[Khan]

What symptoms did you have before diagnosis? Did you just walk in for a routine blood test and found out that you were Diabetic?

I had thigh muscle atrophy about one year before diagnosis. I had severe pain while climbing stairs but it lasted for three weeks and then the pain vanished but change of muscle tone and loss of muscle mass remained.

Gradually building up from six months prior to diagnosis, I had more noticable erectile dysfunction.

[Granny Shanny]

Originally Posted by Khan

What symptoms did you have before diagnosis? Did you just walk in for a routine blood test and found out that you were Diabetic?

Yep - regular annual chem panel.

[foxl]

Classic T2 symptoms ... increasing belly fat for about a year. Even told my MD at my July 2008 checkup -- normal FBG, he told me, well, you know what to do. Then that summer, I had weird short-term memory glitches which were alarming to DH (could not recall things I had just done) and I felt unwell. This unwellness and the memory glitches seemed to pass though.

My Mom had passed away just in May and while early Alz came to mind, so did grief for her loss. DH was complaining about my snoring and wanting me checked for OSA. I passed my sleep test in August, with flying colors.

About November/ December, I was craving sugar, feeling thirsty, and peeing more. And then in January was aware I was losing weight. I was pretty sure I knew what this was. Finally tested one night, like 3 times, because I could not believe 447 was right.

If you want to go back even farther, I had frequent hypos that made me really cranky, about 15 yrs before, when I diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I had confirmed antibodies for Hashimoto's, do not know if they included GADAs then, but I was told to expect susceptibility to other autoimmune diseases, later in life.

[yannah]

vision was wierd. slept alot. belly fat situation big time. diahrea
constant. for 5 months. 5 months. and didn't go to the doctor.
toe nail fungus. numb toe. didn't go to the docotr.

[foxl]

Oh let us NOT FORGET the shared toenail and foot fungus, between DH and me, for the last 8 - 10 years.

IT'S SUGAR, YEA, even in the form of starch. WE ARE SURROUNDED. AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Josselyn]

I'd gained about 30 more pounds over six months...more belly fat... while too sick with gallbladder issues to eat most of the time.
Very t-i-r-e-d...all of the time. By the time I had the gallbladder removed, I'd been sick with it for a year, so I attributed my exhaustion to that.

I was diagnosed three months after surgery, while having a routine physical with a new-to-me MD. I was diagnosed while my FBGs were still about 97 and 99...but with an A1c of 6.6. I'd been low carbing for weeks...and fasted, so the OGTT results went through the roof...an unnaturally high 288 at the two hour stretch.
I was then all but branded...

I was floored by the diagnosis. I did not have actually diabetic numbers pre-operatively - we've gone back and looked. In January, I was still "normal" but by the end of May, my BG responses were those of a Type 2 diabetic having serious IR.
And here I am.

[Abra]

Just a partly numb toe that I attributed to an injury about 18 months before Dx. Belly fat too, but at my weight, I didn't think that was too surprising. Other than that, it was just a routine physical.

[foxl]

Now I am REALLY wondering ... back in my 120 lb stage, I was ... early 20's, I too had a numb toes thing going for a time and never did figure it out! I really really hope that was not ... this!

Oh and Josselyn, don't you really wonder which came first, the diabetes, or the belly? I know I wonder.

[ShottleBop]

Routine physical exam. A1c 6.5, fasting BG 127, and 123 on re-test. (Yes, I was tired after lunch, but I really didn't have any symptoms that would have made me go in for a test.)

[Rekarb]

I can never remember a time when I was not thirsty, I always became sleepy after eating and tired has been a feature of my adult life. I've always pushed myself so the tiredness just seemed to me as a part of it. My thin boney feet and fingers have always seemed to tingle when I was cold. None of this seemed like diabetes to me. What got me to a doc was just a real sense that something was going very wrong. I couldn't really verbalize it to my doctor. It was found by the A1c which put me at 9.9. My bg was 251.

The weird thing of all this is that now I'm not thirsty all the time nor am I tired and my fingers tingle far less when I'm cold. Have I been a diabetic since childhood or at least pre-diabetic? Man, I really wonder.

