Did Anyone used to feel very tired and ill years before diagnosis?

[stacey21]

Hi everyone, Is it just me or did anyone else find they were very tired and ill alot before diagnosis?
I ask because i was diagnosed 8th sept last year, which came a shock but since i have been feeling alot better than i used to.
When i used to come home from school i used to find i would always be very tired and have no energy, my parents used to think i was just being very lazy but i used to feel very tired all the time.
After leaving school at 16 i had a few diferent jobs in factorys etc and had to leave as i would get very dizzy weak and would find it very hard to concentrate and eventually my sight would get blurry. I havent been able to find a job since diagnosis so i dont know if its related to the diabetes. I have herd that people can have diabetes for years without realising. The symptoms only showed themselve after i caught mumps from my parteners brother (god knows how none of his family caught it and i did) i was taken to hospital with bg of 414 (23.0). since i do feel tired alot when i dont eat properly, but fell alot better when i have regular meals.
Has anyone else had this experience or know if its conected?

[grace girl]

I was diagnosed at age 32, and one of the major symptoms I experienced was being tired all the time. Extremely tired. I believe that fatigue is one of the classic symptoms. Even now, if my sugars run high for a few hours, I get quite exhausted very easily.

[Stuboy]

i was diagnosed in July of this year. I found that i came across very tired after lunch, always felt weak in the legs and found it difficult to walk up stairs due to the weakness/tiredness.

Sinse diagnosis i dont feel like that anymore... thank god!

And what a blessing it is not to have to go to the toilet litterally every 15 minutes anymore! that went on for weeks.

[stacey21]

Thanks for your replies, i am very glad to hear that other people have experienced this. I was always told by my family to get a job, that i was just not used to working and i was lazy. But the day i was diagnosed they felt bad for telling me all those years that i was just being lazy and there was nothing wrong with me.
It is such a relief to hear that i should be fine now, i cant wait to get back into work.
Has anyone else foud it harder to get employment since being diagnosed? I never know wether to put on application forms diabetic, but i have to try and explain why i havent had a steady job in the past.

[Stuboy]

It's always a good idea to put it on the form, if they find that you've lied about medical conditions if you've told them you have none, you WILL be likely to be sacked.

However, they shouldn't discriminate against you because you have diabetes.

When i was taken into hospital, my Boss called me while i was in hospital and was very understanding/interested in my new condition.
Sinse i've returned to work, my boss and all my colleagues have been very understanding and interested to know how and why and what to do if... I find it settling that their concerned about my well-being whilst im at work along with their keeness to know what to do in case of an emergency.

Deus started a topic yesturday about disabilities discrimination act that we can apply for.

[Stuboy]

http://www.diabetesforums.com/diabetes/12352-guaranteed-interview-scheme-diabetes.html

[am1977]

Well, I felt like something was off for a while, but I didn't exactly feel ill until the major symptoms came a long- a few months before my dx. Towards the end of the time before I was dx'ed, I felt almost like I had been run over by a train- completely exhausted and drained on a daily basis. I would go to sleep early and wake up still tired.

I knew something was up, but it was like I wanted to pretend that what I was experiencing wasn't happening. Not to mention that I had no insurance at the time, so I didn't want to face outrageous medical expenses.

Eventually, I had to go in and be seen by my PCP... and I got my dx that would change my life forever. But looking back on that... I know I shouldn't have put off taking care of my health- it's too important.

[Simon]

I thought it was against the law for them to ask you if you are diabetic on the application unless they can demonstrate a medical or statistical reason for it. Worth looking into.

[Stuboy]

i'd rather my employers did know about the condition though, just in case anything happened. people should be educated about diabetes!

[Eri's mom]

Come to think of it, Eri became a LOT less active a few/couple months b/f she was dx'd.

[lilituc]

Yes...I had people with fibro and CFIDS tell me I should consider that I might have one or both of those (I don't). The exhaustion continued right up until I went on insulin. Now like gracegirl I get tired again if I run high for a few hours.

[dgrilli]

Yes would sleep a lot even while driving. I would throughout the day nod in and out of unconsciousness usually drool then go out like a light. They thought I had a bad case of sleep apnea or narcolepsy. Little did they know that back in 1994 I was testing in the 400's and was told to watch my diet and that I was a borderline diabetic. Yeah and pee a lot and so thirsty. Our health care system here isn't the greatest. I heard they hired foreign trained veterinarians here to work as Doctors here. I bet we have the worst health care here in Somerset Pa. If your sick travel to Pittsburgh or even Johnstown.

[kgm0612]

I was dx'd 3-1/2 years ago at the age of 40..........a Type 1. Years prior to being dx'd my vision started to change but I figured it was "old age" setting in. LOL I was always tired, had no energy, and would sleep 8-9 hours a night.

