October 5, 2010
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Uppsala, Sweden:
I am 31-year old man. I am about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) underweight. A few weeks ago, I complained of sharp pains in my shins and went to doctor in Sweden (I am an Iranian but live in Sweden). My first blood sugar test result was 6.3 mmol/L [113 mg/dl]. I was not active at all before that. After starting exercising and dieting, my blood sugar test came down to 6.1 mmol/L [110 mg/dl] and 5.7 mmol/L [103 mg/dl] within one or two weeks and has never gone higher than 6.0 mmol/L [108 mg/dl] those times when I have tested. My A1c was 4.4 or 4.9 (I don’t remember). I feel bitterness in my mouth and I have some redness on my skin next to my sex organ on my thigh on both sides but not in equal areas and still some sharp pains in my shins. My doctor says these complaints have another explanations and the only thing you need to do regarding blood sugar is exercising.
I have no history of diabetes in my family. Due to my weight, I am very concerned about LADA, MODY or any other kind of diabetes. There are many worrying symptoms on web sites so that my anxiety affects my life and my work. I were to have either LADA or MODY or other types of diabetes, how many months or years does it take for me to use medication or inject insulin? What should I do now? Because of my weight, can I eat anything I want?
Answer:
First, it does not appear you meet any of the criteria for the Diagnosis of Diabetes. Without that, I do not think you can say diabetes is the cause of your symptoms. You need to speak further with your physician about the cause for your other symptoms. Because you say you are underweight and not overweight, it does not sound like you have restrictions on calories. However, you will want to make good choices for nutritional foods. Exercise is still important to build good muscle tissue. If you exercise and eat healthy, muscle is more active at metabolizing glucose and helps you avoid diabetes.
JTL