Mike

[warrenav]

A doctors visit for soreness in the lower throat area was what caught my diagnosis. Of course, at the same time I reported classic symptoms of:
thirst
peeing
numbness on inside edge of big toes
recent unexplained loss of weight

I was taken by surprise, but a quick finger stick in the doc's office (at 300-something) was all that was needed to confirm.

Warren.

[RandallFlagg]

I was sick for over a year. I complained to my doctor about urinary symptoms, always had to go. In hindsight, my family tells me I always had 2-3 drinks around me. Usually a soda, water and tea. I could go through them like nothing. Unfortunately, my doctor and a urologist saw a mid 40's male and chalked it up to prostate problems. I had a blood workup done and it said my prostate was fine. So they said it was probably an infection, which they kept giving me antibiotics for. Finally I had a old freestyle meter I had used 2 years prior. I still had a few old strips, but didn't know what I was doing. I tested with it and it said hi. I thought great, I want to know what my number is and this thing is greeting me. So the next day I force myself to go to Long's drugs and buy their inhouse meter. It was the cheapest and had the 10 strips with the meter. Lucky for me, this meter went to 600 as when I tested I was 572. I went to my doctor who is up the street and he was working at the hospital that day. They said I could have the first appointment in the morning. I really didn't think much about it because I had been feeling ill for so long. In the morning I went and was the first patient. The office was light and buzzing along as they were all getting into their day. When I told the nurse, who was a diabetic what my reading was, she changed. Then the doctor, who has been my doctor for 10+ years came in a little frazzled. They asked if I had eaten and I said no, and my reading was 332. After that it was pretty intense. They gave me a shot of insulin and prescriptions for pills. My doctor wanted me to go to the hospital as I was passing ketones. I told him that God hadn't taken me yet and I had been asking him to, so this news although bad to them, was actually good for me. I now knew what was wrong and would have ammunition to fight back. My numbers fell over the weekend and I've been good since. I can still eat most foods, the only thing I gave up was the junk (candy, sodas, ice cream). I still have a small portion of that stuff, just to keep the cravings away and only after a meal and when my numbers are low. This is the same doctor who diagnosed me with hypothyroidism many years ago, so I trust him. I saw others with my lack of energy that just passed it off. Lastly, the day of my diagnosis was the only time I've had a doctor call me himself 3 times to check on me. When he called at 5pm, he told me he was on vacation the following week and he wanted me in the hospital. I told him if by Monday I wasn't improving I would and for him to not worry and enjoy his vacation.

[jer.lawrence]

My sudden (over 2 or 3 days) near sightedness is what prompted me to go to the doc. I've always had 20/20. I had also noticed that prior to that, I'd been drinking and urinating very frequently for a couple of months (more than usual!). That's why I went to the doc instead of the eye-doctor. I told him "I think it's either diabetes, or I need glasses." Turns out it was that first one.

Looking back, though, I had more symptoms. I've always drunk a lot, and that has always lead me to urinate a lot. I was also always tired, and I had been gaining weight for years, but I attributed that to my lifestyle (and still do). The most shocking, though, was my energy level. I've always been pretty lazy (and still am, to an extent), but after I got my sugar levels in check, I had more energy than I can remember having in ages. So, I definitely had that symptom too, without even realizing it.

[ODAR]

Mine was a little different as I was always conscious of my weight and because I had put on "extra kilos" and it was sitting around my stomach - I was a little anxious why with all the exercise and various diets I was not loosing the weight. Was seeing a Naturepath at the time - who put me on a very low carb / yeast free/ sugar free diet.... but the most I would loose was just a couple of kilo's here and there.
Also extreme tiredness was a another factor.

So I went to my doc's for a routine blood test which for blood sugars came back a little high - at 6.5 Because D was in my family history - she decided to to to an OGTT and thus was dx in July 09.

[slewpnj]

I had applied for life insurance and had to get blood work done. A week later they sent me the results with 327 fasting blood glucose and 9.9 A1C.

I did not have one symptom and I knew what the classic symptoms were because I have many family members with type 2, including my spouse. I have been getting blood work done annually for the last 24 years because I had gestational.

The only "looking back" question mark was that about a month prior to the diagnosis, I was on vacation and got an ice cream cone after dinner. Took 2 nibbles and was overcome with wave of nausea and had to throw it out. At the time, I chalked it up to having been out in the heat all day, etc., etc.