icon-nav-help
Need Help

Submit your question to our team of health care professionals.

icon-nav-current-questions
Current Question

See what's on the mind of the community right now.

icon-conf-speakers-at-a-glance
Meet the Team

Learn more about our world-renowned team.

icon-nav-archives
CWD Answers Archives

Review the entire archive according to the date it was posted.

CWD_Answers_Icon
July 17, 2008

Diagnosis and Symptoms, Other Illnesses

advertisement
Question from Mountsummit, Indiana, USA:

I need some answers please. I am a 44-year-old male. For the past four years, I have been seeing some odd symptoms. I am thirsty ALL the time, have dry skin (extremely dry hands, feet and on the end of my private area – been checked don’t have any sexually transmitted diseases), a tingly feeling, needed reading glasses within the past year, palpitations, fatigue, insomnia, and mood changes – panic and/or stress is just the flip of a tiny switch. I also have episodes where my body feels like it’s malfunctioning, including lightheadedness, palpitations, dry mouth (extreme) and then intense hunger, plus horrible hot flashes. The symptoms seem to be getting worse. I have been checked for heart problems other than palpitations and a few skipped beats that is life changing, but they said it was normal and a battery of other tests. Everything, I guess, is normal.

I did have one episode where my mother checked my glucose level and it was 50 mg/dl [2.8 mmol/L] and she told me to eat something sweet. I ate a couple of brownies and it was like a lightning bolt hit me. She checked it again and it read 290 mg/dl [16.1 mmol/L]. I don’t know if this makes any difference at all. That was the only bad episode I have had like that and I don’t want another one. I thought I was dying. My energy was going fast like I was going to pass out. I have had smaller ones where I’ll tingle all over and it feels like I will pass out, but it goes away and then I have intense hunger. I do smoke, but have cut down a lot (and I know I need to quit). I don’t drink or take any drugs other than my atenolol, 50 mg a day, for tachycardia and palpitations. I love to drink sweet tea. It seems like I crave sweets all the time. Does this make any sense?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

The list of symptoms you stated do not fit with any specific medical problem. Smoking does have its problems, but nothing jumps out as being specifically related. If you haven’t already, I would suggest a general physical exam by your primary physician so all the bases can be covered. It sounds like your cardiac work-up has been completed. This might also be a good time to consider healthy lifestyle, including diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and sleep practices. The blood sugar changes you mentioned are not specific for any problem.

JTL