I was told I had diabetes sometime in November to December 2005 and I was extremely naive at the time. The doctor told me that my blood sugar was a “tad high” and that I should just take this pill and it would “fix me right up.” Only at later visits did I find out I was not “a tad high,” and I had been that way for some years and that I would never ever get “fixed right up.” I guess I would celebrated my Diaversary in December, so I’m coming up on number 11. Just call me Mr. Fixed Right Up.
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Good Friday in 1989. I was only 11 months old. This spring will be 28 years of fighting strong!
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My Diaversary is July 17 2015. I was battling a skin infection, and was on high doses of pain killers, antibiotics, and steroids. My husband said I wasn’t making sense. I was drinking tons of water, and going to the bathroom about ever half hour. I blamed it on the steroids. When I fell going up the stairs, my husband took me to the hospital. They asked me how long I had been a diabetic. I said I was not. They told me my BG was 512. I was put into intensive care, went through four bags of fluid within an hour, and in ICU for two days.
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December 1994.
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i was diagnosed August 10th 1973
15 years later had my daughter on August 10th
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I was diagnosed Christmas Eve 2008. My doctor called at 7am to tell me “you have diabetes…that really sucks.” Truer words were never spoken. Had all the symptoms mentioned above…weight loss, thirst, frequent urination and blurriness. He misdiagnosed me as t2. I changed doctors as I suspected I was T1. I was right.
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I was diagnosed as a Type 2 in 1980. I had just moved from NYC to Seattle, on my own–very stressful… I went for my regular checkup, with a doctor who hadn’t seen me before. We spoke over the phone. He said, “You’re overweight, aren’t you?” I was not overweight! I saw another doctor who properly diagnosed me as a T1.
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June 21, 1974 on my 17th birthday in Disney Wolrd. Disney gave me diabetes !!! LOL
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10/1/2011. A lot of ones for a T1 diagnosis. I’m forever grateful the nurse practitioner I went to immediately knew to test for antibodies.
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It was over 51 years ago for me, in 1965. I had been drinking and peeing a lot, and losing weight. My Mom thought maybe UTI, and made appt with doctor. After checking my breath (and probably a urine sample too), he said I needed to go directly to hospital. I clearly remember my Mom’s voice quiver as she called my Dad to tell him to meet us at the hospital. I was scared and clueless, and for some reason recall going on an elevator that seemed to take forever.
I didn’t meet another T1D in person until 15+ years later, and so glad to have found in-person support groups, and later online groups such as this.
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Gestational diabetes ~February 2000 bed rest for 4 months of twin pregnancy at age 37. Diabetes was supposed to “go away” after birth of twins, however it did not. Upon return to work two years later, denied life insurance by State govt employer due to fasting blood sugar of 100. Saw doctor, thought I was depressed, turned out to be diabetes. 17 years later and now I need insulin. Tried to avoid it as long as I could. Just ordered " Think Like a Pancreas" Hoping I can buy some new food items as I am craving the Halloween candy in the house.
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I was diagnosed Type 1 Dec 1970 at the age of 12. I had a stomach virus the week before. My father - a pediatrician - had me seen by an internal medicine doctor as there were no local endocrinologists at the time. They had me go to the hospital for a glucose tolerance test which involved me drinking a glucose solution and having my blood drawn every 30 minutes for 6 hours (no finger prick tests at that time). I don’t know what my numbers were, but I began insulin that day at home (benefit of having a doctor at home!). I measured my glucose by testing urine samples with Keto-Diastix. They would show the amount of glucose in the urine as well as presence of ketones. I can only imagine what my blood glucose numbers were when ketones were detected! We’ve come a long way in 46 years!
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August 2014 at age 57, with a BG of 400+ and an A1c of 14+. I had spent many days that summer carrying buckets of rocks on a landscaping project and thought my weight loss (about 20% of my weight) and constant thirst were due to those day long workouts. Finally got into the doc when my vision started going bad, which was about a month after people started asking me if I was OK because I was so skinny. Believe it or not, I drove to the doc’s office with reading glasses perched on the end of my nose, it was the only way I could see well enough to drive. Even dumber than some of the things I did when I was a teenager!
It’s weird, but other than the vision problem and the sudden realization that I had lost too much weight I was feeling really vital and good from all that exercise right up to the diagnosis date. From what I know now I guess I was a day or two (or less?) from DKA. Saw an endo, got some lab tests, started basal and bolus insulin, got some good info from a dietician to put some of the weight back on and away we go.
