Diabetes Guidelines

Hi, anyone out there with experience of diagnosing diabetes help with this please.

I was showing usual signs of type 2 so had blood tests done which showed a result of 22. I was prescribed 1000mg of metformin a day 3 days ago which I was told would take up to 6 weeks to show results. However both yesterday and today when I tested my blood at different times of the day my levels have been averaging out at around 9.

With the levels dropping so quickly I was wondering,
1. Can the metformin work so quickly?
2. If not then have I possibly been misdiagnosed?

Thanks for any advice.

Your bm’s can change substantially during the day anyway, depending on when you eat and what you eat, especially if you’ve taken advice to heart and completely cut out sugars etc. That’s why they usually don’t recommend self-testing your blood frequently, or for that matter at all, with Type 2. It’s unnecessary and often leads to confusion and alarm over the results. Instead you’ll be tested on maybe a 6 monthly basis to see what the average has been over several months.

Don’t fret over it too much, let your professionals tell you what you need to do.

I know it’s foolish to inquire medical advice over the internet but i’m just looking for a second opinion before i return to the doctors again.

I am a seventeen year old girl, i’m 5’6 and i weight eight stone and half an ounce.
I am constantly tired. Exhausted even.
I am always hungry. I eat, i eat and i eat. Everything from junk food to healthy food and i never feel full, i recently went to the doctors due to rapid weight loss and failure to gain even a pound and thirst problems.
(these problems have been around for a long time).
I have terrible short-sightedness and suffer from blurry vision and headaches even when i wear my glasses.
When i went to the doctors, she set me up for some blood tests, she thought i may have a thyroid problem or anaemia.
All of the tests came back negative.
I’m wondering if i do suffer from type one diabetes is there a unique test to prove this or would it have shown up in any blood test?

Also, i am not sure if this is relavent, but my eldest sister suffers from type one diabetes.

Any (relavent) feedback is welcome.

Your sister has a Glucose meter. When you wake up do a fasting test yourself. Here are the numbers:

What Are Normal Blood Glucose And Blood Sugar Levels

There are various methods to determine blood glucose level. Some tests give you accurate diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes, while others will tell you how well you are managing your diabetes.

Fasting Blood Sugar Test:
Measures the blood sugar level after 8 hours fast or overnight. Normal fasting blood glucose level is less than 100mg/dl. If your fasting blood glucose level is from 100mg/dl to 125mg/dl then you will have impaired blood glucose level also known as Pre-Diabetes. If your blood glucose level is above 125mg/dl then your doctor will diagnose as a patient of diabetes. To confirm the diagnosis, your doctor may repeat the fasting blood glucose test on any other day. If you have blood glucose level of 126mg/dl or higher in two consecutive tests, then you may have diabetes. If you have blood glucose level greater than 200mg/dl and you have symptoms of diabetes like increased thirst or hunger, frequent urination, weight loss, blurred vision etc, then you may be diagnosed with diabetes mellitus without confirming it with second test.

Random Blood Glucose Test:
Random blood Glucose test gives your blood sugar at any time in a day. Normal random blood sugar level should be less than 200mg/dl. If your random blood glucose level is between 140mg/dl to 200mg/dl then you will have pre-diabetes.

This is the easiest and quickest way to deterime if you have diabetes. Then its up to doctor to determine if you have Type 1 Or Type 2 diabetes.
Do it tommorrow>

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last week and now I feel like my life is ending. I’m not even 15 yet and I feel like I’ve been handed a death setence. I know I might be blowing it out of preportion a little but diabetes can be fatal.

My friends are treating me different as well. They refuse to touch me as if I’m going to either break or they’ll catch it. I feel like no one can relate to me anymore. My parents/step-parents have done nothing but cry and I can’t put up with it anymore.

I just want to lock myself away. My doctor has the worst bedside manner in the world and just keeps shoving information down my throat. He wants me to wear an OmniPod.

Is there anyone on here who has diabetes/diabetic relative? How did you cope when first diagnosed and did your friends treat you different?

How can I get over this phase of depression? I don’t want my life to be ruled by this disease.

Thanks for any help you can give.

I didn’t know Nick Jonas wore one as well. That makes me feel a bit better. And yeah, I like the Jonas Brothers.

This is NOT the end of the world nor even the world as you knew it last week!!

Even my adult friends didn’t know what to do when I was diagnosed several years back!

You need to read and heed the info the doctor gave you. You can live to be 100+ if you pay attention to that information!! And you can be much healthier than any of your so called friends as well.

So we have to do either MDI, multiple daily injections with their attendent grams of carb counting, or we can do the insulin pumps with their attendent grams of carb counting!

The only thing that died is your pancreas! It got sick and quit working! If it was appendix that is easier to fix, simply have it out. But the pancreas has life saving secretions and when it dies, we have to do something else. Same difference tho. We have to pay attention!!

Nick Jonas does indeed have an insulin pump! He was devastated when diagnosed too! As was Mary Tyler Moore a lot of years ago in the dark ages of diabetes care!

