Welcome to ASD Kris,

I myself found out I had diabetes in 1999 after going to a new physician
because my other one started a specialty in Nephrology and I went to an
internist to establish being a new patient and had no clue I had diabetes.

Since then my quality of life is nothing.

However I am glad you have gotten your bg's down and your eyesight is
better. That is wonderful to hear.

Like you were, I can't see faces only figures and my computer is inches from
my face and still have a problem seeing the words. But...that is because I
am currently and have always been uncontrolled. I had one good A1c in all
these years.

Anyway welcome to ASD again and thanks for sharing with us.

I hope to see more of you and your experience with your diabetes.

Would you mind sharing how you started to stabilize your bg's? Thanks in
advance.
Take care and Best Wishes.

My vision had gotten worse.  In fact I got new glasses and was diagnosed
soon after.  Then my glasses wouldn't work for me at all.  Wrong
prescription!

Then we went on vacation.  First thing I noticed was that I was VERY hungry.
No amount of food was enough for me and I wanted sweets all the time.  We
were visiting my parents.  I thought it was a psychological thing.  But then
the diarrhea began.  It was chronic.  I got very ill.  That came and went.

Then we went to the mall to shop for daughter's birthday presents.  I was
walking along, then all of a sudden I was not walking.  My legs became
rooted to the floor.  I could not move.  It was as though they were incased
in cement.  I managed to inch my way to a pole and I grabbed it for support.
My legs felt weak and I wanted to sit down but I could not bend my knees.
Luckily my dad noticed and came back to help me.  I had the stroller with me
and I managed to use that to push my way to the other end of the mall.  By
then I was feeling weird, like hot and cold at the same time and very
thirsty.  I thought I would feel better if I had a cold drink.  Parents
tried to get me some food thinking I had a hypo.  I had reactive
hypoglycemia prior.  I refused the food because we were going to the
restaurant across the street for dinner right after.  Didn't want to
overload my stomach.

After that I couldn't walk well at all.  Legs just kept locking up on me.  I
felt horrible.  Sick to my stomach, exhausted and very cranky and irritable.
I had no sense of balance.  Parents have stairs in their house and I could
not make my way up and down them.

We returned home a few days later.  Were in a motel in Yreka CA, and I had
diarrhea so bad that all I could do was lay in the bathtub weeping.  Told my
husband to call dial a nurse or something.  I was advised to get to the
hospital ASAP.  That's where I was told of the diabetes.

Funny thing was, (not funny ha ha), I'd been to the Dr. repeatedly for
things like outer ear infections that would not clear, and weird skin rashes
and yeast infections.  They just kept telling me I had too much bacteria in
my body and to bathe more often.  They even checked me twice for diabetes.
First they said I had it, then sent me on my merry way.  I was in tears and
didn't know what to do.  They offered me no meds, no dietary advice,
nothing!  Then when my husband called back they said they never told me I
had diabetes.  So I went to another Dr. to be checked for it and was told I
didn't  have it.  No how, no way.  I was not so sure because I'd had GD
which I now think was really type 2 and not GD at all.

For me it was a lucky accident. I had no idea I had diabetes. My doc
would test me now and then with an fbg and an A1C because my mother
was a T2, and I was told my numbers were fine. I had the beginnings of
neuropathy in hands and feet, but that was put down to age and
atherosclerosis.

But I thought I had problems with digesting wheat, because I often
felt weird and crappy after eating a lot of bread of pasta. So just
out of curiosity I picked up a BG meter on cheap offer. The first
thing I did to get some kind of normal meal response baseline was to
take a sequence of BGs after my normal heart healthy breakfast of
muesli, banana, and apple.

My BG went over 200! It didn't take more than a few minutes on the web
to discover that that was strongly suggestive of diabetes, so I made a
few graphs of my BG reponses to some standard meals and took them to
my doc.

Luckily he'd just been to a diabetic conference where he'd learned
about diabetics who give normal response to A1C and fbg and need the
OGTT or pp readings for diagnosis.

Chris Malcolm

Apart from being obese and unfit, I had no symptoms at all.
The diabetes was discovered in the batch of tests ordered by
the doc after diagnosing the leukemia.

Welcome Kris; have you had time yet to read this:
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm ?

