The day you were diagnosed with the big D, what happened?
I had all the typical symptoms, had lost about 75lbs and was thirstier than a camel in the Sahara, and peeing like a fish.
My BG was 42 mmol/dL and I was admitted to the hospital for 14 days. The most memorable thing about all of it was seeing my friends and family visit me in the hospital and the odor of the feet of the guy I had to share the room with.
I went to the doc complaining that even though I was doing weight training and eating well I had lost 25lb in 1 month. And I was constantly thirsty. I never thought I had diabetes - I was too young for T2 and too old for T1 (I was ignorant).
The doctor immediately did a finger stick on me and found that I was at 532 mg/dL. She calmly explained to me that I was now diabetic and the first thing she wanted to do was test for ketones. That was negative. Then she asked a nurse to get me a prescription of Humalog and insulin syringes from the on-site pharmacy. So I sat there and did my own insulin injection of 5 units of Humalog. She kept me under observation for 2 hours, monitoring my blood glucose, and then sent me home with a ton of reading material. And some NPH insulin. And instructions on how to watch out for hypoglycemic incidents. And to test, test and test.
After that, it has been mostly self-education about how to treat my diabetes, with my doc writing my prescriptions and listening to my strategies.
I remember waking up around 6am to go to the bathroom. On my way in there I walked into a wall. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something was wrong. So I woke my boyfriend up and he drove me to the ER. We had stopped at the gas station on the way there so I could pick up a water and Sprite because I felt so dehydrated.
When I got to the hospital I remember a lady asking me a bunch of questions, and it was hard for me to answer them because my head wasn’t thinking right.
When I went to a room (well a curtained space) I had changed into a gown and they took blood from me. I remember the doctor saying I had a bg over 1100 and I was diabetic. I was hoping to get the medicine I needed and go back home and snuggle up in bed with my boyfriend. WRONG
I remember them having to put a central line in my chest and it hurt like hell. My boyfriend was sitting not too far from me, but far enough so I couldnt hold his hand. I told him to look at me so I could focus on his eyes instead of the pain.
He was so brave too, because he is not good with watching blood or anything like that, but he made sure to stay strong so I couldn’t see the fear in his eyes.
I remember my grandfather rushing to come see me before I was even admitted to a room in CCU. I was freezing and literally shaking and no one would give me a blanket. He raised heck until one of the nurses or doctors finally got me one.
I felt kind of numb that day. I guess in a way, it felt unreal.
I had the same symptoms as you, Patrick, and I suspected I was diabetic. My wife, a pharmacist, told me these were the symptom but also said “You don’t have it.” How could I? I’m a thin fellow.
Nonethless I told the doctor what I suspected, she took a finger stick and my BG was over 500. “You’ve got it,” she said. But since I’m thin I was diagnosed with Type II. I got a scrip for Metformin or Glucophage, or something, and a referral to a dietician and an endocrinologist.
I walked into my wife’s pharmacy with the scrip and she was crestfallen. But she’s been supportive as hell since then!
Terry
Wow, that must have been a lot of self-education! What a shock to be home two hours later taking care of yourself!
the thing i remember the most is how right after being diagnosed i got all the gifts from people trying to cheer me up and my brother actually got jealous. i was like “do YOU want diabetes?!” lol i was mad at him at the time, but now its kinda funny…
b
I found out I was Diabetic by accident. I went to the gynecologist and they told me they thought I was diabetic and to make an appt. with a doctor. I did and that’s how I found out No one ever told me what my BS was at that time. They just put me on oral meds and sent me to a diabetes educator. Only saw her once and I’ve been trying to handle it on my own. Since March of this year I’ve really started concentrating on it and I’ve been able to lose some weight and get my BS down to an avg. of about 168. I still have a long way to go, but I’m working on it.
Mine was similar to Patrick’s story. I was 21 years old and I had the classic symptoms for months (but I knew nothing about diabetes— so I had no idea what was wrong) and put off going to the doctor… . My most noticable symptoms were weight loss (about 20 lbs), extreme hunger and thirst (and the consequential peeing every 10 minutes), and horrible leg cramps at night.
I was exhausted the night before and went to bed around 5pm. I woke up in the early morning vomiting. I was at my parents’ house and I remember my mom freaking out and saying she wanted to take me to the ER and my dad responding with, “she just has the flu!!”. I knew something was wrong and had been planning to finally go to the doctor that week. So I asked my mom to take me to the ER.
When we got there, I walked in on my own while my mom parked the car. As I walked in, I started blacking out and told the nurse. So they took me right away. The resident told me that I either had cancer or diabetes. (yeah, he was not very well trained in how to give diagnoses). When they finally told me that I had diabetes, I was relieved that it wasn’t cancer, but had NO idea what diabetes was-- not even that it was chronic.
Then my mom came in and behind a thin curtain, I heard the doctor tell my mom that I had diabetes. She freaked out and told them to test me again. Then I thought it might be more serious than I thought…
Over the next few days, I remember lots of reading and trying to figure out what all this meant. I had more energy than I had in months thanks to insulin from the IV. The nurses were great and taught me how to take care of myself. I was in a teaching hospital and I remember the med student on the team visited me regularly and was a great emotional support. I was home after about 3 days and that’s when it hit me that I knew so little about how to take care of myself. I called the nurse the first night to talk me through my first Lantus injection on my own.