Read some stuff on the internet that is for helping you to cope with this slight alteration to your life plan:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm

http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/book/chapter9.shtml

http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/book/chapter10.shtml

And finally there are a couple of really good groups on My Space for teens with diabetes.

Support of one’s peergroup is very very important. You can educate your friends as you learn about this. Talk to them, have them read all the info the doctor has given you. Some of them will be subject to getting type 2 eventually and the treatments are very similar.

My blood sugar reading after fasting is 5.1 and random blood sugar reading (after breakfast) is 5.5 I take medication for my diabetes. I watch everything I eat and workout everyday. What is a healthy blood sugar reading for fasting and randon levels?
My doctor said 4-5 is optimal. My sugar reading has come down from 22 upon diabetes diagnosis in mid Sept to 5.1 this past week. Thank you.

4.4 to 6.1 is normal. You’re doing great!! Right in the middle.

By the way, for those Americans who can’t divide or multiply by 18, here’s a handy converter: http://www.brist.plus.com/convert.htm

One doctor says I am diabetic and that my cholesterol is under control. The other one says I am pre-diabetic and should be taking a higher dosage of Zocor because my cholesterol is high. How do I determine who to believe? My blood tests are available to both doctors.
I am 70 years old, eating a proper diet (most of the time). I guess what I should have asked is how doctors determine the dosage of Zocor for a patient. One says 20 mg the other says 40 mg.

Get copies of both blood work results. You have paid for them and are entitled to them. Most labs have the "satisfactory" ranges for each item on the results page. You can google for the definition of each of the lines on the results page.

If doctor #1 says you are diabetic, and doctor #2 says you are Pre diabetic, find out what the A1c number actually is.

I would much rather be labeled diabetic. Insurance and medicare will pay for all testing supplies and if necessary the meds. They will also pay for your referal to dietician and to Certified Diabetes Educator and Diabetes Education classes. These are all very expensive except some of the meds.

I thought for years that I was eating healthy!! I taught foods and nutrition to children!! I lived, ate, and taught the food pyramid!!! Now I find that if I lop off the bottom layer of the food pyramid, lay off potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, dried beans, I can control my glucose levels much better.

Cholesterol meds do not lower cholesterol very much at all!!! Neither does eating fewer cholesterol containing foods. Maybe the statins do help with preventing kidney damage,

Loosing weight, tight control of glucose levels, and more exercise do work wonders in lowering Cholesterol.

Maybe you should go see a third doctor? This one an Endocrinologist?? At preferably a teaching hospital!!

4-6 is normal, but mine was only 7 and 7.1 (only around the 150′s), so they also did a test that took the average sugar of the last 2 weeks, which was 379, so they decided I was diabetic. But if it is only slightly raised it may be you were sick and so thats why they did the two week test, because you don’t want to put a non-diabetic on insulin…

And A1c’s don’t diagnose the diabetes, two fasting blood sugars done on a lab above 120 is the diagnoseses.

At what age is it normal to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? is it unusual to be diagnosed in your 20′s?

It can happen from birth all the way up to early 30′s…but most I’ve heard have been diagnosed between about 8 and 14. I was 16. It’s less common to get it in your 20′s, but certainly you have plenty of company. The advantage is that you’re more mature and are better able to absorb all the complicated information, plus you have a head start in age, so any complications would be further off.

And Sue, most Type 1′s are not diagnosed at birth, far from it.

At what age is it normal to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? is it unusual to be diagnosed in your 20′s?

It can happen from birth all the way up to early 30′s…but most I’ve heard have been diagnosed between about 8 and 14. I was 16. It’s less common to get it in your 20′s, but certainly you have plenty of company. The advantage is that you’re more mature and are better able to absorb all the complicated information, plus you have a head start in age, so any complications would be further off.

And Sue, most Type 1′s are not diagnosed at birth, far from it.

when was the first case of diabetes ever recorded?

According to Gary Scheiner in his book "Think Like a Pancreas", the first recorded case of diabetes dates to a 1552 BC papyrus by the Egyptian physician Hersy-Ra. The first recorded case of gestational diabetes was in 1823, but I’m sure it happened many, many times before but it was just blamed on a difficult pregnancy.

My doctor phoned today to say I have type 2 and my blood count is 17.

Anyone know if that is really bad or just a bit bad?

She sent some Metformin round to the house so I could start taking it today – 500mg 3 times a day.

I’m 52 and thought my health was ok (though looking back I have had all the symptoms for a year. I think they have just got worse so slowly I didn’t really notice).

Any advice or information would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

hi i have type 2 diabetes myself and when i first found out my blood count was between 18.0 and 19.0 and now its normaly between 4.0 and 8.0 it can done and taking a look at your question there your on the same tablets and number of time i am just watch what you eat take a 30 min walk a day and on it wont belong before you know what i mean just add @yahoo.co.uk to my name here if you like to e-mail me and and ask me any more i would belighted to be of any help i can