Does Diabetes Cause Fatigue And Weakness ?

Posted on Thu, 26 Apr 2012

Question: I don't know what's wrong with me.... if anything. All I know is that I feel like total crap all the time... no energy, no motivation, no nothing. I feel so tired all the time and have a hard time staying awake. I have always been one of those people who did 12 things at one time and did them very quickly. I get upset when I see people moving at a regular pace when doing ANYTHING. I hate wasting time when there's so much to do. I have a disabled child 20 yrs. old with cerebal palsy that I care for. I am single mother, 57 yr. old hispanic with twin girls-20 and 1 son-24. I had my first child at 34. Always been very active and I guess that's why it upsets me so much that now I can't hardly do anything because I have no energy and feel bad all the time. Someone told me I might have diabetes. Could this be possible? Haven't gone to get blood work done for diabetes and the necessary tests due to having no insurance and can't afford to pay the several hundred dollars they want to do the testing. Please help. Nita

Answered by Dr. Vidya Muralidhar (4 hours later)

Hi

Thanks for your query

First of all , i really appreciate your efforts of care and love for your dear disabled child . Lifting the child around and taking care of other children as well is not easy.

I would want to tell you that there could be many causes for feeling tired and i would want to think of the following possibilities keeping your age and your personal history as well .

1.Diabetes: Though there is no positive history of diabetes , we cannot rule out the chances of you getting it , as most often it is known to be a common cause of fatigue and weakness in people of your age, aggravated with stress.Since you also give a history of cataract , diabetes is a known cause to cause cataract .

2.Thyroid dysfunction : the thyroid hormones shows some changes in women, it is hypothyroidism that most often causes low mood , depression and tiredness.

3.Anemia : this is also known to cause similar symptoms.

4.Anxiety and stress : Sometimes everything in the body may remain normal , but one may still feel lack of interest in anything , lack of motivation , this being called anhedonia , which needs a consultation with a psychiatrist.

5.Menopause : I presume you have attained menopause by now , sometimes the female hormones will have fluctuations , when one feels all your symptoms, this has to be taken care of by a hormone replacement therapy

I would hence suggest a general physical examination with some blood tests like complete blood count , hemoglobin , blood sugar , thyroid tests and routine urine and microscopy .These are few basic tests and I hope they would not be very expensive for you to afford .This will help you surely in taking the right treatment

You may also review the medicines for sleep and anxiety with a psychiatrist and take the right dose.

I hope I answered your query . I am available for follow up questions as well.

Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar