, plus there are less common and less well known forms including Late Onset Type 1 (LADA) and Monogenetic (MODY). Even Type 2 seems to vary a lot from person to person depending which genes we inherit.

Do you have much family history of diabetes? Do you self test with a meter? or are your bouncing around 7 and 8 HbA1c results?

You could ask your Doctor to do some more diagnostic tests, like c-peptide and antibody. That could rule in or rule out LADA.
 
Hi arale1402. Welcome🙂

Rob
 
A warm welcome to the forum from me too.

I think the others have covered things pretty well already. I hope you get some answers from the medical guys soon and you bg levels drop a bit (but they're not too bad yet, I hasten to add).

Andy 🙂
 
Hi and a warm welcome to the forum,the place I call my second home 🙂
 
Hiya

1500 is considered the minimum effective dose in many quarters.

Why are you so against an increase if it helps you? do you perchance suffer from the common side-effect of awful wind? - if so get thee back to the GP and request the 'slow release' sort - people find it usually prevents the stomach probs. Plus Metformin is said to be cardio protective, which is no bad thing.

There are other drugs you could take anyway.

And of course, as others have said, you may not be T2 - but I'd try the metformin route first if I were you, plus limiting the carbs to whatever your meter tells you you can handle.
 
Hello everyone and thank you for the warm welcome!

Apologies for the late reply - It was a bit of a busy week.
To answer a few of the questions, @Northener, actually I could do with more exercise, but long commutes currently prevent me from that. Luckily it's just a 3 month internship so there's hope I will live closer to whereever I will work 😉; @Mark T, I think my mother's father had diabetes (not sure what type) at an older age. My mother got diagnosed a couple of years ago when she was probably 56. So, I feel I am bit early there lol. It's my HbA1c results that are bouncing between the 7 and 8s. When I self-test with a meter, it can very a lot: lowest was 5.6 highest 12.5. I tested myself round 2 hours after meals, that's what I was told by some I should do to see how far sugars are broken down. I was mostly between 9 - 12 something. Others tell me that that was nonsense, as this is when your sugars peak, and I should rather test before meals. What's the correct thing to do?

Maybe I should also mention that my mother is Thai and I am German. In Germany, the methods seem to manage/treat diabetes seem to differ quite a bit including different measuring units, which can be double confusing;

@trophywench, I don't know, it's just that it makes me feel like a failure, like I did something wrong and I dont know what it is...or that doses may to go up, and that things will get worse and worse and that nothing will help. The media indeed doesn't help, but just present you with the horror stories where you only notice the symptoms when it's already too late.
I think generally, I find conditions like diabetes worrying, because I feel fine but I know something's wrong. My mother can be a good source of hope, because she got her levels under control and can eat anything she wants in the right doses. But at the same time she is a source of frustration as she has this worried look on her face telling me "oh, these are too high level, honey". And even though I try to bare in mind that things are done differently over there, I keep wondering, why doctors tell me that my sugars are far from out of control, and why her levels are way lower than mine.

Thanks a lot for the advice regarding c-peptide and GAd antibody...see, the diabetes doc didn't even mention those -__-" But I'd be interested to see what they say when I mention those to them.

@all thanks a zillion for advice and welcome. 🙂

Another question...should I be worried about feeling a slight tingling sensation on my toes?
 
Arale - knowing you are German makes it easier to give appropriate advice, as this, being a UK based messagebaord means we tend to use mmol/L for finger prick blood tests withiout always giving the units and use NHS (National Health Service; although services and systems in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and even with each nation vary in minor to major ways) terms such as GP (General Practicioner / family doctor) and DSN (Diabetes Specialist Nurse). Do you live in Germany?

HbA1c units are changing to bring all countries into the same scheme - see http://www.diabetes.org.uk/hba1c
 
Welcome! I am a newbie here too! I am also 33 years old. I was diagnosed type 2 in Aug this year but am not responding to tablets and my BG are getting higher so this week I had a GAD anti body test done to see if I lean more towards type 1 or 1.5. As others have mentioned it may be worth you requesting this test and discussing your concerns with your GP.
Everyone here is v helpful & supportive. All the verty best x
 
...When I self-test with a meter, it can very a lot: lowest was 5.6 highest 12.5. I tested myself round 2 hours after meals, that's what I was told by some I should do to see how far sugars are broken down. I was mostly between 9 - 12 something. Others tell me that that was nonsense, as this is when your sugars peak, and I should rather test before meals. What's the correct thing to do?

...Another question...should I be worried about feeling a slight tingling sensation on my toes?

Hi arale, I would say that at this stage your post meal numbers are OK, and with a bit more experience about what foods to avoid or where you might need to reduce portion sizes (e.g. replace some potatoes with other, less carby veg) then you should see them decrease. It's a good idea to test before eating as well as after as this will then show you what the actual rise is e.g. if you are 7 before eating and 9 after then that is a small rise, but if you were 5 before and rose to 9 then that would be something that needs looking into in terms of what you ate.

It's possible that the tingling in your toes is due to the fact that you are now working at reducing your levels from where they were pre-diagnosis. Your body will be unaccustomed to the new, lower levels, and this can make your nerve endings more sensitive, producing the tingling sensation. This is known as 'transient neuropathy' and usually disappears once your levels are more settled at the new, lower levels - it's very common, but if you are concerned do see your doctor about it.

Not sure what your meter measurements are in Germany, If they are mg/dl then you need to divide by 18 to get the equivalent in mmol/l that we use in the UK (vice versa, multiply mmol/l values by 18 to get mg/dl).
 
I'm assuming that you're in the UK from your posts. And from what I've deduced from statistics, Germany is far more proactive and less resistant to technology and medication than the UK.

The NHS is big on prescribing drugs like statins, which lower your risk of hear disease due to diabetes, but are less concerned by the diabetes itself. They seem reluctant to treat the root cause of the risks aggressively.

I was treated for a while by a German GP who had come over here and he was amazing with his analytical skills and desire to treat the patient rather than teh symptom. All that said, we can hopefully show you some of the ways to make up for the NHS shortfall. 🙂

Rob
 
Copepod, sorry I forgot to mention I live in Southeast England for good. My mother lives in Germany though, so that's why she confuses me with her info. I am well aware that NHS try to safe money but I belive by having probably given me a too low dose have actually wasted money as it doesn't make a difference lol

ok, I need to read other comments now before I can go answer more, but I thought it was important to point out quickly that I'm German-Thai living in UK 🙂
 
Chattygirl197811, Northener, and Robster65 - brilliant, thanks a zillion for all the info.

Yes, I live in the UK and whenever I speak to my Mum about measuring results, I multiply my measurements by 18. I think there is a German GP in town where I live, so i will see if I can at least check him out without having to change health centres. He may be a bit more understanding, well, his name sounds German haha.
 
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