Am I diabetic?

Question

I am 16 years old and have a BMI of 18.0. I am very slim and my friends are beginning to worry. However, my main worry is that I begin to physically shake when I am the slightest bit hungry. I drink at least 4 litres of water a day and can't eat a meal without a drink. Because of this I am constantly needing the toilet. I sometimes crave sugary foods and often feel very dizzy and light-headed, as if I could pass out any second, when I don't get my daily intake. Diabetes runs in both sides of my family. How can I make this stop and could this be the beginning of diabetes?

Answer 1

Diabetes usually manifests itself with a high blood glucose, weight loss, increased thirst and urination. A sweet smell can be smelt on your breath (pear drop smell) in sever cases. Diabetes occurs because your body does not produce enough insulin (the hormone which turn glucose into usable energy) the insulin allow the glucose to pass from the blood into the necessary tissues. The blood glucose then rises and rises in the blood stream.
Diabetes can also occur when the blood glucose drop abnormally low.
Is sounds as though you are suffering from hypoglycaemia, (low blood glucose) which if untreated can be life threatening. your body may not store glucose normally (if your BMI is on the low end of normal)
Firstly look at your diet are you eating properly with a balanced nutritious allowance.
Book into see your gp, he will give you a full health examination and probably some blood tests to rule out any illnesses. There in a condition where the pancreas produces to much insulin (insulinoma) and this could be one explanation. Low blood glu - symptoms include, hunger, cold sweats, pale skin, tremors weakness, dizziness, eventually collapse and coma, keep a sugary drink and chocolate with at all times until your doctor has come up with a diagnosis

Answer 2

Firstly, go and see your doctor!

Secondly, your symptoms can be interpreted in two ways; maybe as pointing to diabetes, but maybe as showing that as a slim person you naturally have a lower store of glycogen, which means when you need energy your body has none stored and you feel weak/ faint. You are therefore more likely to need food at regular intervals. Try eating "little and often" to maintain your blood sugar level throughout the day.

Thirdly, you sound like you're worried about this. Don't be, diabetes may not be curable but with the right treatment your lifestyle will require very few changes. You may even find that the health/nutrition information you receive after diagnosis leads you to a healthier diet than the one you have now!

Answer 3

The diabetic's blood sugar will most likely spike higher and take longer to return to normal. You have several different types of insulin response. Your first phase releases stored insulin very quickly after eating so that your blood sugar never goes too high. In other words, the spike is blunted. Your second phase is real-time insulin production, so while it takes longer to get released, it eventually does and takes up any remaining glucose that the first phase didn't get. In a person with Type 2 diabetes, not only is there insulin resistance, but the signaling to the pancreas from the gut is impaired. Usually the first phase deteriorates first, so a person in the early stages of diabetes might (without knowing it often) spike very high for brief periods of time after a meal. The second phase eventually kicks in and rebounds blood sugar, but the initial spike is the early warning sign that the glucose metabolism isn't working well. Eventually the second phase deteriorates, too, and so blood sugar takes longer and longer to return to normal. A person without any kind of impairment will usually not see much of a spike, and may never even cross 100 mg/dL. Blood sugar will also return to normal really quickly, often around 1-2 hours. Once the first phase insulin response disappears and the second phase starts laboring, blood sugar can take hours and hours (or days) to ever return to baseline or fasting levels. That's why it's important for a Type 2 diabetic to not eat foods that raise blood sugar too much. There won't be much first phase insulin response left to soften that spike and the second phase, while working, won't work as well as it would in a non-diabetic. I can stay below 100 mg/dL the entire time after a meal simply by not eating anything that would raise me over that in the first place. If I do eat foods that cause more of a spike, I won't be back to baseline within 2 hours.

Answer 4

It is very likely that you have diabetes and from the sounds of it type 1. Some of these symptoms resemble hypoglyceamia, I experienced the same two months before I was diagnosed. You have diabetes on both sides of the family and it is often the case that people inherit the tendency to develop diabetes. I am one of five generations of diabetics. You are constantly 'peeing' which dehydrates you, so you drink more and you think you are peeing because you drink. You are peeing so much because your body is not metabolising sugars and your body needs to get rid of the sugars. Peeing is the body's way of doing that.

Get to the doctor as soon as possible.

With treatment there's nothing much to worry about.

Answer 5

When a person develops diabetes his body is unable to convert the sugar in his blood to a usable form that his body can use. This is usually caused due to a lack of insulin produced in the pancreas.

This causes a build up in your blood sugar levels which your body then tries to rid itself of and lower the level by urinating.

The constant urination makes you dehydrated causing you to become very thirsty.

The lack of usable converted sugar that your body is not getting, makes you become very hungry and crave sugary foods.

This combination, will in turn, cause the dizzy-spells headaches and much more.

Diabetes is hereditary.

Normal blood sugar ranges are between 60-110.

You can get a quick blood sugar level check by using a glucometer. Your family should have several of these instruments around since they are diabetic themselves.

Which leads me to suggest to you to let your family know whats going on. You probably have a house full of diabetic experts.

A persons BMI can contribute and complicate a diabetic condition. Your BMI is 18.0. 35 To 40 BMI would be considered obese which amounts to be approximately 100 pounds over your ideal weight. It doesn't appear that your in that range.

Don't wait any longer get it checked

Seems to me if your accurate in your description of symptoms then at the least it warrants a Doctors visit either way.

Answer 6

It could be simply the fact that your not eating enough. Water doesn't have calories in it and your body is shaking because, you need sugar intake, but it doesn't make you diabetic. My mum is a diabetic and I also go through what you do but it's related to an eating disorder and not eating enough for me on some days. Go to a family member that has it and ask them to do a BSL test on it, they just simply take prick your finger and use the monitor, it should give you a reading..however don't eat before you do it.
Even though I don't think it's diabetes it's still a possibilty so you should get checked out anyway. Good luck:)
x

Answer 7

Diabetics have high sugars. Sounds like you may get low sugar when you are hungry, this is not a symptom of diabetes. 4 litres of water is a little generous, average person drinks 2 1/2. If you are worried about your health see your GP. It would be justified to do a few tests, if only to reassure you.

Answer 8

Some symptoms of diabetes include:

Frequent urination
Excessive thirst
Extreme hunger
Unusual weight loss
Increased fatigue
Irritability
Blurry vision
If you have one or more of these diabetes symptoms, or are worried or concerned that you might have diabetes, see your doctor right away. Your doctor can best diagnose your problems, and prescribe the necessary tests to determine the problem (in the case of diabetes, typically a Glucose tolerance test, which will show how your body metabolizes glucose; a Hemoglobin A1c, to show the average level of glucose in your blood over the past few months; and a Serum glucose test, to show the blood glucose level at the time of testing). Yoour doctor is teh best person to diagnose you, and to prescribe the proper course of treatment for you, not people on Yahoo Answers, who can't examine you. Hope this helps!

Answer 9

You most certainly have all the symptoms, the first thing to do is to see the Doctor immediately. Diabetes is easily controllable sometimes by diet and tablets and sometimes by needles. It is not dangerous when controlled but can cause major problems if ignored including damage to the eyes heart problems etc. My wife has been diabetic for many years and is fit and healthy at 69 years old. She lives a normal life, eats well and has no problems whatsoever as long as she keeps to her medication. Don't worry about it you are one of thousands but do please get checked out right away. Good Luck.

Answer 10

I am diabetic, Type I, I do recommend you get tested for Diabetes, I had the same symptoms you have when I found out I was diabetic. It is not so bad if you are, it is not a disease or illness, it's a way of life. I am available if you have any other questions.