Since I'm in the rather strange position as having been diagnosed diabetic twice I've noticed some similarities about what my body was doing at the time.
Both times I was sick with allergies for over a month. I was tired and slept a lot. I was also drinking a lot, but I've always drunk a lot so it's hard to see a major difference. I went to the doctor and was given antibiotics multiple times but they didn't help much. The first time I was given cortisone which brought out all the diabetic issues, and the second time my doctor decided to do blood tests to prove to me that it was all in my head. I had ringing in my ears and my eyes are light sensitive when my BS is high after a meal. After the diagnosis and now that I'm controlling my BS's I'm losing weight without even trying. The first time around I lost 20 kg's in a couple of months, and this time around I've lost 3 kg's so far.
So, how were you diagnosed and did you have anything similar to my experiences?
I was in high school, about 5' 10" tall and weighed 150 lbs. I lost about 30 lbs and was really thirsty, although I sort of just drank and drank and drank. Then one day, after eating Cap'n Crunch and grape Koolaid for breakfast, I threw up, mom took me to the doctor, BG was 685 or something like that.
At age 48, I was losing about 1 lb. each month for a year. I thought my healthy diet & exercise program were working miracles. About 4 months before dx, I started peeing like crazy (& drinking). I thought I had bladder control problems typical of women of a "certain age." I went for my annual gyn. exam & requested a fasting glucose because I have family history & knew that frequent urination is a symptom. My A1C was 13.2.
Looking back on the pre-dx year, I was crazy stressed--prone to yelling at my loved ones over tiny things. I also had a strange mold growing in my toilet (sugar in my urine). Both of these conditions cleared up within a few weeks as my BG control improved.
I was 9 years old, and only had symptoms for a couple of weeks before diagnosis. I mostly remember being unimaginably thirsty. It was literally all I could think about. My parents noticed the unquenchable thirst and also that I had lost weight. Then one day I went to swimming lessons and got out after 15 minutes because my stomach hurt and I was too tired to swim. Swimming was something I *loved* so saying I felt too sick to swim was a huge red flag for my parents. They made a doctor's appointment for a few days later. I went to the doctor, got blood drawn, and an hour later my parents got a phone call saying, "Her blood sugar level is so high she could go into a coma, go to the hospital now!" (I have no idea what my actual blood sugar number was, though.) My parents took me to emergency and I was admitted from there, and the rest is history ...
Re: the strange mold growing in toilet. I did too, but never connected it to diabetes. Although the other toilet in the house that I didn't use, didn't have the mold. Should have connected the dots....
I was one month from retirement, working two jobs and planning a move out of the country, so it made sense I was tired. But I realized I'd been having increased urination and thirst for a couple months. I knew those could be symptoms of Diabetes, but I wasn't sure about the weight loss I was also experiencing. All I knew was that I had a hard time losing weight when I tried hard, and I wasn't trying at all! When I looked online and saw that could also be a symptom of diabetes I called my doctor and asked to get a Glucose test. When she said my fasting was 325 I had no idea what the number meant, so just said, "So that means I have Diabetes?"
Fifteen months later I realized I'd been misdiagnosed as Type 2 and was actually Type 1. Even though that was a correction of an error, it felt as important as a "second diagnosis" and in many ways was more significant for my life.
Nice doctor to try to prove it was all in your head!
Mine was a simple diagnosis because I was DKA with 809 BG. Passed out cold in the ER & woke up in ICU. My husband got me to the ER just in time over my protests that I didn't need to go to the hospital. I had been feeling tired for several weeks & ubearably thirsty & hungry. When I was unable to concentrate, wanted to sleep constantly, felt achy & began vomiting, I thought it was the flu--ha! If only. Looking back, I feel incredibly stupid because I had classic symptoms.
My dr. sent me for a blood test and when it came back said I was diabetic. I said I couldn't be, I didn't eat sugary foods, never eat fast food, was eating Low GI, following the diet my dr. put me on. He called the Pathologist who said according to the blood test I was not diabetic, so the dr. sent me for a glucose test. My fasting bs was 5.4 and after 2 hours and the sugary drink it was 11.3. Here I am!
i had the incredible thirst, peed rivers and ate like a horse. lost a bit of weight. thought it could be diabetes because of the symptoms but went to the doctor thinking shed just tell me to go home, tht i was crazy. the nurse did a bg and it was 457. i just thought, no way. i thought i would go over there and she would assuage my fears and that would be it. she sent me to the diabetes day clinic at the hospital and they did all the bloods for gad, etc. even though i was an adult, they assumed i was type 1 from the beginning.
All I can remember is walking home from school and having to stop every so often cause I was so tired. Waking up in the middle of the night and drinking tap water till my stomach couldn't take anymore. Was skinny before D, so I turned into a wee skeleton. The day I was diagnosed I was drinking some sort of syrupy drink. Doc sent me to hospital straight away and stayed there a month. The most awful thing about the whole thing was that I was diagnosed near Easter and everyone had bought me Easter Eggs. Terrible. Also remember I had cold sores as a child, hated them.
I have been misdiagnosed T2 twice. First time was in the late 1990s. It actually turned out to be ringworm - a fungal infection picked up from a hike through a Borneo rainforest. The second time was in 2010 when I went to hospital feeling ill and hyperventilating. I found myself in full-blown DKA in the ICU. Despite this they slapped a T2 label on me and it was only a full year later that I found my antibody test results.
My mom figured it out and took a urine sample to the doctor (1962.) He had me come in for a glucose test. I was diagnosed as a "juvenile" diabetic. I was told it was hereditary.
I had been drinking tons of water, lost some weight, but not a lot. Really tired, which is really odd for a 10 year old.
My appendix decided to swell up like a balloon and had to be removed. The pre-op blood work came back with my BG at 853 and my A1C at 15+. I had no idea what it meant, or what could have happened - it was probably better that way.
