Question from Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA:

I am 48-year-old Caucasian female. My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 in 1999 and my son tested antibody positive in 2001. Both are doing well.

I am 5 feet, 4.5 inches, 148.5 pounds. I previously weighed 169 pounds, but have stayed around 148 pounds for two years. About the time I was at my peak weight, I started to have low blood sugars, 30 mg/dl [1.7 mmol/L] to 50 mg/dl [2.8 mmol/L], with symptoms. During this time, I modified my diet and exercised and slowly lost weight. Then, I rarely had symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Presently, I am having vision issues, a wiggly sensation in my eyes, not unlike feeling low so I tested my blood sugar and got several high reading, 150 mg/dl [8.3 mmol/L] to 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] before I realized the strips were incorrectly coded. With the correct code for the strips, my blood sugars were 80 mg/dl [4.4 mmol/L] to 90 mg/dl [5.0 mmol/L]. I did call my doctor and got blood work, which indicated a random blood sugar of 90 mg/dl [5.0 mmol/L] and an A1c of 6.1. In the meantime, at home, I have had a few blood sugars in the 140s mg/dl [7.8 to 82 mmol/L]. Once, before eating, my blood sugar was 72 mg/dl [4.0 mmol/L]; two hours later, it was 67 mg/dl [3.8 mmol/L]

This is not making any sense to me for what I believe I know about type 1 and type 2. Can you explain further? My family practitioner has diagnosed type 2. I will be having other maintenance screenings, blood and urine with our family practitioner, plus will continue monitoring, dieting and exercising. I was told I can have a comprehensive eye test, for which I am past due, if my blood sugar is in the 80 mg/dl [4.4 mmol/L] to 100 mg/dl [5.6 mmol/L] range at the time.

Even though I have dealt well with my children for almost a decade, I feel taken aback with my own diagnosis, especially since I have lost weight gradually and maintained my weight. Now, this is rearing its ugly head!

I have been on Synthroid since 2001 for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome since 1994 with pregnancy, left with residual damage, tenditis, and other orthopedic inflammatory history, With the autoimmune history in the family, should I screen for anything else? Should I see an endocrinologist?