HELP! Am I diabetic?

Nesher, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2005

Go to a doc who doesn't get excited about the possibility of a patient having DM. Go to an endocrinologist!

mysticalwaters1 · Apr 23, 2005

Go to a doc who doesn't get excited about the possibility of a patient having DM. Go to an endocrinologist!

oh yeah i'm in an hmo ( !!!! I had too!!! It's too expensive without it yet i'm feeling the pressure of my choices limited! This sounds sexist but i'm overcomiing it i've allways gone to a female gyn and feel uncomfortable with a male one and nothing personal just i feel more comfortable with a female however do to the hmo and high insurance lots of the ob gyn are not taking any pts, left , and only males were available!! So i went to the male and he was just a gyn and it was ok and i didn't freak so i think it doesn't matter anymore but anyway he did my pap smear and it hurt SO bad!!!! And he's like the speculum is very small then told me tampons would help! I was like WHAT! I took it just as a statement because i'm not sexually active so maybe he was pointing out tampons would help in that department but jeeze! I guess i freak out too much!

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2005

Maybe i will get it as a get older and get it in better control with healthy eating and actually exercising. Any advice i'd appreciate it i'm only in the begining stages trying to figure everything out with my doctor but i have a feeling he's jumping the gun i hope! Thanks!

You do need to get to an endocrinologist. You need to have a fasting blood sugar and you need to look at your diet and habits. You lone about getting it under control when you get older and eat and exercise better is telling. If you want to get older, and have a good quality of life, then NOW is the time to get it under control. More than likely, just based on what you have said, with your age, family history, etc. You are in the early stages of diabetes. BUT, you can make changes and control it before it controls you. Lose that 50 lbs., get some exercise, and improve your diet. The diet change does not have to be a strick adherance to an ADA diet, but whopper, cheese fries and a soda are gonna have to be a thing of the past! Even if that is your only meal of the day, just look at the overall fat and sugar intake. Combine that with the relative lack of nutritional value, and you have your answer. You can eat more food, better food and better quality food, it you make wiser choices. Do it now while you are young if you do not want a lifeling chronic condition ruining your life.

NannaNurse · Apr 23, 2005

OMG, I don't know where to start on this one. First of all, I would say that you do not have DM with just 1 NON-FASTING blood test. I think you should look into changing primary care docs and find another one.

Sweetie.........your on a road of destruction with your diet lifestyle. If you don't change your habits today........right now, you will see more than just DM in your future!!

Your too young to let your health be a roadblock. You need to stop eating all this junk, start eating healthy and get moving.........you don't need to 'inherit' DM just because it runs in your family..........you can stop it now.

You must have 2 seperate fasting test over 150 and then a glucose tolerance test to accurately Dx diabetes. Don't allow your doc to 'give' you this disease without proper testing........it will cause alot of un-needed troubles......like health insurance, possible driving restrictions, etc.......please take this serious and CHANGE YOUR LIFE TODAY...........if you wait until your older, your get what your asking for.

'Good luck!!!!

fab4fan · Apr 23, 2005

Get a referral from your family doc to see an endocrinologist. It is unethical for nurses to dispense medical advice in this type of setting. It may be $$ for you to see a specialist, but it will be even more $$ if you don't and are treated inappropriately.

mysticalwaters1 · Apr 23, 2005

Hey thanks everyone for the responses and advice! I tested my sugar after npo after mn and then around 12pm with no food checked it and was 99. I don't eat fastfood EVERYDAY but several days of the week so yeah this is freakin me out and i've gotta change it's not just the junk it's a high quantity of food as well but i can do it and exercise the other major part and i can do that. My doctor is real good i feel but gets hyper but as long as i ask questions i think i'll be all right but if he pushes it I'll see what he plans and maybe see an endocrinologist just don't know if we even HAVE one were i am but i'll see thank!!!

mysticalwaters1 · Apr 23, 2005

Maybe i will get it as a get older and get it in better control with healthy eating and actually exercising. Any advice i'd appreciate it i'm only in the begining stages trying to figure everything out with my doctor but i have a feeling he's jumping the gun i hope! Thanks!
You do need to get to an endocrinologist. You need to have a fasting blood sugar and you need to look at your diet and habits. You lone about getting it under control when you get older and eat and exercise better is telling. If you want to get older, and have a good quality of life, then NOW is the time to get it under control. More than likely, just based on what you have said, with your age, family history, etc. You are in the early stages of diabetes. BUT, you can make changes and control it before it controls you. Lose that 50 lbs., get some exercise, and improve your diet. The diet change does not have to be a strick adherance to an ADA diet, but whopper, cheese fries and a soda are gonna have to be a thing of the past! Even if that is your only meal of the day, just look at the overall fat and sugar intake. Combine that with the relative lack of nutritional value, and you have your answer. You can eat more food, better food and better quality food, it you make wiser choices. Do it now while you are young if you do not want a lifeling chronic condition ruining your life.

oops that's what i meant better diet and exercising NOW! EXACTLY to prevent it or prolong the age I get it if i get it! Thanks! The other night comming home from work i was litterally afraid of thinking maybe i'll get something from Wendy's!!!

galaxy781 · Apr 24, 2005

oops that's what i meant better diet and exercising NOW! EXACTLY to prevent it or prolong the age I get it if i get it! Thanks! The other night comming home from work i was litterally afraid of thinking maybe i'll get something from Wendy's!!!