If not, please do so. That will explain a lot to you. Print
it out, put it into practice - it works.

Best wishes,

Cheers Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 1500mg, ezetrol 10mg  

I have no medical qualifications beyond my own experience.
Choose your advisers carefully, because experience can be
an expensive teacher.
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

I spent a month drinking everything in the house, painfully bloated and
smelling the sweet smell of Ketones before I finally decided to see a
doc. I did and the last two years ahve been the best of the last ten so
I'm pretty sure I had it for a while.

I found out by revieiwng my lab work after an emergency room visit for
horrid food poisoning.  I was quite overweight (5'4 and 200 lbs) and
feeling hot & tired all the time.  No visual problems, no excessive
drinking or peeing, the usual suspects.  But when I saw that my
glucose was 160 or so after a couple of days of minimal intake and
lots of output, I became suspicious.  I then tested my fasting
glucoses several mornings in a row at work and found numbers in the
160-180 range,  When I did a couple of post prandial reads of over 200
I called my doc & told him guess what I have.
4-5 years prior to this I had been having terrible issues with mid
morning HYPO-glycemia that I also discovered at work.  I'd eat my
chocolate donut & coffee at 7 am :-) and by 9:30 -10 I was REALLY
dizzy.  Out of idle curiosity I tested my BS & it was 32.  REALLY low,
no wonder I felt so lousy.  So the doc (this was ~11-12 years ago now)
ordered a 5 hr OGTT.  My fasting was ~130's, peak was 220 & then
dropped to 40 at 3 hours.  That would diagnose me now, but back then
it was just called "pre-diabetes".  Doc told me if I didn't lose
weight I'd become diabetic & I basically said F*** it, I'll cross that
bridge when I come to it.  I have been officially over the bridge for
9 years now, lucky me.  I use metformin, Byetta and reasinably correct
eating to maintain my BS>

I was diagnosed in June 2005. The main symptom I experienced was a rapid
and profound change in my vision. Over the course of a few days I went
from a focal range of 5 feet to infinity to reading the newspaper without
glasses. Called the doc - he said to get my eyes checked first, so I did
that - eye doc reported nothing he could find. Had my physical and a few
days after the blood work I got a call from the doc to get my butt to his
office ASAP. FBG was 300 and A1C 11. Immediately put me on metformin er
4x500 and told me to get exercise and loose weight. I did that and read
"Diabetes for Dummies" and Dr. Richard Bernstein's "Diabetes Solution". I
also changed my diet to greatly reduce carbs. In short order my BG
stabilized in the 90's. Shortly, also, my vision issue reversed itself -
suddenly had to wear two pairs of glasses to read the paper (could not
find off the shelf reading glasses powerful enough) and needed reading
glasses to drive. In a week or two, vision normalized and I've not had
that problem since. Eye doc explained that a chage in BG affects the shape
of the lens.

Since that time I've done web searches a few times to see if I could find
the connection between change in BG and vision changes - I've not been
able to find anything - it seems to be poorly documented, but you're not
the first person I've seen since then with the same issue.

For me it was mainly the constant thirsty/urination thing, and
something else that I forget now.  I suspected I had diabetes, because
I knew the list of symptoms, but I was in denial for about 6 months
before I finally went to the doctor.  By the time I was in the doctor's
office, not only did I not care if it was diabetes anymore, but I was
glad because now I could do something that would "fix" all the symptoms
I was having.

Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back I see all I had all the common
symptoms, including hypoglycemia symptoms years back.

At diagnosis, however, I was clueless.  A doctor I saw for an
recurring urinary tract infection sent me for the test and I passed :-(

Most of the symptoms of the menopause - odd tiredness patterns,
getting up to go to the bathroom in the night, odd sweating
patterns... I lost about 20 years in apparent body age when I got bg
control :D I also had the start of gum disease, and the occasional
UTI.

Also, dx was a fluke. I was sitting in the GP's waiting room waiting
for hubby to finish a visit, when the nurse asked for a volunteer to
do a urine test. If I'd remembered to bring a book, I wouldn't have
been bored enough to play.

