Type II, adult onset diabetes. Symptoms, insurance and other questions..

[Joanne]

A year or two ago, I asked about losing hair and thyroid. I had my thyroid checked and the tests came back fine. No explanation for the hair loss other than ongoing, chronic stress.

 

Well....... here are a few other symtoms I have and possible risk factors:

 

1) I want to sleep after every meal. For example, the other day after brunch, and after a full night's sleep, I took a 3 hour nap. I could FEEL the sleepiness start after eating. I feel that way after eating more than 80% of the time.

 

 

2) I have "falling asleep" or "numbness" in my arms and hands every night.

 

3) I have had repeated bladder infections.

 

4) I crave sugar (I assumed this was stress related)

 

Other factors:

 

a) I am obese. On paper, I am obese. I don't FEEL obese @ a size 16, but weight-chart wise, I am.

 

b) Both my parents had/have type 2 diabetes.

 

c) My mom was diagnosed back in the 70's with hypoglycemia when she was about my age.

 

I am not a hyper sick sensitive person. I tend to ignore things and have a high pain tolerance.

 

I am thinking of getting tested. However, I do not know what my medical insurance status is (remember DH was laid off?) and we do not have the appropriate paperwork yet for Cobra, etc.

 

If I get diagnosed while in insurance limbo, does that make it a pre-existing issue?

 

Advice and feedback on symptoms, testing, and insurance welcome.

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

My first recommendation (as always) is to seek the advice of a Nurse Practitioner or physician.

 

With that said, you might consider buying a glucose monitor. You can buy one at any drug store and they usually come with a small supply of testing strips. Then monitor your fasting blood sugar and perhaps your blood sugar 2 hours after you eat and any time you feel sleepy or odd.

 

Here is a wonderful resource you can use to find out what all the "numbers and symptoms" mean. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/

 

Diabetes is not a condition one can manage completly independently, because there are many useful lab tests (HA1C, which gives a good idea of how your blood sugar has been for the past 3 months) and medications that cannot be obtained without a medical professional. With that said, many Type II diabetics can use diet and exercise to greatly reduce or eliminiate their need for medications. If one is diabetic, controlling the diabetes is the NUMBER ONE thing that person can do to prolong life, save vision, preserve organ function, and save internal organs. End of PSA, there.

 

Some very common symptoms of diabetes are extreme thirst, extreme hunger, frequent and copious urination, and unexplained weight loss.

 

ETA: I hate (HATE) insurance companies, and any individual insurance company will probably deny coverage to a diabetic or make it a pre-existing condition. Group insuance (ie through work) not so much, esp if one has not had a lapse of coverage. I've delt with COBRA, it is expensive and a pain in the behind. You may qualify for the COBRA government subsidy. here is the IRS page regarding this. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204505,00.html it is a lot of paperwork and many hoops to jump through, but totally worth it to get 65% of the COBRA premium payed for. My dh is laid off and we're using this program due to some issues that prevent us from getting coverage other than COBRA (once it is up an running it is not difficult to manage).

Edited January 1, 2010 by MeanestMomInMidwest

[Joanne]

Some very common symptoms of diabetes are extreme thirst, extreme hunger, frequent and copious urination, and unexplained weight loss.

 

I am hungry constantly. When I am not eating, I am peeing.

[ConnieB]

Yes, 90% of the insurance companies out there will consider a diagnosis of diabetes as a pre-existing condition and either refuse you coverage altogether or make it so expensive that you can't get it either.

 

Yes, many of your symptoms do sound like diabetes or related....and yes, going untreated is not normally recommended. BUT....your life situation is NOT normal right now. You need to take a long look at what your future holds before deciding if you really can afford to have a preexisting condition hanging over your head. Some things to consider:

 

 

Think about DH's past employers.....is your family always covered under the employer's group insurance? Or does he sometimes work for smaller companies that don't have group coverage or perhaps have plans that do not cover preexisting conditions? Most medium to large companies have a group policy that doesn't care about prexisting...smaller ones often don't cover preexisting because of the higher costs involved. If his typical type of employment is a company with good coverage and no concerns about preexisting, then it's really a matter of getting him employed again and then you can get your diagnosis. If however he either typically, or even sometimes, works for smaller companies that might exclude your preexisting or not provide coverage at all, then you definitely want to avoid having a preexisting until he finds employment somewhere that will cover you....which might mean it takes him longer to find employment, but considering the costs of self-insuring a diabetic, it's a necessary. Many families have to take their medical needs into consideration sometimes over salary or even working conditions....many a husband has had to stay in a job he'd rather not because of medical coverage (not just diabetes but many special needs kids have conditions that insurance companies may not cover as a preexisting condition).