HI,

Sorry I cant offer any medical advice but I can tell you I worry about it too!!! It is so frustrating. Im so short (5'4) and it seems like if I even look at food i'll gain 20lbs. I worry about high blood pressure and diabetes. Ive been trying to change my lifestyle but its hard, especially when I was in college and all of my habits were bad, I stayed out all night, drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, ate pizza alteast 4 times a week and only excersized when I walked to class!! Ive now graduated and quit smoking (over one year now!) quit drinking, ive been trying to eat better (which is really really hard for me) and ive gotten myself on a regular sleeping habit. Just dont forget it takes time to change those bad habits so dont get discouraged and give up!! Hypertension and Diabetes Type I and II all run in my family so while I am not torn to pieces by it I am aware of that I could very easily get it and soo thus I am trying to make those changes now rather than later...but i know how you feel!!!! it doesnt seem fair either that my fiencee is underweight and no matter what he eats he cant gain weight!! LOL some people have all the luck!

allnurses Guide · Apr 25, 2005

Hey there.. I feel for you, as far as having a lousy diet and gaining weight go. I lost about 25-30 pounds on the Atkins diet last year (which I am NOT promoting here!!), only to gain pretty much all of it right back over the past few months. Started back on an antidepressant, and gained a lot of weight. Now I'm off the antidepressant, but still can't seem to change my eating habits to lose the weight. Exercising for me has always been fairly easy, but OTOH if I don't feel like it is doing me any good (because I practically refuse to change the way I eat), then I actually WON'T exercise much.

My advice would be to change your eating habits, and look at it as a permanent lifestyle change, and not a temporary thing. If you are still single, it may be easy; myself, I'm married to someone whose habits are worse than mine, even. So it's harder to change.

Good luck! Oh, and either find another general practitioner, or INSIST that your current doctor perform *2* more fasting blood sugars and a glycosolated hemoglobin test before he diagnoses you as diabetic, or pre-diabetic.

Good luck!

allnurses Guide · Apr 25, 2005

Woops... I didn't mean to say that a lifestyle change would be "easy"... it's NEVER easy!!! I meant to say that if you are single, it may be easiER to change eating habits! As opposed to being married to someone who loves pizza and fried fish and McDonalds hamburgers as much as you do!! :rolleyes:

markjrn · Apr 25, 2005

Hey everyone I don't know if i'm in the right spot i tried to find medical condition thread but couldn't find one.
Anyway i'm a little freaked and am asking for help and advice that would be really appreciated. I am 23 almost 24 yearls old and my father was diagnosed with diabetes type II about 10 years ago at age 45. It also runs in his family but later ages. Anyway. The last 4-5 years my diet has been horrible high in fat and huge portion sizes and I gained like 50 lbs gradually i'm 185lbs. Anyway I have NO s/s of diabetes. I mean my eye sight is bad but i've had glasses all my life but no excessive urination or thirst or hunger. Also in the moring at college not really anymore if i wouldn't eat ANY breakfast and literally RUN up several hills to class and sit and after 1 hour get nauseas and lightheaded until i got food. That's the ONLY time i felt like low blood sugar and it's stopped since i don't go to school anymore and eat when i wake up.
Anyway I just went to see my md for a checkup and did some blood work. Now there was no restrictions on eating before the lab work. I did got to burger king and ordered a chicken wopper with cheese and fries and soda. I thought well i usually eat fatty things like this so why not because i hadn't eatin anything all day since i work 3-11pm and wak up at 12pm. So I ate at 1pm then got blood work at 215. So my glucose was 166. Based on that one reading my md said i had diabetes. I admited i went to burger king and he did more lab work but feels i do have it based on that one reading. He did another glucose 2 days later which was 2 hours after i ate and by the way he thought that 166 was a fasting and had to tell him no it wasn't but still felt i had it. The next day glucose was 97. And whenever i test my blood sugar on my dads monitor it' s usually 80-90. And the other night after eating bunch of cheezits and meatballs and english muffin in 30min after checked it was 119.
So i did the hga1c. it was 5.1. Now in my mosby diagnosit book a normal nondiabetic adult is 2.2-4.8 and great diabetic adult control is 4.8-6. My lipid profile to my SHOCK was fine. Also other like diabetic blood work like resistance to diabetic test something like that were negative. My uring had NO glucose but did show some bacteria and NO ketones. But i complained of itching at my gyn visit and am on a diflucan type gel at hs that day my urine was collected.
So based on this do i definitely have it? I know it may not be enough info but that's what i have so far. I think i just kindof freaked that i may have it and the fact based on one glucose my md was like instantly you have it! And the fact he forgot it wasn't fasting. It was almost he was excited i had it!!! Because before the labs at my insistance he told me since i'm 23 and as long as i have a yearly gyn exam i should be good and don't technically have to see him until i'm 40. Don't get me wrong he's pretty good doctor although busy i work with him at the hospital i work at and one nurse told me at the nuring home this doctor's pts have the best controlled blood sugars. My coworker nurse also told me he does get exited and at times is right and times wrong. He's a real nice and competant guy but i don't want to go overboard if i dont' have it just definitely keep an eye on it! I mean he started ok lets do diabetic ed and i'm like WHAT based on 1 glucose however my hgalc is 5.1 now on my lab sheet it acted as if this was normal so is that indicative of dm?
Maybe i will get it as a get older and get it in better control with healthy eating and actually exercising. Any advice i'd appreciate it i'm only in the begining stages trying to figure everything out with my doctor but i have a feeling he's jumping the gun i hope! Thanks!

All we can do here is guess. See an endocrinologist, look at two fasting lab blood sugars, keep on top of the A1C. We can't diagnose you.

My wife, who is also an RN, felt fine and had a fasting of 360. You never know. You might want to consider a better diet.