Do You Have Diabetes?
Millions of people have diabetes mellitus, commonly called diabetes. You may be surprised to know that many of these people don’t even know they have it.

Diabetes is a serious disease and should not be ignored. If you have it, correct treatment can help you live a long and healthy life.

What Is Diabetes?
If you have diabetes, your body can’t make or use insulin. Insulin helps change sugar into energy to keep you alive.

There are different kinds of diabetes. The main ones are type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 Diabetes
This type of diabetes is mostly found in children and young adults. If you have type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin and you must inject insulin daily.

You May:
urinate often
be very thirsty
be very hungry
lose a lot of weight
be very tired
be irritable
have blurred vision
have trouble seeing.
Type 2 Diabetes
Most people with diabetes have this form of the disease. Type 2 is usually found in people over 45, who have diabetes in their family, who are overweight, who don’t exercise, and who have cholesterol problems. It is also common in certain racial and ethnic groups (blacks, American Indians, and Hispanics) and in women who had diabetes when they were pregnant. If you have type 2 diabetes, your body cannot make enough insulin or correctly use it. Treatment is diabetes pills and sometimes insulin injections, as well as diet and exercise.

You May Have:
any of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes
a lot of infections
cuts or bruises that heal slowly
tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
skin, gum, or bladder infections that keep coming back.
Controlling Diabetes
Daily monitoring and careful control of blood sugar levels are the most important steps to take for people with diabetes. If not treated, diabetes can cause:

High blood sugar (which could make you thirsty, tired, lose weight, urinate often, or give you infections that won’t go away)
Many serious health problems (which could hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves, or heart).
Warning: Low Blood Sugar
People with diabetes may develop low blood sugar because their blood has too much insulin or other blood sugar-lowering medication or from not eating enough food. It is important to follow the eating and medication schedule your doctor has prescribed to avoid low blood sugar.

Low blood sugar could make you shaky, dizzy, sweaty, hungry, have a headache, have pale skin color, have sudden mood or behavior changes, have clumsy or jerky movements, have difficulty paying attention, feel confused, or have tingling sensations around the mouth.

Taking Care of Your Diabetes
The best way to take care of your diabetes is to make sure the levels or amount of sugar in your blood are near the normal range. This will make you feel better and help you stay healthy.

Your doctor will tell you how often to check your blood sugar level. To do this, you will need to take a drop of your blood and place it on a special test strip. Then a device, called a blood glucose meter, reads the strip. This device measures the amount of sugar in your blood.

Writing down this level, along with the time and date, will help you see how well your treatment plan is working.

Remember:
A person’s blood sugar level rises after eating any meal that contains carbohydrates or protein. Table sugar (also called ?sucrose) counts as a carbohydrate. Artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin, aspartame (NutraSweet), and sucralose (Splenda), do not count as carbohydrates or fats. They make food taste sweet. But they do not raise blood sugar levels and have little or no calories.

What Else Can You Do?
Eat well-balanced meals. The right amount of healthy food will keep your weight under control and help manage your diabetes.

Your body needs food from the four main food groups every day:

Fruits and vegetables (oranges, apples, bananas, carrots, and spinach)
Whole grains, cereals, and bread (wheat, rice, oats, bran, and barley)
Dairy products (milk, cheese, and yogurt)
Meats, fish, poultry, eggs, dried beans, and nuts.
Remember:
Too much fat and cholesterol in your diet can be very harmful to people with diabetes. Food that is high in fat includes red meat, dairy products (whole milk, cream, cheese, and ice cream), egg yolks, butter, salad dressings, vegetable oils, and many desserts.

Can You Do Anything Else?
Exercise is important for good diabetes control. It usually lowers blood sugar and may help insulin work better. Exercise and a healthy diet can also help you take off extra pounds if you are overweight.

Warning:
Check with your doctor before starting any exercise program. You may need a snack before or during the activity to avoid having low blood sugar while you exercise.

