May 26, 2004
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Washington, USA:
Recently, I’ve had most of the symptoms of diabetes. However, I’ve seen a doctor several times and they cannot determine where my symptoms are coming from. My glucose tolerance test came back normal. The A1c came back normal, too. Concerned that I might have some sort of unusual hormone imbalance, they sent me to a nurse practitioner who practiced in endocrinology. I gave her a chart of my symptoms. She told me that my previous doctor had done a fairly large work up, including a chem 12 and TSH test in addition to the A1c and glucose tolerance test, and, since that was clear, I was either crazy or pregnant, literally crazy. She suggested that I was obsessive compulsive or schizophrenic.
I find both of these suggestions ridiculous, and perhaps even out of line. Are there other diseases that present like diabetes? Is it possible to have diabetes without the ‘right’ numbers in the early stages?
Answer:
It is not likely you have diabetes with normal numbers. Sometimes people urinate frequently and fear they have diabetes. This is especially true because the other symptoms of fatigue and visual changes can be nonspecific or part of an age-related change in vision. It is good you were tested. However, I would find it reassuring that no abnormalities were noted.
JTL