I have been a T1 for many years. I can remember my mother taking me to the doctor when I was only 9. I only weighed 40 lbs.
This was in 1956 so I don’t remember what happened to diagnose me. My mother cried and we went home to get ready to go to the hospital. While at home, I can remember eating a great big piece of chocolate cake with strawberry frosting.
I ended up spending 6 weeks in the hospital to try and get some control and fatten me up. My mother took the responsibility of giving me shots of protomine zinc animal insulin. I tested my urine in a little tube that would turn different colors.
Oh, I forgot to mention the best memory.
I had been a vegetarian for a few years up until becoming diagnosed but decided that it would be easier to manage the diet by eating meat again. The first thing I had to eat after getting off of the hospital food (plain oatmeal without milk or sweetener was a common breakfast, yuck!) was a 7 layer burrito from taco bell with chicken added to it… YUM!!!
same here my bs was 1190 and had just got to the point were it was getting hard to walk. them sprites will do it to you because i had one also on there way there since it was a 1 hr drive. bad thing is the next room in the er had a guy that hit 900 when he came in and fell into a comma and past away. when my mom found out about him she went crazy thinking i was next. she just didn t know how strong my body was as it was not going to give up that easy.
I remember having leg cramps too… and blurry vision which was really concerning because I was only born with 1 working eye.
I decided to go to the Dr because I had been sick with a cold for about 3 weeks. I just felt so run down and I thought maybe it could have turned into an upper respiratory infection. I also had some issues with my eye sight. I couldn’t even take my turn driving home from vacation. I just assumed I needed a new contact prescription. (You know how it is when you’re a busy Mom. You blow off not feeling well.) I had also told him that I wasn’t sleeping very well because I was up all night to the bathroom and getting drinks of water.
They did a finger stick and my BG was 360. I got a script for Januvia and they gave me a meter and sent me home. I went directly to the book store to get more info because I left that office not even knowing how to use the meter. I remember walking around the mall in a haze. Not knowing what to do or what to feel. That was June 24, 2008, a thursday. By Sunday i was admitted to the hospital with a BG of 500.
Christina, like you, I thought I would get some meds and be on my merry way. After all, I didn’t feel that bad, just a little whiney and really tired. I got a lot of education in the hospital but still felt very overwhelmed. Things have been rocky since then but seem to be getting better since I started using Humalog.
I had gone to the doctor for my first physical in a LONG time, since high school in fact for sports when it basically consisted of cough, you’re okay, go play. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure that day (didn’t really surprise me too much) and was sent to do blood work the next couple of days, as I had already eaten breakfast that day and to come back in a month to see how my blood pressure meds were doing.
Had the blood work done the next week and the first of the following week was called to get back to the doctor as soon as I could as some thing in my blood work came back that the doctor needed to talk to me about. Went back a couple of days later fearing the worst, as I was expecting some type of prostrate problem, or worse. The nurse did a finger stick that registered around 375 or so, don’t remember the exact number, and the doctor came in to give me the news that I was diabetic. A1c was 12.7. I was immediately put on Humalog Mix 75/25 and was shown by the nurse how to give myself a shot and sent home. Felt pretty sorry for myself for about 15 minutes, then it sunk in. I know people that have had diabetes for a LONG time that lead a pretty normal life. I wasn’t going to let this get me down was one of my first responses after I had a chance to think for just a few minutes.
Looking back I should have realized that there was something wrong at least a year and a half or so earlier, but I didn’t know what all the symptoms were. That is something that people really need to be looking out for.
Best thing the doctor did for me, though, was to immediately get the ball rolling on diabetic training. It took a couple of months to get my insurance to approve it but I went to 5 sessions of this and learned so much about how to handle this disease and eat properly.
As a followup, about 9 months later I was taken off of insulin and put on Metformin pills and currently my fasting glucose levels are normally in the 95-110 range. This is approx. 2 years since my diagnosis (my Diaversary is coming up on the 19th). Still need to get another 40 pounds, or more, off, but all my other numbers are in excellent ranges. Last A1c was 5.7.
Kristin,
Do you know what leg cramps have to do with diabetes? I have had them so bad, especially when my BS gets really low. I knew there had to be a some coincidence, I just have no idea what it is.
I don’t know but I suspect maybe the cells are starving
Has anyone ever experienced constipation as a result of high sugars?
Well, I was only 7 at the time, so I don’t remember much of the actual day, only bits and pieces. Leading to diagnosis, I had been going to the bathroom a lot, drinking non stop, lost weight, and my schoolwork was suffering. My handwriting had been nearly illegible in the weeks leading to diagnosis.
The day of diagnosis, I remember waking up after a night of vomiting, and seeing my dad home from work. We went to the doctpr’s and I remember on the way there asking my mom and dad if we could get a drink on the way back home. I remember being carried into the docs office and the next thing I knew I was in the hospital in an elevator on a stretcher. I don’t know if I lost consciousness or what, but I don’t remember how I got there. I was in ICU for a week or so. I wish I knew what my Bg was that day. I’m sure it was up there, though!
Makes me sad to think of it, but when I think of how far I’ve come in the last 30 years, it’s pretty incredible.
Wow… thats crazy. That must have been so scary knowing the other man went into a coma and passed away. I would have been freaking out
No, I had the opposite