Husband poorly, is the cause diabetes?

[cakemaker]

Everytime my husband is poorly I think that it is diabetes related. I think that I'm right this time but just want confirmation.

He has had several of these bouts to date; high temperature with sweating and shivering particularly at night, agitation and exhaustion, headache. He looks grey and feels clammy. This is now the third day he's felt like this. It's not bad enough to take him off to bed it just makes him feel generally low and miserable.

We are not sure if this a hypo or hyper or neither? or whether he should eat some carbs or not? He ate some fruit loaf a couple of times yesterday as a snack but didn't feel any different. Should we be concerened or is this normal?

Our GP has given my husband very little info. He has not yet sent him to a diabetic consultant or nurse so we assume that the GP doesn't think he needs to go yet. He looks at my husbands blood test results and says that they are fine. His medication was upped a while back and blood pressure tabs. and cholesterol meds were added.

He has also developed psoriosis over the last couple of years and it's spreading. He now has small patches on his face around his eyes which is making them sore. Psoriosis is in his family so is this just a coincidence that he's developed it recently or a related complication?

 

[Babysaurus]

Hi Cakemaker, I can't say I have a clue as to whether the cause of your husbands problems is diabetes, I suppose it could be a number of things. However, I would suggest you go back to the GP and push for a diabetic consultant apt.

Unfortunately in my experience GP's can have a limited knowledge of diabetes which obviously doesn't help at all with situations like these. A diabetes clinic (I presume your husband is Type 2? I'm not so clued up about Type 2's treatments myself as am a Type 1) can go through everything with him properly and make sure he is on the right track far more effectively than a GP can, and the fact that the GP has given him very little info as it is is cause enough for him to go elsewhere to learn what's going on and how to handle it.

Has anyone suggested you get a blood glucose monitor? That would solve whether he is having a hypo or hyper in less than 3 seconds! (Does this mean Type 2's are not advised to use these which is why you have not got one...?)

 

[Robster65]

I agree with BabyS. I think you should also make an appointment to find out what's causing the sweating and clamminess.

Rob

 

[cakemaker]

Yes, a GP appointment is now necessary.
We were talking about a testing kit earlier and think that will at least answer whether the problem is blood sugars or not.

He has been under a lot of stress this week so perhaps it's that but does stress make diabetes worse? Does diabetes in general make other illnesses worse?

 

[Ellie Jones]

Stress can make blood glucose rise..

You need to see a GP, is there any chance that you can book into see a different GP rather than the one he's been seeing...

He will need to explain all his symptoms, and also his stress levels at work..

As it may be that it's diabetes or it could be something completely different maybe just his reaction to increased stress levels.. And the only person that can tell you that is a doctor..

 

[Robster65]

Yes and yes. Sometimes.

Yes, stress will cause blood sugars to rise in most people. It's a big problem if you get stressed about high blood sugars, as you can imagination.

Diabetics are at a theoretical greater risk of infections. The immune system is slightly compromised. High blood sugars makes it a lot worse. So if he can maintain as near normal BG as possible for as much of the time as possible, he should find he gets no more than most people.

But infections also push BG higher, so vicious circles all round.

Hopefully the GP will explain better and be able to offer advice and support.

A BG test meter will help you to understand what's happening and when.🙂

Rob

 

[cakemaker]

Stress can make blood glucose rise..

You need to see a GP, is there any chance that you can book into see a different GP rather than the one he's been seeing...

He will need to explain all his symptoms, and also his stress levels at work..

As it may be that it's diabetes or it could be something completely different maybe just his reaction to increased stress levels.. And the only person that can tell you that is a doctor..

We were lucky enough to retire early due to the fact that in the previous 13 yrs we had no holidays, worked our butts off 7 days a week, kept a smile on our faces; running a B&B with evening meals and hopefully giving our clients lovely holidays to remember. So no stress at work but I tell you this it's quite stressfull doing nothing! Some days I'm bored out of my brain and positively glad to see the back of my husband when he goes to golf. I really pity those who are unemployed with no money to do things and go places; it must be soul destroying. I wish we could afford for him to go to golf every day!! Instead he sits at his computer and now I find I'm begining to do the same but I'm not the one with the health problems, except I have arthritis; one of the reasons for giving up the B&B.

No the stress wasn't work it was a family problem; kids: isn't that the usual!
I do find that when he's stressed he seems to be quite unwell, maybe he doesn't cope with stress as well as we all think. We all take my husband for granted. He is a bit of a Mr. Fixit. He has always sorted everyone's problems, mine, kids, friends, family. Everyone comes to him because he's so capable and 'knows everything'. Last week he was sorting out some problems that our son's were having, then our daughter's broken front door lock and her fuel boiler that was leaking oil everywhere and could have caused her house to burn down (she hadn't even turned the flame off!!) and that was a quiet week!

We'd had 5 staying over Easter, my mum, brother and his wife and 2 small kids 3&5yrs, then 4 friends the next week. It should have been a doddle after the B&B but we were knackered and took 3 days to clean, wash and iron everything after each visit. We also ate out a lot during that so no doubt that's why he's feeling like he is, now I've thought about it.

We have talked about changing our GP recently. Generally we like him but perhaps we're not asking the right questions. That's one reason why I'm here to find out more info and know what questions to ask.