Question:
Diabetes...
Can anyone who knows about diabetes help me? I have diabetes on my mother's and father's side of the family. I have never been specifically tested for it, but I have had general blood work done recently and the tests have come up with high cholesterol only...My question is this- Usually on a daily basis, at times I will get very sweaty and shaky and feeling faint...I have to eat a candy bar or drink some OJ to feel "normal" again...is this a sign of diabetes or something else? Thanks bunches.. — Amy S. (posted on July 29, 2002)
July 28, 2002
symptoms of diabtes include frquent thirst and urination. some people do
start to feel "weird" w a low blood sugar (oj candy would bring
those levels up) when you have too much sugar you can become extrmely tired
(maybe even passing out figurative and literal) and have slurred speech.
almost like being drunk. You will need to have a fasting blood test to
determine if you sugars (in your blood) are unstable. If that comes back a
pos. you will have to take 3 hour test (fasting, then drink a glucose
solution and tested every hour for three hours). Diabetics also have
tingling in the extrmities. SEE YOUR DOCTOR NOW. THIS WILL NOT HINDER<
BUT HELP YOU IN YOUR WLS
— nicole P.
July 28, 2002
Given your suspicious symptoms ask your PCP for the HC1A 3 month blood
sugar cheaters test. This will show blood sugar for 3 months you may well
have a problem.
— bob-haller
July 29, 2002
Amy, I too have a STRONG family history of diabetes on both sides. I
highly recommend that you request the Hgb.A1C from your PCP. As Bob said,
this tells the blood sugar for the past 3 months. In the mean time, if you
feel shaky, try a couple peanut butter crackers to get your glucose back
up. The crackers have the complex carbs which will bring it back up
slowly, and the peanut butter will give the protein so it won't rise too
drastically and kick your pancreas into overtime producing insulin. This
is what a little boy at my daughter's school has to do for his Type I, and
my husband has to do for his hypoglycemia. Get that appt. soon. Good
Luck!
— Tina B.
July 29, 2002
This actually sounds more like hypoglycemia to me. Hypoglycemia is kind of
the opposite of diabetes. Diabetes means your blood sugar is high;
hypoglycemia means it can get too low. Look it up on the Internet - it's
kind of interesting. Many people who are "destined" to get
diabetes tend to get symptoms of hypoglycemia first.
— Terissa R.
July 30, 2002
I was just diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and can totally relate to the
shaky, sweaty, clammy freakiness. Type II is also known as
insulin-resistance diabetes--the insulin is in the blood stream w/my high
blood sugar, but it doesn't react w/the blood sugar properly until much
later. SO...I'd start out shaky, clammy, weird, and I'd eat something and
it would quit (shaky/sweaty weirdness stopped), but eventually, I'd be so
tired I actually fell asleep at work in the afternoons (finally the insulin
started reacting and taking blood sugar out of my blood stream so it could
be used). My doc did the fasting glucose, and showed me to be borderline
diabetic (same as two years ago). I pointed that out, and doc did an oral
glucose tolerance test (takes a few hours to do all the blood/urine
samples). The oral glucose tolerance test proved I was type II. I'd see
my doc asap if I were you; this made me gain 60 lbs in 4 months...always
shaky, so I was always eating.
— Lynda L.
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