Two years before being dx'd, I was getting frequent yeast infections. My doctor blamed it on a lot of things........soap, pads, tampons, etc. My vision was getting worse but I blamed that on being on the computer. I was still tired, but made jokes that I was born tired. Finally, the thirst and frequent urination kicked in. Having a younger brother with Type 1, dx'd at the age of 21, I used his meter to test my BS and was 367. I called my PCP and she immediately ordered some blood work for the next day. Sure enough, high ketones, an A1c of 10.9, and a fasting BS of 397. I was never so happy to finally find out what was causing all the symptoms I had been having.

Karen

[Patsy]

:wavey: I'm a school nurse and have worked with diabetic children for several years. On December 16, 2005 I kept running to the bathroom, and had drunk over 2 bottled waters by 8:30a.m. when it hit me what this could be!! Tested myself and was over 500. My PCP was convinced that it was due to my thyroid (underactive) being out of whack, so he wasn't very helpful. It took me over 2 months to get in with a diabetic endocrinologist - lost quite a bit of weight. Started MDI in February, and started pumping on May 15th. Looking back, I now see that I had symptoms for quite a while, but blamed it on other things. (Thyroid, stress, busy schedule) There is no family history other than my dad who was diagnosed with type 2 six months before I was diagnosed. This has certainly opened my eyes as to what my students (and their parents) have to deal with. I feel fortunate to have had the history of working with diabetics - it has helped me so much with my own diagnosis & treatment. It could have been so much worse!:)

[dgrilli]

Sounds like you were in the Health Care System for Somerset County Pa not Kentucky. I'm not happy to see that we are not alone. Can you imagine a School Nurse and the PCP not checking the obvious first? This is sad.

Sounds almost like going to the emergency room for BG over 490 and being offered Avandia or Metformin Tablet.

How about being told your a borderline Diabetic and being told to watch your diet and gets some exercise.

This is literally Insanity. How many did not even persist in getting the bottom of what ails them

[RUFC_MD]

I didn't really feel ill for years, and was only tired just in the two weeks running up to my diagnosis.

However, for about 4 yeards before diagnosis I did suffer frequent hypo's - almost daily just before lunch time. Also late afternoon towards the end off the working day I had the odd hypo and remember that I used to have to take a carbohydrate snack to work with me if playing football straight after work.

I probably have less hypos since my diagnosis now that I am controlling my own blood sugar levels with injections!!!

[stacey21]

I told my doctor i had a hypo before being diagnosed while at work and was told that there was no way it could have been a hypo as i wasnt on insulin, but looking back at it seems to me as if it was. i thought at the time it was just because of the heat, but the signs where all there. I was hot, shaking, couldnt think properly, blurry vision, very weak etc. seems strange that its apparently not connected.

[RUFC_MD]

I told my doctor i had a hypo before being diagnosed while at work and was told that there was no way it could have been a hypo as i wasnt on insulin, but looking back at it seems to me as if it was. i thought at the time it was just because of the heat, but the signs where all there. I was hot, shaking, couldnt think properly, blurry vision, very weak etc. seems strange that its apparently not connected.

It seems that many people who develop type one diabetes suffered some form of hypoglycemia before their diagnosis.

From what I've read I gather that this generally occurs where a person has eaten a high carb meal and the pancreas over compensates by producing too much insulin. It is a sign that the pancreas is coming to its last legs.

I visited the doctor about this issue as I was suffering from hypo's daily and he looked at me like a piece of rubbish as if to say I was wasting his time. Six months later I was diagnosed with diabetes. Obviosuly I was not diabetic when I visited him, but if he warned me that frequent hypos could imply that I may become diabetic in the near future then I could have spotted the symptoms early and got something done about them. Instead I lived with it for a short while and made myself ill!

[ace40]

Thanks for your replies, i am very glad to hear that other people have experienced this. I was always told by my family to get a job, that i was just not used to working and i was lazy. But the day i was diagnosed they felt bad for telling me all those years that i was just being lazy and there was nothing wrong with me.
It is such a relief to hear that i should be fine now, i cant wait to get back into work.
Has anyone else foud it harder to get employment since being diagnosed? I never know wether to put on application forms diabetic, but i have to try and explain why i havent had a steady job in the past.

]
Stacey
i've been tyhpe 1 for 33 yrs. my dad had it and so when the teachers saw how tired and sluggish i'd get and drank lots of fluids they called my parents quickly cause they knew something was wrong and sure enough, i had diabetes.

as for your job. at 7, i hated putting it down i was a diabetic but had to. by college i was teaching my frat brothers what to do just in case. same with work. now, depends on place, but everyone i worked for were glad i told them. if something happens to you they need to know what to do. my last job stood by me through a kidney transplant so better to tell then having them think youre just lazy. good luck

[Stuboy]

i suffered hypo's too, years before diagnosis and any other symptoms. I only really noticed big changes and warning signs about 2 months before. I didn't know they were called hypo's at the time, but i felt that my body was crying out for sugar. these hypos were way back though, like 7 or more years.