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September 27, 1970 at the age of 8. Due to mix up at the lab went another weekend of hell and by the time we got to our family doctor, I was fading fast. Doctor took one look and said to get me to ER, which my Mom did and during that ride went into a coma. Took about four hours for me to come around, but I will say after the insulin started flowing, I felt wonderful. It still to this day amazes me how wonderful that wonderful hormone is. Two weeks in the hospital to learn the ropes and then sent home with my wonderful parents handling a lot of the diabetes mess for a year or so. But I had to learn quickly and was doing most of the stuff on my own. Mom handled the food side and I did the urine testing (which I hated!) and the one shot of Lente each morning. Such a long time ago!
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Ah, Diastix, good times. They’re still around but mainly marketed to people with diabetic pets.
Did you split 'em the long way to double your supply?
Just have to respond because I’ve made almost the exact comment elsewhere. It was about 20 years for me and the guy I met was doing Lantus-Novolog MDI while I was still on R/NPH. Inspired me to start bugging my own GP about seeing a specialist and trying this “new” thing. We learned from each other even back then, but it was a much slower process!
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I was still on single injection Lente, and learned from my new T1D friend that she used her stomach for injections ! I thought yuck ! But eventually I tried it and liked it !! I also ended up switching to the same Endo that she was going to, and talked so highly about, and that doctor switched me to R/NPH, and later the pump.
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I was diagnosed on April 18, 1966 – one month after my 12th birthday. I don’t know how high my blood sugar was, but I do remember my doctor telling my mother that he did not know why I was still conscious and standing up. I spent a week in the hospital and marvel now at how much we (including doctors!) did not know about diabetes at the time. So this is my 50th year with diabetes. I have never had DKA, have had two children, have lead a fairly normal life, and have not had any major complications due to the disease. The diabetes has probably been a blessing in disguise because it has forced me to eat sensibly, exercise, and generally be aware of what my body is telling me. Life is good.
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June 25th, 1991—I was 10, and I’d had all the typical symptoms for the last month, worsening in the past couple of weeks particularly. I was also reading either the 3rd or 4th book in the Babysitters Club series, whichever one introduces the character Stacey who has diabetes. In it, it describes her symptoms prior to diagnosis. It’s evening, and I go running to my parents’ room and say I think I have diabetes. My mom proceeds to tell me what hypochondria is, and that lots of people think they have things when they read about them, but just to put my mind at ease, we’ll go to the doctor tomorrow. Next afternoon, turns out my blood sugar was 750, and I was admitted to Joslin that day. One of the bigger “I told you so”'s in my life…
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I feel old compared to all of you. I was diagnosed at age 6 in March 1958 after weight dropped to 50 lbs over period of months. I was getting in trouble for peeing in my bed every night. Thought my parents would have gotten a clue. We were in Puerto Rico, and I had to stay in a hospital for two weeks. I don’t remember much there, except my dad taught me how to make a rug out of yarn. I also remember a little old Puerto Rican nurse chasing me around with this syringe and a needle that would have gone clean through me. That was her way of getting kids to behave. It worked.
All we had to check glucose were urine sticks, and the method was grossly inadequate. Also re-used the thick, all steel needles and glass syringe, after sterilizing them every use. Around age 7 or 8, I tried injecting myself and was given the job ever since, except in the arm, when my dad would do it. I went into DKA numerous times back then, because by the time the ketone urine sticks would register anything, I was well into it. Often missed half day to full day of school because of that, but never had to go to the hospital for it, never went subconscious over it. But my parents had a hard time at night, with me going into hypoglycemic mode, subconscious in the middle of the night or day. Can vaguely remember walking back and forth across a highway on the way home from school, crying, because of insulin shock. Don’t remember how i came out of it or kept from getting killed by a car. I remember being in elementary school and being in insulin shock, and teacher would have to run down the hall and get me a coke. Made the other kids mad at me for that; of course they did not understand.
I was around 28 before they came out with home glucose metering. What a difference that made. Never went on pump till I was 50. By then I was not active so much that a pump would interfere. now, soon, I will be 65 and will get the first available artificial pancreas next year. Amazing changes in treatment over one century. My big complaint still is the high cost of insulin. I think it’s a racket. We should all complain to our Congresspeople over it.
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