Nicky.
T2 dx 05/04 + underactive thyroid
D&E, 100ug thyroxine
Last A1c 5.5%  BMI 25

For me it was nt being able to donate blood because my BP was too high.  
as a result, I made an appointment with my gp and mentioned I was quite
thirsty.  He checke dmy bg 's and I have no idea wht the number was, but
he threw me into th ehospital and put me on insulin.  After a weight loss
of 60 lbs I went off the insulin and was med free fo raobut 8 years, but
was not careful to chek my numbers with the chemstrips.  Finally took the
bit in my teeth and went to a diabetes clinic and the rest is hstory, A1c
5.4 bp 115/72, etc.  Hard work but worth it.

Wendy

[snip]

I got no warning until I had a stroke.  Then the tests they ran
turned it up.

During Chemo I was put on prednisone for complications. Shortly after my
vision went bad like yours. I got off the pred and my vision slowly returned
to normal after 8 weeks or so.

After that my montly blood tests a showed elevated bg counts. Since then my
bg has not returned to normal.

Thats how I found out.

-Puckertoe

Hi Kris,

Glad to hear your vision is normalizing.  There are several members of
ASD who also had vision issues.  I'm sure will be along to comment.

As for my original symptoms, I suffered from reactive hypoglycemia for
years before I learned that sugar was the culprit.  Yes, I brought it
to the attention of several doctors--I worked in the medical
profession then--and none were of any help.  They only told me to eat
more often, but didn't explain that it was too much carb that was
initiating the symptoms.  Finally did talk to a friend, a pediatrician
(obviously not my doctor ;-)  who told me that the hypoglycemia
indicated I was susceptible to diabetes.  It was a good clue because
then I knew to look out for further problems and could begin to
educate myself.  The two symptoms that drove me to investigate were
constant fatigue and hunger.  I purchased a glucometer and it quickly
told me the story.  FBG was fine, but the post-prandial BGs were
whacked.

Best regards,
Michelle C., T2
diet & exercise

My vision was a little blurred but that I thought was because I wore
glasses.  I was thirsty but actually mostly symptom free.  I found out
in a routine blood test.

Loretta

I filled out the little questionnaire thing and then waited for the
doc.

He walked in and said they were going to test my bg level to
confirm but the diagnosis was diabetes.

I guess that means my symptoms were classic   :-0

cheers

Paul

I had the classic thirst and peeing allot. I also started getting yeast
infections under my arms and breasts..that's when my sister the nurse told
me to tell my Dr and get tested..sure enough. I haven't had a yeast
infection since I got my numbers under control. I have had blurry vision
when my BG was up..but it always went back to normal once the numbers were
down. I also had cataracts so that was a good part of the blurriness too:)
jacquie

I was diagnosed in a routine bg test when in hospital recovering from an
injury, but soon after, on a routine visit to check my glasses prescription,
the optometrist told me that frequently he would be the first person to know
when someone had diabetes. This was because of the change in vision caused
by the bg buildup. This is lucky. I know one family friend who did not know
about her diabetes until she went permanently blind. You, on the other hand,
have been given a chance to get on top of your predicament.

Henry M.

My mother has Type 2 and my father is native american.  That made my
likelyhood of developing it very high.  My doctor checked my A1C
annually and over the years it slowly rose.  I finally could not keep
the fbg below 126 a couple of years ago and was upgraded from pre-
diabetic to Type 2.  I controlled with daily exercise and very low
carbs for about a year and then had to start taking Metformin.

Interesting and useful question, because we vary so much, and this isn't
always obvious, even in hindsight!   I was normal weight, normal BP, low
normal cholesterol, very low normal triglycerides.  Age (she blushes) more
or less 50.  Good diet, regular exercize, no outstanding health problems
EXCEPT...

needed new glasses that didn't quite work (some occasional blurry vision,
always went away) about a year previous to dX

had two (yuck) frozen shoulders, which eventually resolved, with lots and
lots of PT, about two years previous to dX

had a sinus infection that "settled" in my larynx and would not go away.
Treated with 3 different antibiotics and (eventually) prednisone (about two
months previous to dX)

The "you're a diabetic" diagnosis came over the phone from my new GP's nurse
(better he should have called me in, and I understand he fired the nurse who
did the deed).  I was shocked, completely shocked.  No one I knew understood
it, except Old Al, who postulated, up front, that I might well be like him
(LADA) which when I had to go on insulin 3 years after diagnosis, it turned
out I likely am.

Judy G