“As long as I feel fine, it does not matter what my blood sugar numbers run.””—FALSE
This is one of those myths that I think people talk themselves into believing. But it is like saying that the pot on the fire is not really hot unless it boils over. One of the reasons high blood sugars can do so much damage is precisely that many people do not feel that badly. Diabetes, especially early in the course and in Type 2, does not often give big ugly symptoms like a heart attack. The most common symptom is actually just tiredness/fatigue. Now, who doesn’t feel tired from time to time (or in my case, everyday)? You can deal with some tiredness, some extra peeing at night, a little indigestion. So what if you feel a little thirsty? Who has time to deal with blood sugars if you feel okay? We have children to raise,exams to take and mortgages to pay, so we need to just keep trucking along, unless something is REALLY making us sick, right? I actually understand that logic(and have followed it occasionally, ALWAYS with bad results), but in this case I urge you to re-think it.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people in my clinic with high blood sugars, and I say, “We need to get these down soon,” then they say in return, “But Doc I really do not feel that bad.”
And I tell them exactly what I am saying here: Diabetes is hurting you more than you know, even if you cannot feel it. Why do you think many people with diabetes are actually diagnosed about 7 years after their blood glucoses first became abnormal? Because they felt okay and many had little medical care until they felt terrible. But in the meantime while they were going about their busy lives, their good friend diabetes paid a visit and set up shop in their kidneys, in their eyes and their heart, in their nerves and blood vessels all over the body. When many people are diagnosed, they have already had some degree of damage done to their bodies by untreated diabetes, all while they were “feeling fine.”

So yes, your high blood sugar DOES matter even if you feel fine. The funny thing is for those folks who insist they feel okay, they come back to me when their blood sugar is better and always say the same thing: “I did not realize how badly I felt until my numbers got better.” So ask your doctor if you need to be checked for diabetes—-neither you NOR your doc should miss the ball on this one. We know a lot about diabetes and the testing is too simple for us not to be proactive about it in our lives. And if you do have it, but are not paying attention, think again. Please do not wait for the pot to boil over….

Take care All, have a wonderful week!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Diabetes Bloggers.
Tags: Diabetes, feeling well, glucose levels, symptomatic hyprerglycemia.
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