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Diabetes?


foursixand2

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i doubt you have diabetes... especially because your glucose test was essentially normal...

 

. . . . it's impossible to have so near normal glucose levels in a untreated type I diabetic... so don't waste your money doing any more glucose tests... you won't have ketones in your urine if your glucose was essentially normal (so don't waste any money on keto-sticks)...

 

btw original poster... i think trying 'diagnosis online' is a bad move... i can't even decide whether you are really ill or if you are just a hypochondriac making a fuss about nothing... tbh i ask myself - if you were really so ill, why would you care about paying to see a doctor?...

 

all i would say is that you may have diabetes insipidus... diabetes insipidus is due to a lack of a hormone (ADH)... it isn't very common but it would explain why you have all the symptoms of diabetes but have normal blood glucose levels...

 

i do appreciate the hope that i probably dont have it as evidenced by nearly normal glucose levels.

 

I dont see how this discussion is a 'bad' move. Its slightly better than doing absolutely nothing, and i doubt its greatly inconvenienced anyone. I havent really made any fuss, and im not a hypochondriac. I didn't even claim to be 'so ill'. But i REALLY do have those two symptoms i mentioned. I have read there are some psychological disorders that can cause a person to think they need excessive amounts of water. Perhaps this is my case.

 

I wont be wasting money on the keto-sticks, they will be stolen if i get them.

Why would i care about paying to see a doctor? i dont think you understand, that im not ABLE to do that. I am currently employed as a convenience store clerk. No benefits, including no health insurance. I am looking for a new job though.

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ok... i don't really get the american system... we have free healthcare here...

 

but you definitely haven't got a psychiatric illness... the reason some psychiatric patients drink more is that a some schizophrenic medications (e.g. phenothiazine) causes a dry mouth and this causes them to drink excessive water... it is a side effect of the anti-psychotic medication (but it is definitely not indicative of mental illness)...

 

as far as i know... the differential diagnosis for polydypsia/polyurea if it isn't diabetes mellitus is that it is diabetes insipidus (cranial or nephrogenic)... i don't know how you would diagnose DI... but you can't diagnose it using ketone sticks or blood glucose levels... you would probably need to measure ADH levels in the blood (cranial DI should have low ADH) or give something like desmopressin (nephrogenic DI shouldn't respond to this whereas normal patients should)... but i'm only guessing here... in any case i would recommend you see a doctor whatever the cost...

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I have read there are some psychological disorders that can cause a person to think they need excessive amounts of water.

 

FWIW, I have always been a thirsty person. Even as a kid the other kids would tease me about the quantity of water I drank. With my blood sugar under control I am still thirstier than average. I don't "think" I need more water, I am physically thirsty. I don't think it's a disorder per se, just a trait I have. You too could be just another thirsty individual.

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Water only... or... DIET soda.

 

Don't let me change the subject here, but I couldn't help but ask about this. Aspartame actually gets around the sugar problem for diabetics? That's really interesting, I had no idea. Does sucralose offer the same benefit? (I noticed you said "diet soda" but I think that's still mostly NutraSweet, right?)

 

Just curious, thanks.

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Aspartame actually gets around the sugar problem for diabetics?

 

Not really. It doesn't cause an increase in blood sugar but it does increase one's appetite.

 

Does sucralose offer the same benefit?

 

Sucralose doesn't increase blood sugar at all and it isn't the appetite stimulant that aspartame is. Being calorie free, it doesn't provide any energy either.

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My appetite is plenty big all on it's own. A minor increase would simply be a drop in the bucket. However, to your question, when I do drink soda I drink diet soda by default, and I don't need to take any insulin to compensate for it. Were I to drink a regular Coke or Dr.Pepper, for example, I would need to take a few units of insulin to avoid hyperglycemia. :)

 

 

Being a diabetic, carbohydrate counting tends to come (for me anyway) before energy concerns. That's what I look for... How many carbs does this have? Then, I know how much insulin to take. Diet soda has zero carbs, or on very rare occasions, one, and I don't need to worry.

 

 

Sucralose... I presume that's Splenda? If so, that's about the same... no carbs, like Coke Zero... no need for insuliln.

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Were I to drink a regular Coke or Dr.Pepper, for example, I would need to take a few units of insulin to avoid hyperglycemia. :)

 

Same here. Fortunately water has always been my favorite drink :)

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i do appreciate the hope that i probably dont have it as evidenced by nearly normal glucose levels.

 

I dont see how this discussion is a 'bad' move. Its slightly better than doing absolutely nothing, and i doubt its greatly inconvenienced anyone. I havent really made any fuss, and im not a hypochondriac. I didn't even claim to be 'so ill'. But i REALLY do have those two symptoms i mentioned. I have read there are some psychological disorders that can cause a person to think they need excessive amounts of water. Perhaps this is my case.