 

You might want to look into individual insurance. I know most people think it's outrageously expensive, and it really depends on your family's current health (which for YOU does not include diabetes because it has NOT been formally diagnosed). My Dh works for a medium sized company that when he was hired provided excellent coverage....but each year since has raised the deductible AND raised the share the employee has to pay.....last year we finally started looking around at individual coverage and found that we could not only save money but we'd have a lower deductible....so now we pay our insurance ourselves. DH was able to negotiate with his employer to get them to pay US the same amount they'd have paid the insurance company for our coverage, so we're actually saving quite a bit over their coverage. DH's friend at work looked into this as well because of our experience, but friend's wife has had numerous health problems, and several mid-term miscarriages so their rates were nearly double ours and they only have 1 child! For his friend, it was worth staying under the umbrella of "employers insurance covers anyone". We found our rates through e-insurance.com, but there are quite a few other places where you can compare coverage and costs. Preexisting conditions like diabetes will preclude you from many of these.

 

If DH's career is the type where being laid off is a part of the work, then you definitely want to look into insuring yourself, because COBRA is a ridiculously overpriced stop-gap. It has governments way of putting a finger in the dam of people losing life-necessary insurance because of job loss....but sadly like many government finger-plugs it falls well short. I'm not sure I'm really an advocate of this health care proposal, but it's gotta be better than COBRA which costs more than unemployment pays leaving nothing for food, housing or other bills and yet covers very little.

 

Diabetes is not something to ignore....and it's also not something that you can completely regulate without medical supervision, but there are many things you can do while you await the ability to visit a doctor having to do with your diet and exercise. If you are pre-diabetic instead of actually diabetic, these changes can actually stave off the actual disease. For the typical person it will mean a major change in your lifestyle, but if you are pre or actually diabetic, it's going to have to happen anyway. Your library probably has several books about controlling diabetes.....follow their diet recommendations and exercise routines as those you already had a diagnosis. As another poster suggested you might want to purchase a monitor to check your numbers to see if you are pre or post diabetic....but also to monitor how the changes in diet/exercise are working for you. When/if you are diagnosed you will find that you have to do this anyway....you're just doing it before diagnosis as a stop gap so that you don't have the label of preexisting until you can handle it.

 

Obviously, if your symptoms get worse, or you have some of the more serious diabetic symptoms (look online for a long list of them), then you may have to just bite the bullet and seek the treatment you need and deal with the labels. The consequences of diabetes that isn't treated can be life threatening. Diet and exercise are a major part of treatment, but if they don't make a difference, then professional intervention is inevitable.

[plansrme]

You are eligible for the COBRA subsidy, so your premium will be 35% of the full (non-employer subsidized) premium. Your COBRA coverage will not have a pre-existing condition exclusion. Your coverage, if you make a timely payment of the premium back to the loss date, will be retroactive to the date employer-provided coverage ended.

 

If your husband's employer goes under or cancels its plan, your COBRA coverage will end, though if it is insured (as opposed to self-insured), some states may have non-COBRA continuation rights that apply to insurance policies issued in their states.

 

If you do not have a lapse in coverage of more than a couple of months (62 or 63 days--I don't remember which), a future employer's group health plan cannot impose a pre-existing condition exclusion.

 

Terri

[asta]

I am hungry constantly. When I am not eating, I am peeing.

 

Another thing to consider is that hunger, thirst and urination are the catch-all symptoms for a whole market basket of endocrinological issues - not just diabetes.

