Question:
I've got all the symptoms of diabetes and I have a past history of extreme
hypoglycemia and almost everyone in my family is diabetic. When I told my
primary care physician she seemed skeptical even with all the symptoms I
told her. I feel horrible most of the time. She sent me to the lab last
Saturday for a fasting glucose and a HA1C and now tells me that they are
normal. Fasting was 97 and the HA1C was 5. When I asked her what I should
do next she said she had no idea. Apparently, I'm supposed to suffer.
I am concerned because at my exact age my dad had back surgery and during
the surgery he went into a diabetic coma and almost died. This happened
despite the fact that his blood tests which included tests for diabetes two
weeks before were all normal. He came out of the hospital as a very ill
diabetic. I don't want this to happen to me.
Answer:
Bonnie, would you be able to describe your symptoms? I have
had severe hypoglycemia in the past and two lots of
gestational diabetes, and a lot of my family are diabetics
also. I don't have diabetes but I feel terrible when going
too long with out a meal or snack, the same as my diabetic
husband does. While diabetes can come on suddenly, try not
to stress yourself about what may happen in the future.
Look after yourself today and enjoy your life and if you do
develop diabetes in the future then that is the time to deal
with it. You are aware of what a diabetic needs to do
regards meals etc already so you could, if you are not
already, try to stick to the same sort of regime, excercise
and keep weight down if necessary. Being aware of what
diabetes is means that you will catch it early if you do
develop the condition and therefore prevent a lot of damage.
I can't comment on whether the tests might be right or wrong
as I don't know enough but if it eases your mind, and a
relative doesn't live too far away, perhaps you could do a
bit of testing with their meter a couple of hours after
meals to see how you fare.