 

I wont be wasting money on the keto-sticks, they will be stolen if i get them.

Why would i care about paying to see a doctor? i dont think you understand, that im not ABLE to do that. I am currently employed as a convenience store clerk. No benefits, including no health insurance. I am looking for a new job though.

 

You might contact the American Diabetes Association in Salt Lake City to see if they have resources available for uninsured testing.

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ok... i don't really get the american system... we have free healthcare here...

 

I don't get the USAmerican system either. It's the best in the world (I've heard, but admittedly have never taken advantage of another system) if you can afford it or have a good insurance plan associated with your employer, but it stinks big time if you lose your job related benefits or don't win the lottery, but a "free" system is nothing short of amazing. How does that work?

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Go to doctor. You may not have diabetes, but your abnormal water intake may be making you hypertensive. You mentioned "blurred vision." Though high blood pressure might just be a symptom of whatever is causing your thirst, its something that shouldnt be fooled around with. Freakin hitup the dr and you'll be better off.

 

Well unless someone sneezes on you in the office...

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At the risk of sounding like a bigot....well, sorry but I am relatively innocent of that but I am guilty of MANY other gnawing and gashing of teeth for eternity-worthy sins, so better luck next time........here goes anyway....

 

Here in AZ, if you go to the emergency room and pretend you don't have a SS number, you're pretty much home free for a variety of services. I'm sure that diabetes testing would be covered because most of the people packing in the emergency rooms here (and believe you me, they are REALLY packed here) do not have insurance but have relatively common, self limiting things such as the flu.

On the other hand, if the billing agent knows you have a SS number, they will pry it out of you and you can expect to get a hefty bill and a big ding on your credit if you don't pay up.

 

I feel kind of silly for not thinking of it sooner, but maybe its worth a shot?

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I don't get the USAmerican system either. It's the best in the world (I've heard, but admittedly have never taken advantage of another system) if you can afford it or have a good insurance plan associated with your employer, but it stinks big time if you lose your job related benefits or don't win the lottery, but a "free" system is nothing short of amazing. How does that work?

 

Health care is free but the standard of that health care you get is much lower than you get in america. We have one of the worst health services in europe despite being one of the richest. There is a massive shortage of health care workers and of money and there is a lot of bureaucracy and targets that can be counter-productive.

 

For example, one target used in england (but not in scotland or wales) is that you needed to have 98% of people processed through accident and emergency in 4 hours in order to get paid.

 

What happens in practice is that A+E docs panic when the 4 hour target nears and instead of keeping people in to monitor how they are - most are admitted to wards in the last 10 minutes just to meet a target.

 

That's one of many examples. Another one in the news is that many new cancer drugs won't be funded by the NHS because they are too expensive. What is worse is that if you want to pay for these treatments privately then you will have to pay for ALL your cancer care treatments privately. This will cost about £10,000 a month so that's ~£120,000 (and if you imagine that the average wage in the UK is ~£18,000 a year) you can see how crazy it is that you aren't allowed to just pay for Avastin therapy privately (~£5,000 a year) and have the rest of the treatment on the NHS.

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Health care is free but the standard of that health care you get is much lower than you get in america. We have one of the worst health services in europe despite being one of the richest. There is a massive shortage of health care workers and of money and there is a lot of bureaucracy and targets that can be counter-productive.

 

My intended point was there is no such thing as "free healthcare". Somebody has to pay for it.

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Researching more i am now convinced diabetes is not my condition. Normal fasting blood glucose level is between 70 and 110 g/dl. Fasting is considered to be going 8 hours without consuming calories, however people without diabetes are able to return their glucose to fasting level within three hours of eating. My measurement of 111 was between two and three hours after eating a decent sized meal. It is apparent i do not have a problem processing sugar. My girlfriends mother (i might as well start calling her my mother-in-law) told me of a clinic i can go to that is for people without healthcare. I dont know the whole extent of the services they provide there, but they can do all sorts of testing that is fairly inexpensive. So sometime in the near future i will make an appointment, they should be able to test my urine to find more information.

 

on another note i do like the shift this thread has gone in the direction of discussion of health care. My philosophy is that some type of access to healthcare is far better than none. Even if socialized medicine tends to be of somewhat lower quality than the American system (i have however heard from several sources this is not the case, i suppose it varies from country to country), people who would be uninsured would definitely benefit by having any service available.

 

I think the trump of this argument is Denmark. Happiest people, highest taxes. If you dont know about it look it up.

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