 

I drink water like a fish, pee constantly, and, when not on meds which have the side effect of making everything taste horrible, am constantly "hungry".

 

I don't have diabetes. I'm not even "pre-diabetic".

 

I have some other weird endocrinological stuff, but it is nowhere near diabetes.

 

I realize your life is completely upside down right now, but I would strongly suggest taking a step back and *really* looking at what is happening here: you're in school. You're looking at losing your house. You've been in the midst of highly stressful psych testing. You're dealing with a jerk of an ex. You're wondering how you're going to pay the bills.

 

What are you eating? Are your meals heavily meat and vegetables or are they heavily starch? If it is the latter, yes, you're going to crash. You're stressed, your body is craving the serotonin it can easily get from starch - but then it is going to put you to sleep for repair.

 

How is your salt intake? When people are very thirsty (increased thirst also comes with increased stress, BTW), they often don't realize that they are disrupting the electrolyte balance of their body.

 

From what I've read in your posts, your stress level would probably kill some people! At minimum, your body is probably producing cortisol in overdrive (Cortisol = stress hormone). And all of that cortisol is more than likely making you hungry, sleepy, tired, thirsty, puffy, etc.

 

Long before I had my forehead stamped *uninsurable*, I would take a long walk, a warm bath, and eat a Pedialyte pop while listening to one of those "sounds of the ocean" CDs.

 

And this is coming from someone who is uninsurable for myriad conditions.

 

HTH

 

 

a

[GoVanGogh]

I had very similar symptoms a few years ago and ended up being diagnosed with celiac. :tongue_smilie:

You could possibly change up your diet to see if helps w/your symptoms.

For me, it took a good month of being gluten free to tell a big difference. And I had repeated setbacks - it was so hard to give up bread! But it was so worth it.

[Denisemomof4]

I've been hypoglycemic since a very, very young child, with chronic UTI's since grammar school. I'm borderline diabetic right now.

 

I haven't read the other responses but have lived with this all my life AND have done a ton of reading, so I'm going to suggest the following.

 

I'd recommend getting a glycemic index and eat the foods low on the glycemic index. Limit carbs. Brown basmati rice is the carb lowest on the index. Because finances are tight, I can't recommend buying a ton of fruit and veggies, but I can recommend focusing on the cheaper ones. I *love* sauteed cabbage, onions, peppers and mushrooms served over rice. Find out what your favorites are. try to eat a lot of salads. Protein of some sort at every meal. THe more veggies, protein in your diet, the less fatigue you'll have. I have the same issue you do. The carbs are what are making your tired.

 

If you exercise daily, eat healthy and low carb, NO sugar, etc. things will turn around, even if you're diabetic. You will need to be on the thin side but you CAN reverse diabetes. When I had gestational diabetes I was checking my blood sugar all the time. A walk after a meal lowers the blood sugar.

 

Do you have any friends who are diabetic who could do a fasting blood sugar test in the morning before you eat/drink anything?

[Denisemomof4]

Joanne, I forgot to address the repeated UTI's. I had that issue, too, and learned to prevent them. I had an issue this month for the first time in over a decade, but have suffered from them since I was in grammar school.

 

Buy yourself some unsweetened cranberry juice and put some in water every day. I know it costs $6 for a bottle, but it goes far. I make sure to always have it in the house and at the first HINT of a UTI I start to douse myself with it. It helps TREMENDOUSLY. I also buy pure, organic, unprocessed and unfiltered apple cider vinegar and have a teaspoon in water 3 x per day. I make this stronger when I feel a UTI coming on. This has kept me off antibiotics for so long now.

 

About your fatigue - I do believe all the antibiotics you've been on has caused your gut flora to be out of balance. Do some research on Candida and try to get your gut back in balance. I know part of what kills off Candida is grapefruit seed extract, and it's very cheap and you can buy it in pill form. Check out iherb.com for herbs to help you. They have the best prices. If you take the grapefruit seed extract, apple cider vinegar AND follow a diet to rid your body of the yeast overgrowth, you will notice a change in your energy. But you need to keep the UTI's (and resultant antibiotics) away so that you can keep your gut balanced and healthy.