[SueM]

Chopin, Sorry to have to tell you this but you are diabetic.
Your posts just scream denial.
Just take one day at a time and learn to accept it. This way you will live a long healthier life.
Learn all you can but do not overwelm yourself with too much info. This forum and all it's members are a mine of info.

[DeusXM]

The best thing you can do right now? Stop drinking. Not because it's bad for you or because I'm being judgemental. It's because alcohol messes with your blood glucose. If you want to find out whether or not you have diabetes, you need a range of 'clean' results. You can't get these if you keep drinking.

Let's clear up some points though.

There are no cures for any type of diabetes.

Just because no-one in your family has ever had T1 before doesn't mean you haven't got the unique genetic combination which means that you do.

I would suggest you get yourself off the booze for a couple of months and go back into the hospital and get all the tests done. Even if you don't have diabetes (and to be honest, everything you've said suggests that you do but it's not my call to diagnose you), it should be patently obvious that your current lifestyle is damaging you.

That's not being judgemental; that's just a basic fact.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by chopin

.... One showed levels of 15.0 mmol/l (270mg/dL), the other 25 mmol/l (450mg/dL). Both were done in the morning at 8am. Doc sent me to hospital, I also had ketones of +3 on the urine test and sugar in my urine. My lifestyle for the last 2 years has been below sedate. It has been **** right lazy, with an intake of carbs that is disgracefull. ....

That sounds like T1 to me too. Very high blood glucose together with ketones doesn't leave much room for doubt.

Originally Posted by chopin

....
-Am I honeymoooning?
-Am I type 2 and was in a state known as alcoholic ketoacidosis?
-Am I pre-diabetic, which due to alcohol and bad diet went into DKA?
-Am I non-diabetic who was in alcoholic ketoacidosis with high BS [hyperglyceamic] (according to the studies its rare but possible)?
-Is it possible my natrual dawn phenomonon reading is exceptionally high and has possibly caused a false diagnosis?
...

You are honeymooning. T2s don't go into ketoacidosis. It only happens when there is inadequate insulin. Ketones are a by-product of using protein and fat for energy. It is very unlikely that what you had was alcoholic ketoacidosis. If this was the case, you wouldn't expect to have had high blood sugar, and triglycerides would have been very high. And, no it is not possible for such high fasting blood glucose to be caused by dawn phenomenon in the absence of diabetes.

A moderate amount of alcohol won't do you any harm as a T1. But you need to get familiar with how it affects blood sugar, especially when you are using insulin. More important, IMO, is to stop smoking. It causes cumulative damage over a long period of time which, as a diabetic, you really want to avoid.

[cheryl]

I am not going to judge what you have done,. I want to say things happen for a reason. Sometimes what you think is going out drinking having a good time could indeed have killed you. Now you are questioning yourself, deep down you knew your lifestyle was dangerous......I think you know what you need to do, and I hate to say it but if the only way your going to change is being a diabetic then heed the warning, someone somewhere actually still wants you alive, not dead.....Karma, God, ALLA, whatever you may believe, things happen for a reason...

As to what type, in all honesty, I cannot judge my Dad's bg's were skyrocket high to and he is a type 2, and I mean around your numbers, but the only way to determine this is to demand the appropriate testing.....and also, type 1 well, It's not in my family and it hit me at age 12, and it pissed me off.....I understand why I have it, but I was upset too, I was in denial for a long long time, I took my insulin but that was the extent of diabetes....

I was unraveling like a leaf the past two years, I think I was coming out of my denial phase after 15-16 years of having it, I sounded like a broken record on both forums I am on, and all that,

Trust me, go find out what is really going on. And quit the booze, I think you have an issue with that also, if you dont want us to comment on it, then I think you should go to AA also.....seriously this is what I am getting at. My Dad is a recovering alcoholic and a drug addict, so I know the signs.....and I lived with it....Not that I am pegging you anythng but I feel you need to get some peer group help.....

Do not take me the wrong way, i wrote this because I care, not because I am mean...I hope the best for ya...

Cheryl

[DeusXM]

A moderate amount of alcohol won't do you any harm as a T1. But you need to get familiar with how it affects blood sugar, especially when you are using insulin. More important, IMO, is to stop smoking. It causes cumulative damage over a long period of time which, as a diabetic, you really want to avoid.

Seconded. You can drink with diabetes (god knows, I do!) but drying out until you figure out exactly what is wrong with you is the best thing to do, and then you can reintroduce alcohol. Smoking is an unhealthy move, and yeah, it's your choice. But be aware that smoking obviously carries certain risks and diabetes magnifies the likelihood of risks. Trust me, I've seen what smoking can do to people and it ain't pretty.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by DeusXM

Seconded. You can drink with diabetes (god knows, I do!) but drying out until you figure out exactly what is wrong with you is the best thing to do, and then you can reintroduce alcohol. Smoking is an unhealthy move.

Thirded? Is that a word? I also enjoy drinking and will have a glass of wine or beer almost every day at dinner. I've also been known to drink in excess every so often. BUT, I had diabetes a long time before I started to drink, and had a handle on the basics of D management before introducing a new variable (alcohol) to the equation. Even so it took me a long time and a lot of high and low bgs to figure out how to drink without messing up my bg too badly. Get yourself stabilized and learn how your body works WITHOUT drink, and then you can figure out how to make your diabetes work when you reintroduce the drink.

Nobody thinks smoking is healthy, for anybody. You already know this, having lived on this planet and been exposed to radio/ tv / advertisements. IMHO it's not worse for a well controlled diabetic than for a regular person, BUT with D the cards are already stacked against you and you're adding another risk factor by smoking.