I would go to your doctor right away. If left untreated worse things can happen over time. Your kidneys will fail, poor blood circulation can lead to amputation of limbs. Blindness can occur. Taking medication can help maintain diabetes. Besides you may not have it. If you do you could be border line which you can control by diet, or you could take the pill or you may be needle dependent. This is gambling with your life if you do not get testes for it. You seem to have all the signs. I would not wait any longer.

Do not panic: act decisively.

As yet, you do not have a confirmed diagnosis, but you need to get this checked immediately, and you have several indicative symptoms. It will be a lot worse if you take no action. You are not to blame for getting this (assuming it is diabetes), and the health implications if you do not see your GP are severe.

Your GP (doctor) will be able to arrange the necessary tests and get the results in a week of so. The GP will also confirm the type of diabetes you have (Type 1 or Type2). The information below is more geared towards Type 2, which is more likely at your age, but is also good for Type 1.

You have hypertension (high BP) and this is a risk factor, and the frequent passing of urine, tiredness and possible depression like features are all possible symptoms of diabetes.

Okay, I have been a Type 2 diabetic for several years becuse of a strong family link. The information below is for your general knowledge on the lifestyle changes you may need to make, even if you are not diabetic.

Getting used to the shopping once you know you have to make a lifestyle change is a little daunting. .

1. Juices (fruit or veg) are a big NO. They are monstroulsy high in sugar, and have little of the nutitional benefit of whole fruit/veg.

2. Regular moderate exercise is one of the most effective ways of monitoring blood sugar. Walking is the single best exercise with which to start, and work your wway up to a fast pace. 40-45 mins at LEAST every second day.

3. Change your diet, consulting the dietician as soon as you can. This is absolutely vital.
You will need to monitor fat and carbohydtare intake, and the tyes of carbohydrates you eat, how much and when during the dat you eat them. Do not fall into the idea of a low/no carb diet: your body will not cope well. That can cause the shakes and so on that you have had. These are due to your blood sugar being uncontrolled: it fluctuates wildly when this happens.. Never miss meals. You cannot ever do that again(assuming you ever did of course)!!

-Lots of fresh vegetables, especially green leafy and orange, like carrots/pumpkin. No fatty sauces or gravies, and lean meat, 125g (4 oz) servings 3-4 times a week.
Complex carbohydrate vegetables, such as potato and kumara have a bad rap, but it is more due to the way we cook and serve them. Eat recommended servings.

-Eat whole grains, and a broad mix:
Processed grains, flours and fruits are big time no-no’s except in small quantities as treats.

-Sweeteners are okay, but some brands are better than others. Try not to use sweeteners derived from sugar. Splenda is one to avoid for this reason..

-You need to know what Glycemic Index means. , It is a measure of how fast your body breaks down carbohydrates into the glucose your body uses for energy. Generally a GI of lower than 50 in considered ‘low, and over than is considered ‘high’, and there is no mid-range.

COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES have lower GI’s and thus provide sustained energy. Good cereals are low GI.

It is large amounts of the simple sugars you need to look out for: corn syrup, fruit juices, confectionary, cakes and biscuits (cookies). Fructose, Maltose, Sucrose and so on are all simple carbohydtares, and are to be minimised from your diet.

Fast food, McD’s are NO, NO, NO, NO! Very rare treats when your sugar level is back under control. Carry barley sugar for when you get shaky, it will give you a small sugar boost when your sugar levels are low. Try not to get caught with that as your only option. This is a responsibility: you simply must avoid these foods. Too much fat and sugar.

-There are low-GI cookbooks, foods and beverages available (anything artificially sweetened like diet lemonade and Coke Zero is okay)

-Light comsumption of alcohol all that is recommended, and no heavy drinking on weekends

4. Monitor your blood sugar twice a day. Get taught how to do it

5. Eat whole, fresh fruit. Canned is NO GOOD and dried is high GI (Glycemic Index). Not too much tropical fruit though as these are often high GI

7. Pasta is okay in sensible amounts, but no high fat sauces!

8. Basmati or wholemeal rice only. There is a low GI Australian developed rice called Doongara, but it in probably not available overseas.

