Challenges in Identifying Diabetic Triggers Among Other Health Issues

I am 3 months into my diabetes diagnosis. I am also a 4-year bladder cancer survivor. I have a urostomy. I experience migraines, asthma, and allergies. I have been overweight most of my life, despite living a fairly active lifestyle. I have dealt with seasonal depression for decades before actually getting medical help for it. All of these things have physical symptoms and/or medication side effects that overlap with diabetes.

Living with type 2 diabetes and other health issues

From the CDC.gov site, here are some common symptoms of diabetes that I actually experience, along with the challenges that these symptoms present for me, personally:¹

• Urinate a lot, often at night - As someone who lives without a bladder, this proposes an interesting challenge as I do not feel when I urinate! I never really know how much volume is coming out. I wear a medical appliance that takes care of my urine output. I almost constantly have output.
• Very thirsty - As an ostomate, someone with an ostomy, I am always thirsty and dehydration is a constant concern. I have also had a dry mouth as a side effect of some medications. This includes some of the chemo meds I was on. With these side effects lingering, it is a challenge for me to distinguish the cause of my thirst sensations.
• Very hungry - Since chemo ended and my appetite returned, I wake up voraciously hungry! This is not something that I frequently have throughout the day. It is mainly first thing in the morning. Now I'm wondering if it is just biochemical changes from chemo or a blood sugar reaction.
• Blurry vision - I was on 4 drugs for chemo. All 4 of them had various side effects of changes in vision, including blurry vision. I experienced this occasionally during treatment and since. However, since it was very occasional and I have other side effects of chemo that I deal with regularly, I haven't figured out yet how to discern whether or not my blurry vision is due to lingering chemo effects or issues with my diabetes.
• Numb or tingling hands or feet - Also known as neuropathy. Many of the life-saving chemo medications are known to cause neuropathy of varying levels. I have had continuous neuropathy since I was on chemo. Sometimes it can be very intense. I work with my care team to take medications that help make this issue somewhat tolerable. Still, I have no way of knowing if I'm just having a post-chemo flare-up of this when it gets worse or if the flares are being triggered by my diabetes.
• Very tired - A more well-known side effect of chemo is chemo-induced fatigue which can end up being a permanent issue for many. I have experienced this as a long-term issue as well. In fact, I'm always some degree of tired anymore.
• Very dry skin - Again, having experienced chemo which dehydrates you. As a person with an ostomy, dehydration is a constant concern in my life. One of the physical manifestations of this is that I chronically have dry skin despite how much I hydrate and/or moisturize.

I'm still working on figuring all this out and trying to identify my diabetic reactions.

I will definitely be sharing as I figure things out. If anyone out there has dealt with multiple diagnoses before receiving their diabetes diagnosis, I'd love to hear from you.