My Uncommon Symptoms that lead to Type 2 Diabetes: A Cyster’s Early Journey

Hello Lovelies,

The past few weeks have been completely a whirlwind of changes, new realities, and overall acceptance that I must embark on a whole new way of thinking. Officially on April 25, 2018, I was diagnosed with Diabetes, a disease I feared on getting but knew there was a chance of it. Already suffering with Insulin Resistance due to PCOS, being told that I would know be fighting against Diabetes felt like an insult to injury. Since the age of 23, the year I was officially diagnosed with PCOS, I had been going in and out with the battle to correct or at least lessen my symptoms associated with PCOS. Now, I had a whole new set of tough lifestyle changes to consider. I can’t pretend that I didn’t cry hearing my H1AC results thinking, “God how can I do this? I’m in DC alone and away from anyone that could even encourage me fully to be strong”. My great grandfather died from Diabetes complications, then my great grandmother years later as Dementia has been linked to excess sugar that inflames the brain (yeah I had no idea of that fact either). Not to mention my father and grandmother were both diagnosed with Diabetes and taking tons of medication the last time I saw them. So receiving that now I would join other members of my family as a sufferer really hit hard.

In my mind I asked myself, “What would I change? I already eat relatively healthy”. With PCOS, I was already somewhat limited on what I could and could not eat. However, I had to face the reality that I wasn’t on top of my self-care like I should have been. I made every excuse to slack on taking care of me, which was a vow I made in January that I would stop doing. When you are naturally self-less, it is so easy to forget to keep yourself up because you’re so busy trying to make sure everyone around you is taken care of. Some call it being overly nurturing, I call it unintentional neglect LOL. Beyond my finding out that I had diabetes, however, was really how I was diagnosed and the other symptoms I experienced that were considered uncommon. The classic signs of diabetes usually are; excessive thirst, excessive hunger after meals, blurred vision, slow healing wounds, and tingling of the extremities, to name a few. However, I didn’t really experience any of these to be honest.  In fact, my diagnosis was discovered by my OBGYN during a routine Well-Woman visit. I had been having a raging (and I do mean raging) yeast infection and for the life of me didn’t understand what was going on.  I hadn’t had a yeast infection since 19 (Let’s celebrate that really quick lol) and was doing everything I knew how to do to encourage peach paradise health (one of the few names I have for my beautiful vajayjay).

I was drinking raw cranberry juice (not Ocean Spray, the bitter kind), unsweetened Greek Yogurt, drinking plenty of water, and started avoiding bread all together for a few weeks. However, nothing was helping. My OBGYN took one look at me and my chart and said “Let’s check your H1Ac levels since you already have PCOS, we need to just check for precaution for Diabetes”. I didn’t think anything of her suggestion, as I had been monitored for the past 10 years due to my Insulin Resistance.  I just considered it a formality at the very least. However, I was astonished to find that my results were 13.69, a normal H1Ac is less that 6. I couldn’t believe it!!! So a week later we did another blood test to confirm my need to see an Endocrinologist…and well I went from a whopping 13.69 to 13.42. Immediately I scheduled a visit with an Endocrinologist (which is something I should have done a long time ago to be honest). After my discussion with Dr. Iyanger, I discovered that I probably had Diabetes for a while now and the yeast infection was just my body telling me to do something.  I say that because here are truly the uncommon symptoms I had that I never knew correlated to Diabetes:

1. Brain Fog/Temporary Memory Loss

For about 8 months, I felt like I was losing my mind or at least that my mind was operating at a slower pace than normal.  I would be at work and tasks that I usually would power through, were taking me hours and sometimes days to get accomplished.  I didn’t really start to feel like something may be wrong until I’d start to forget things like my cell phone number, the password to my phone, and other things that in years past were ingrained in my mind like a genetic code. As mentioned earlier, excess sugar can cause inflammation around the brain and as a result start creating a sense of brain fog and stress.  After doing even further research, excess sugar has been linked to Dementia, a disease that members in my family have passed away from.

2. My Sex Drive was completely stagnant

Let me preface this that I don’t encourage premarital sex LOL, however, I am still working on myself everyday.  However, over the past year I noticed that my desire for sex decreased incredibly. I originally attributed this symptom to PCOS and the hormonal fluctuations that occur, but after being treated with insulin and other medications, realized that it was more so linked to Diabetes. My sex drive now is in full swing to a point where I’m semi terrified.

3. Trouble Sleeping

This one is huge!!!! Since around November I hadn’t been able to sleep through the night. At first I would get up every 4 hours and then it decreased to every two hours. I was so tired every day that I would literally find a quiet room at my job and take a nap during lunch. I was incredibly fatigued to a point where I barely could do anything throughout the day.  I would get home every evening and crash for as long as I could. I felt bad because I didn’t have energy to really do anything social with my friends and would end up canceling on them often. Turns out that sleep disturbances are indicative of Diabetes and possible other issues.  Since being treated I can successfully say that I can sleep an entire 6 to 8 hours without waking up.

4. Weightloss

This one is probably considered a more common symptom but I literally couldn’t believe that I lost 15 pounds within a week time frame from one doctor’s visit to the next. Although I was excited (I mean most women love losing weight), I was also concerned because although I had been on my fitness journey for some time now, PCOS makes it hard to lose that kind of weight quickly.  However, when your body stops making insulin or it simply doesn’t work, your body begins to break down fat and muscles to gain energy. Since being treated, it is definitely taking more effort to lose those inches and pounds. I welcome the hard work though

5. Extreme weakness and shaking

So of all my symptoms, this one had to be the scariest. There were moments over the past year where I literally could eat and feel my blood sugar drop so low that I would see my arm shake and feel like fainting. At the time, I attributed this to my metformin (which I took to manage my PCOS) and would just conclude that I hadn’t eaten enough. The reality was my body had the hardest time managing my blood glucose levels. It felt like I never could regulate how much or how little to eat on any given day.  The sad thing is many symptoms of PCOS and Diabetes are the same, so I had no idea to check for high blood glucose sooner as being the culprit to my shaking spells. PCOS women who suffer with insulin resistance are known to have low sugar spells, but I definitely didn’t think it was an indicator that it was more progressed into Diabetes.

Overall, I’m glad that I now know that I have Diabetes because I have the power to stop it from progressing and spreading. The sad reality is over 60% of women with PCOS end up with Diabetes because the most common form of PCOS is Insulin Resistance. Even though it isn’t the desired outcome I would have wanted, it has inspired me to push harder to love myself in a new way. I fully am dedicated to treat my body the way she deserves; giving her the best care possible at all times.  This diagnosis has taught me that stepping back and putting myself first isn’t wrong and should be priority always.  The journey has just begun but I’m excited already for the future.

With Love,

LoLo