High glucose, a type of sugar in your blood, can cause a range of problems in day to day activities. Symptoms being from mild to severe (especially if you are a type 2), if left untreated, type 1 and type 2 can cause damage throughout the body. Here is what you can look out for if you believe you are a diabetic or suspect you may have early warning signs of diabetes.
But before we can get into that, lets find out what this disease is.
Google says:
“a disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine.”
Your body converts the food you eat into glucose that your cells use for energy. But your cells need insulin to bring the glucose in.
If your body doesn’t make enough or any insulin, or if your cells resist the insulin your body makes, the glucose can’t get into them and you have no energy. This can make you more hungry and tired than usual.
There may be more symptoms your doctor can discuss with you if you think you have diabetes. Your doctor may do bloodwork to check your kidney functions, your A1C (Glycated hemoglobin is a form of hemoglobin that is measured primarily to identify the three-month average plasma glucose concentration. The test is limited to a three-month average because the lifespan of a red blood cell is four months. Wikipedia) and prescribe medications, such as Metformin, or insulin (depending on your doctor) and refer you to a specialist and dietitian for a special diet. Your dietitian will give you how many carbs, calories and fat your body needs and teach you how to track them efficiently.
There are a lot more treatments now to help deal with diabetes. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease, but is controllable. It will get out of hand from time to time with illnesses, other diseases and stresses, but hang in there.
When I was 13 years old, I was having so many symptoms, I don’t know how my parents were able to handle me. Being a teenager, puberty hitting and being diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic.
I had been perfectly healthy until one day my pancreas decided it just didn’t want to do anything anymore (it needed a super extra push to get kick started again). I don’t remember much while my sugar was high, my parents still tell me stories of outbursts that I still don’t remember to this day, but I believe them.
It started with the constant drinking water, and I never could seem to get enough. My lips were always sticking together, tongue was like sandpaper and always had a never, EVER, ending headache to the point I almost could have shot myself, I couldn’t get relief anywhere. I was severely overweight and could not get the weight off. I would always lock myself in my room and do at least 100 crunches and squats for what seemed like forever, and no results. I was always so, so tired. I couldn’t sleep enough, couldn’t focus on my schoolwork. Couldn’t talk very clearly, everyone always told me to stop mumbling, that they couldn’t understand me sometimes, even though it was hard enough getting one sentence out as it was. Always cranky and upset about something.
Then the stomach pains started in the middle of the night, I thought I was literally dying. It felt worse than the flu or the stomach bug (stomach virus) . It wouldn’t go away, and my poor mom would stay up with me without complaining. Poor mom didn’t get sleep much anymore either. For about a week and a half I lived on the couch, I wasn’t worth anything with the stomach pains and uncontrollable thirst.
Then before you knew it, my parents had bought me a $5 movie I had been dying to own for a while, got home from Wal-mart just to discover the DVD case had no DVD in it. They said I took the case, threw it across the landing from upstairs and just started crying and pitching a fit. Of course, one of the outbursts I don’t remember. But to this day, grown and married, they still remind me quite often. 😉
My mom finally thought of something it could be and decided to check my sugar, to which the meter read almost 700. For a diabetic, the range doctors prefer the numbers to be in is between 90-120. 90’s being your fasting numbers. They did bloodwork to check the kidneys, which were fine, and did an A1C which was a 12.9 for 3 months. I think I was given a shot of insulin while at the doctor, but of course, I can’t remember much. I don’t remember what my sugar level was the day of that doctor appointment, but they looked at me, looked at my mom, and asked “How is she not in a coma?!”. I didn’t think it was a big deal, I mean being 13 years old, you don’t think of this stuff or the danger. You just want to move on with your life. But unfortunately, I was home bound for a little while so they could take care of me. My dad had to give my shots, my mom watched my diet with plenty of protein and as little carbs and calories as she could (my parents are my heroes. I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t have caught this disease in time). They also said I almost drowned my body with as much water as I had been drinking. I remember always having 3 or 4 FULL 2 litter bottles of water on my desk next to my bed every night, they would be empty by morning not including the trips in the middle of the night to refill a couple of them. Oh my goooooooodness, the bathroom trips I always had!
A trip to the specialist, and she asked us the same thing. “How are you not in a coma right now?”…. That never got old. No, I am not a walking miracle, but it is a miracle my parents didn’t have to deal with their child being in a coma. The Lord really was gracious to me, and my parents as well.
A few months of being on Metformin, Actos, Insulin, and a few other things including blood pressure pills, my sugar was finally coming down, and so was the weight. I remember stepping on the scale and scaring my mom half to death squealing at the scale. Somehow going from weighting 220 at 13 to 169 by the age of 14, I was feeling fantastic! Finally, I got to stop all the medication and insulin at 17 years old. The warned that I would have be put back on insulin and medication one day, and sure enough, I am unfortunately back on almost everything. I couldn’t work because I started to fall asleep walking at my job (a huge warehouse where they have no mercy, and you walk from clock in, to clock out. Miles and miles a night, 11 hours a day). They kept sending me home from work because of my sugar being so high, 500 while walking all night and not eating much because of the stomach pains. My husband finally had to take me to the ER one night at work, they said if I didn’t go get it taken care of, they couldn’t let me work there much longer. Their medical staff was amazing by the way.
My husband is still learning about my disease, and is always so proud when I ask him if he would like to get my insulin for me if its too high. I’m finally able to let him stick me with the needle. After I gained my independence with giving myself shots with no help, I couldn’t stand for anyone else to do it for me because of the burning sensation after the injection. My parents also have the same disease as I do, along with one of my brothers and one of my sisters. A grandparent on my mothers side as well, along with her side of the family.
Of course the doctors don’t recommend children with this disease, but I am willing to defy those odds of doctors. Its harder now that I’m older to control the sugar levels, but anything is possible, right? Also with the help of my animals (when they are not driving me crazy), they love on their momma when she doesn’t feel good. And I do believe they sense it.
Compliments of Google, WedMD and Wikipedia for research.
