What were your first symptoms of type 2 diabetes?

For many people diabetes will not produce any symptoms until they have a complication from long standing diabetes like neuropathy or nephropathy.

But for other people symptoms like polyphagia (eating more), polydipsia (drinking more), and polyuria (increased urination), are the classic first symptoms of diabetes.

Still in other people, diabetes is diagnosed with routine blood work when they are found to have high blood sugar.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes completely by accident. I was not obese, had a non-sedentary job and did not consider that I had a poor diet.

I had some symptoms in retrospect that could be vaguely attributed to the onset of diabetes such as needing more fluid and being extremely tired. The tiredness I believed was due to my physical job as a care worker and the need for fluid I put down to the effects of my IBS.

I found out by testing my blood sugar on my daughter’s blood glucose monitor. It was 3 times higher than it should have been. An HbA1c test confirmed the diagnosis.

I have successfully lowered my blood sugar levels by vastly reducing my carbohydrate intake. At first, to help lose weight and body fat I followed a regimen where I was restricted to 100g carbs per day. After I reached my target BMI of 22 (down from 26), I allowed myself 150g per day.

My diet is higher in protein than it used to be and I don’t restrict my fat intake. I avoid refined sugar as much as possible, which was hard for the first couple of weeks but much easier later.

My last HbA1c test showed a normal level, cholesterol was good and as a bonus my blood pressure better than it has been for years.

My advice to everyone is get yourself tested regularly. In the UK it’s free at some chemists so you don’t even need to visit the doctor. It could save you some distressing symptoms at a later date!