Diabetic with chonic cough and sudden high blood pressure

[Stumped Daughter]

My mom was diagnosed as a diabetic when she was 51. She is now 78 years old and for the past few years has had an occasional bad cough where she can barely talk. She also has developed high blood pressure which she didn't have in the past.  Currently, she is complaining of a "fullness" and not feeling like eating.  Up to this point she has been pretty spunky and healthy but is just having these problems lately. She takes insulin shots and her sugar levels are pretty constant at present, but in the past they were very up and down.  She hasn't been hospitalized much, but this year she was in the hospital for shortness of breath (which they never really found the source of) and she sometimes has to sleep sitting up if the shortness of breath returns. Thanks for any light you can shed on this and for helping us.

[Med Help]

We suggest you repost your question in our Thyroid Disorders Forum, where Dr. Mark will see it and reply.

Med Help International

[Mother Margaret]

Several things you share reminds me of signs of a chemical exposure.  Even shortness of breath which is one sign of the fatigue of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:  autoimmune hemolytic anemia if it is from 2-butoxyethanol exposure.

This is a very common chemical exposure.  Has your mom been around paint fumes, or new cleaning products (cleans well?  most likely this product is there) and worst exposure is vapors in one's eyes.

OR has anyone been new to the household who could be exposed to 2-butoxyethanol?  There is a very strong second hand exposure, with this chemical, so ... someone exposed can breath it into a room, and others in the room can get the vapors in their eyes

www.valdezlink.com/generic.htm#8

For someone with too much direct exposure, look for signs of chemical exposure like coughing, loss of voice;  medical test would be to look for blood in urine and small sized red blood cells.

I think there is a lot of diabetes that is a late to show up birth defect from a parent's exposure to this chemical ... also true for brain tumors, leukemia ...

Yes,  many gland are affected by this chemical, and the signs they often list for thyroid ailments are the same ... because, best I can tell, this chemical often seems to harm the thyroid, adrenal glands, kidneys, liver.  Blood sugar up or down is just one of it's side things.  This chemical is a chemical the USA is asleep on.  www.valdezlink.com/acute.htm