I have not been diagnosed with diabetes though I have some risk factors. I have a sister with type I diabetes, though I don't know if that is related to type II diabetes. I am half Hispanic. I am relatively sedentary, though I was very physically active most of my life and had the problems I will describe then too. I'm close to fifty. I have always had slightly low or normal blood pressure. My cholesterol has been excellent, as have my triglycerides. I have not had heart problems. I am close to overweight but not quite there. Prior to an accident which has left me partly disabled, I was on the very low end of normal weight. Now I'm on the very high end with my comparatively sedentary life. I do not sit all day, but I don't get rigorous exercise either. A few months ago, I did get rigorous exercise for a month and had not problems at all. I need to start again.
Several years ago, I began to have nausea sometimes when I had sweets and not sometimes. I am not sure what the difference was, and I never ate large quantities of sweets. I'm talking about a small chocolate bar or a cookie. I read about how sleep apnea can make sugar levels hard to control for type II diabetics and that if the sleep apnea is treated, the blood sugar levels are typically much better and easier to control. So, I stopped taking off my CPAP mask in the middle of the night and saw much improvement and lessening of the nausea until I essentially didn't see it very often at all and forgot about it. Before I figured this out, I was tested two or three times for blood sugar levels and they were never abnormal. I asked for a more rigorous test but the doctor said it was too troublesome. I think he saw how slender and fit I was and didn't think it was likely. He just told me that if sugar made me nauseous, don't eat sugar. I thought that was a little flippant of him, but I didn't pursue it more because I was fighting early breast cancer.
However, when I was expecting my son seventeen years ago, I did test borderline positive for diabetes. When they retested me, they said it was normal. I have always not liked very sweet things and would ask for birthday cake without the frosting when I was a girl, or ask for the type of frosting that has a lot of butter, nuts and coconut in it. That didn't make me feel sick to my stomach. I would make my Easter candy last for months and not eat it all at once.
So, today, I ate a very healthy diet and after dinner decided to treat myself with a small oatmeal cookie sandwich like you can buy for your kids' lunches. I began to feel nauseous minutes later and still do after forty minutes, more than usual. I am much more sedentary than most of my life. However, my waist is 29 inches, so that's not excessive even though it's big for me. I also had a stress test running on a treadmill because of the fatigue and sometimes nausea I had after the cancer treatment was actually over. I had worked fulltime throughout treatment, had no help from anyone with my child or my home and no time off. I was exhausted and getting infections left and right, such as a systemic infection with fever from a bee sting, off the wall mastitis in the opposite breast from the one with the cancer with no typical reason for it, etc. But, I passed the stress test with flying colors and my heart looked great.
So, here is my question: Can one have borderline diabetes without the blood sugar levels showing as abnormal when you go to the doctor without eating in the morning? I have also in the past had a very hard time going too long without food. I would feel faint and need to eat. With extreme fatigue, such as a very hard week and not enough sleep, I also feel nauseous and faint.
I seriously wonder if my generally excellent health habits (other than recent sedentary lifestyle and too much stress and work in the last sixteen years as a single parent of a child who needed homeschooling and other special measures with no outside help) could have prevented me from getting fullblown diabetes though I may have a genetic tendency that I don't know about. I wonder if I should very strictly follow a diabetes diet and get serious again about exercise regardless of the pain issues with my injuries.
Does anyone know if you can have borderline diabetes flying under the radar for twenty years?