Check out websties like .
There are American sites too.

It is an Aussie site, but you wil find links to other sites, and the information is pretty universal and cutting edge. Food information is there too, and there are many diabetic cookery books.

As you have perceived, your changes are in the nature of a lifestyle change, so exercise and diet, as well as monitoring, are all needed.

All those recommendations you will get for eye checks, dieticians and to see a doctor about this: great advice, go with it!

You have to be serious about this because, diabetes can lead to loss of eye-sight, heart disease, stroke, coma, amputations, and early death if not checked now.

You have recognised some of the problems in your current lifestyle, and you really do need to fix them.

You are better than his disease!

Sweetie…I understand that you’re scared, but you really need to just bite-the-bullet and go to the doctor. I had the same symptoms as you did…and put things off for almost a year before finally going to my doctor. By the time I went, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes. The messed up part (and the reason why I’m kicking myself to this day over) is that I was told that I had been pre-diabetic/insulin resistant for so long, untreated, that my pancreas just gave out…causing me to now require daily insulin injections. If I’d only gone when the symptoms started, I could have made the changes in my life that could’ve saved me from this disease. Don’t mess around with this kind of thing. Get yourself tested right away. It may not be too late. Do it for your self….*sigh* I wish I had.

You have every right to be scared and not see a doctor till you pass out and die .

OR, you can take control of your health.

Man, just grow up and take care of it.

Get yourself to the doctor’s and find out what’s going on.

Geesh. Ignorance is NOT bliss if you have diabetes. Its a diabetic coma, or a heart attack waiting to happen, or losing your feet, and your eyesight later on. Do you really want to risk that?

The sooner you get it under control, the healthier you’ll be.

I’m gonna let you in on what happened to me…I asked the same thing on here a while back. And was still scared to go to the doctor. I learned the hard way. I ended up getting sick, and having a severly high sugar level to where they said if I hadn’t gone to the hospital, I could’ve gone into diabetic shock, or slipped into a coma. It’s a serious diesease, and I’m still trying to cope with the fact that I have to live with it. And, like you, I’m young. I’m 24 now, and I found out last year. And let me tell you, it’s the worst feeling I’ve ever had when I got sick. I don’t wish it on no one. I couldn’t control my body. I was vomiting,shaking,sweating,and crying. It ******.But seriously please go get checked!!!!!!

Well, you’ll be more scared if you don’t go to the doctor and all the weird stuff starts happening to you. You get yourself to a doctor and get tested. It can be controlled.

go to the doctor. they can help you understand the disease better and if you have it, get you started on insulin. i have it and im 15. i have had it for almost 9 years this september. you know whats best for you, but atleast go see a doctor about getting screened for it.

Go to the doctor. Managing diabetes has come a long way, and allows for normal activities and routines more than it ever use to. I waited too long, it was not worth it! I am lucky I did not lose my sight, or my right leg, but since I waited I developed neuropathy, which means a sudden onsent of painful sensations, alternating with no sensation, which causes poor balance and a lot of falls. One such fall led to a knee injury which kept me off my feet for two months, a lot of physical therapy, helped with that, and now PT is working on balance strategies to compensate for sensory loss. At 20, you don’t want to start experiencing problems that will limit your life, and managing diabetes does not have to. I still work as an occupational therapist in a rehab unit at the local hospital, and after seeing person after person come in with a small wound that did not heal secondary to diabetes, and leave minus part of their body, it was a real wake up call to me. I can’t reverse the damage I let happen, but I can prevent further damage. And not all these people are elderly, who neglected diabetes for many, many years, some are younger than me. And if it does turn out not to be diabetes, whatever is wrong still needs to be identified and treated, so again. go to the doctor. Just burying your head in the sand will not make this go away, take charge of your health.