Diabetes in my husband?? Am panicking here...

[emeraldgirl1]

My DH dislocated his shoulder a few weeks ago with an unusual fall off the sofa in his sleep - he describes it as feeling like he was having a nightmare and then falling off and landing badly on his shoulder. However his consultant is saying that 90% of people he sees injure their shoulder at the front not the back, and that my husband's dislocation is consistent with having a fit rather than a fall. He has sent him for a blood sugar test but we don't get the result for a few days.

I'm very panicky here!! Mostly because my DH is hearing impaired and my first thought is how diabetes could affect his sight. But he has few, if any, other symptoms of diabetes. He is a tiny but podgy but not overweight, he doesn't get blurred vision, he doesn't have excessive thirst - though of course now I am analysing every drink of water he takes!!! In 13 years of sleeping together I have never seen him have a fit, and I think the 'oddness' of the occurrence was more down to him sleeping on the sofa and having a strange night's sleep leading to this nightmare/fall.

But CAN diabetes suddenly present in an otherwise pretty healthy 32 year old? Doesn't appear to be any family history, and as I say, I can't see any other synptoms. He does get quite tired, which I know is a symptom, but I've always put this down to a very stressful life plus the fact that, as a hearing-impaired person operating in the 'normal' world, he has to work very hard to lip-read and get by etc.

Anyone with any thoughts would be much welcomed. I feel like I can't manage the days until we get the result. I think the consultant is (fingers crossed) just crossing all i's and dotting all t's. But because of the hearing impairment I am really worried. Thank you!!

I don't really know about the diabetes but A friend of mine fell off a chair and dislocated his shoulder at the back, not the front. They said it was unusual. But he definetly fell.

Surely its got to be how you land on the shoulder that causes the type of dislocation and I can't see how a fit as opposed to a fall would make a difference?

Yes, I'm with you - I can't see it!!

I think the consultant is saying that it's unusual to have had this type of injury and that the fit itself could have been powerful enough to cause the dislocation. And that maybe it was the fit that also propelled DH to the floor in his sleep. As I say, he said 90% of his patients injure the shoulder at the front not the back, and of the other 10% there is a proportion (don't know how many) that have dislocated their shoulder with a fit. But we do think he has slightly misunderstood my DH's story of exactly how the moment occurred - DH described it as almost like a night terror, he woke with a jolt thinking there was someone in the room and as he jolted he rolled right off the sofa and tried to break his fall. I am assuming that most of the consultant's patients don't injure themselves in their sleep - he seems to see a lot of sportspeople who do themselves damage while playing - and so perhaps the injury is just consistent with the fact it happened while he was barely conscious.

I'm going round and round in my head here... But thanks for the story about your friend - it CAN happen!!

Eyesight difficulties are not inevitable in diabetes I have had it for about 15 years and my eyesight is fine. Also have epilepsy and don't remember the events around seizures - though that is not the case for all people who have seizures, depends on seizure type.

IF your husband has diabetes and follows advice about how to manage his diet/medication/blood sugar then there is no reason to think he will have difficulties with eyesight.

A seizure would me an odd presentation for diabetes IMO because they are more usually associated with low blood sugar, a side-effect of treatment. But doc will clear this up for you.

Hopefully it won't be anything anyway.