You probably have diabetes, but the only way to know for sure is to get yourself "clean" and have your doctors test you without all of the complicating factors impacting your blood sugar.

[DCaplinger]

Originally Posted by Erin

Thirded? Is that a word?

If she can Thirded it, then I'm going to Fourth it. If you are smoking, you must stop. I quit smoking 6 days after I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. By the time they correctly diagnosed me as Type 1, I had been smoke free for 1 month and 2 days. It's the best move I ever made. Sure, I'm dealing with the weight gains because of it, but I haven't woken up hacking a lung in almost 8 months now.

Regards,

[LancetChick]

Well, I consider myself a wino, although I don't average more than 2 drinks a day because I don't drink every day. Alcohol is doable, but because managing your blood sugar with alcohol can be very complicated, I agree with the others who suggested drying out while you get your blood sugars under control. Alcohol can be downright dangerous if you don't understand how it affects your liver function, so when you do get a good feel for managing your blood sugar (which you can't do on a mixed insulin, by the way), and you do start drinking again, do it slowly so that you don't wind up with a bunch of strange faces peering at you and asking things like "Do you know where you are?" and "Do you know what day it is?"

Chronic exposure to high blood sugar (even slightly high blood sugar) causes physical changes to occur in the cells.... John Walsh likens it to cooking turkey in his book Using Insulin. Imagine that. And imagine the effect that smoking adds, and you can see why smoking is probably the worst thing you can do of the whole smoking/drinking/eating sweets trio. I loved loved loved smoking, but quitting was the most important thing I've done in the last 10 years, and I'm so thankful I did it. Get help if you need it -quitting an addiction is not a matter of willpower. You'll be an awful lot healthier, and it really takes that invisible load of guilt off your mind. And good luck!

[lilituc]

Diabetes can be the result of chronic drinking - longterm alcohol can cause pancreatitis. This kind of diabetes isn't really Type 1 or Type 2. It's diabetes due to pancreatitis.

That said, if you had pancreatitis, you would have many more problems going on than just the diabetes.

[pokie]

I am a recovering alcoholic. Several years ago I went to rehab to get sober; then started working on my health which was pretty terrible. That is when I found out I was a diabetic and I immediately assumed I had somehow brought it upon myself with 2 decades of heavy drinking. My doctor assured me that I had not. He also informed me that staying clean and living a healthy lifestyle would never make my diabetes "go away", that I am and will always be a diabetic, and how I live my life from here on out will make the difference between a long life with good quality, and the alternative which is not pretty.

[Ahmsmom]

No, the alternative is not pretty. I agree. My husband is 36 and was diagnosed with diabetes 15 years ago.Since he was diagnosed he has been very lapse in taking his diabetes seriously. He has had lows down to 15 before and more than once. He found out in February this year that he has Stage 3 kidney disease, Macular Edema, his potassium level is in the danger zone, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and neuropathy. He is an alcoholic diabetic who still thinks he can drink alcohol and be okay. He tells me that the alcohol has nothing to do with his diabetes. He refuses to stop drinking! I cannot make him see that his wife and 3 kids do not want to watch him kill himself. Please stop drinking and take care of yourself or eventually you will end up like my husband!!!!!!!

[angelsbridges]

Reading this scares me.

I agree that you should stop drinking. I had a heavy drinking problem 2.5 years ago (drinking a litre of vodka every two days). I started having symptoms about 1.5-2 years ago, and it scares me that I might have brought this on myself (I am only prediabetic, so I'm hoping I never actually get a full dx), but since then, it's just not worth it.

You need to sit down and weigh out what's important. Drinking now makes me sick. I'll usually have a glass of wine with food, but if I go outside that mark, I get so ill it's not worth it either.

Good luck...I hope you find out what works for you.

[cwathne]

did you post that your A1C was something like 10.2? thats a 3 month average test

have you tested at 270 and 450?

Dude, you have diabetes. You are most likely in the honeymoon period.

A non-diabetic person would NEVER have numbers like that, it doesn't matter what is eaten/drunk.

[DannyK]

lilituc is ABSOLUTELY correct...


In chronic pancreatitis widespread injury to the pancreas over many years cause extensive scaring and destruction of the pancreas. This condition is mostly frequently associated with alcohol abuse and excessive smoking. In many patients this condition may develop without any apparent cause.

Chronic pancreatitis is a slowly progressive disease that takes many years to develop and leads to destruction of pancreatic tissue. In many patients chronic pancreatitis is often silent and may not cause any symptoms.

Patients with chronic pancreatitis are at risk for developing
the following problems:
severe chronic pain
diabetes mellitus
poor absorption of nutrients from the digestive tract especially fats
cancer of the pancreas
blockage of bile ducts
pseudocyst
bleeding from the stomach

Diabetes mellitus: Diabetes is a frequent complication in chronic pancreatitis. Diabetes develops from destruction of insulin producing cells in the pancreas caused by the inflammation found in chronic pancreatitis. The diabetes that develops in chronic pancreatitis is very difficult to treat and usually requires insulin injections.

Source: Center for Pancreatic and Biliary Diseases
University of Southern California

[Another T1]

to what everyone else said. Smoking = amputation is the word from each and every endocrinologist and GP I have talked to over the last 8 years and 11 months. Alcohol consumption is also discouraged strongly if you do not have control or are having a bad week. I hate to break this to the OP but this is NOT a condition you can "blow off for any length of time without serious negative consequences. Best of luck and hope the smoking and drinking stop.