How long did you think you had diabetes before diagnosis?

[Tabbyjoolz]

Interesting question. I suspect I may have been pre-diabetic for years before my diagnosis last month.

When I was young and skinny I would, occasionally, get very shaky if I hadn't eaten for a few hours, but displayed no other symptoms. It was around 18 years ago I started to have problems with weight, but still no symptoms. Over that time there was a lot of yo-yo dieting, changes of doctors and urine samples.

Then over the past year, the weight was getting difficult to shift. From spring onwards I felt knackered. A trip to Iceland in July and what was billed as an 'easy' 4km walk almost did me in.

I believe had I had an Hba1c test years earlier, it would have flagged up pre-diabetes.

 

[Snootybutnice]

mmm...maybe a year but I'm sure the doc tested me for this in the last year or two. Came as a total shock as supposed to have a triple op 2 weeks ago and they were doing blood work so I asked them to pull a few extra vials for my GP at the same time, who wanted to test me for high BP (which I got in Feb 2012 after a brain haemorrhage). I wasn't expecting the GP to also ask for blood sugars but they did. The hospital ran their tests and the GPs tests - and then pulled my operation that I've been waiting over a year for, as I had a score of '52' and the surgeons wanted to wait until my diabetes was 'under control'.

I've had problems with tiredness which I put down to working really long hours and really large fibroids. I always feel thirsty because I don't drink enough deliberately because my fibroids press on my bladder and I have to have a trip to the loo every 20 minutes or so. When I need to go shopping I have to avoid all fluids just to avoid any embarrassing accidents because when I've got to go, I've got to go! I don't sleep well because I try to drink more in the evening when I'm in the house - which in turn keeps me up half the night going to the loo every hour. I often got shaky but then I often missed breakfast and lunch and ate around 3-4pm and in the evening. I was piling on weight and this time when I went juicing over the summer I didn't feel so good - my gums would start to get numb and I couldn't understand why it had worked so well in the past but not this time. Obviously it was majorly spiking my blood sugars. I started to add weight on for the first 4 days of my holiday while being really 'diligent'!! LOL

I've now lost nearly 1 stone in the past 3 weeks. Still feeling very **** though - have a cold/flu feeling, headache. I need to up my fluids because according to my urine analysis tests my S.G. Density is 1.030 (the last colour) and my ketones are ++40 (3.9) so I think I must be still quite hydrated. Just want to go to bed all the time this past 2 weeks.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I would think about a couple of months ? but just kept going ( just thought it was stress and shock, ex left)

 

[slip]

I was changing doctors and had no symptoms, during the nurses 'check-up' the routine urine test showed up glucose, I had been partying the night before so we initially put it down to that with a followup a week later, again (with no partying before hand) sure enough same result, the doc at the time thought I was T2 and put me on tablets, probably a few weeks maybe a month later after loosing loads of weight and drinking gallons and feeling positively ill he referred me to the Diabetes clinic, a few blood tests and days later I was on insulin - that first insulin injection was like a magic bullet!

 

[delmcp]

Was diagnosed as a Type 2 while working in the South Atlantic Nov 14, Was re-diagnosed feb this year after routine HBA1c figure had shot back up again. So it was 15 Months give or take going to the Docs and being put on Insulin after having a cpeptide test to confirm Type 1.

 

[Snootybutnice]

@slip - I'm feeling ill too and have been losing weight and trying to drink more (not quite so successfully due to my problem fibroids pressing on my bladder - sorry TMI). When you said you were feeling ill - can you describe how you felt back then? I just feel soo tired and lethargic, no energy, can't concentrate, don't want to do anything - but I'm happy in myself. Hacked off that they cancelled my operation because of it - but then equally grateful because immediately after they cancelled I came down with coldy/flu symptoms and have not been right since - so wouldn't have been ideal as part of my recouperation coughing with stomach clamps LOL.

I'm putting it down to a combo of having a cold virus thing, possible shock at being told I have T2 diabetes and disappointment in the cancellation of a big op which took me months to organise as I run my own business (in terms of finding cover for 3 months etc) and change in diet as to why I'm currently feeling so ****. Really sorry to hear you went so quickly from T2 to T1 and just really hoping that I don't go down the same route I guess. :-S

 

[MikeTurin]

I've got high cholesterol and triglycerides for years and a glucose fasting level in the 90-99 range for years.
My GP said it was OK and put me on statins. Being a (former) blood donor I've found that my glucose fasting level was too high early, but on retrospective, the first symptoms of hyperglycaemia started six months before the diagnosis.

 

[slip]

@slip - I'm feeling ill too and have been losing weight and trying to drink more (not quite so successfully due to my problem fibroids pressing on my bladder - sorry TMI). When you said you were feeling ill - can you describe how you felt back then? I just feel soo tired and lethargic, no energy, can't concentrate, don't want to do anything - but I'm happy in myself. Hacked off that they cancelled my operation because of it - but then equally grateful because immediately after they cancelled I came down with coldy/flu symptoms and have not been right since - so wouldn't have been ideal as part of my recouperation coughing with stomach clamps LOL.

I'm putting it down to a combo of having a cold virus thing, possible shock at being told I have T2 diabetes and disappointment in the cancellation of a big op which took me months to organise as I run my own business (in terms of finding cover for 3 months etc) and change in diet as to why I'm currently feeling so ****. Really sorry to hear you went so quickly from T2 to T1 and just really hoping that I don't go down the same route I guess. :-S

Sorry for the delay in replying, I was talking to my wife about this the other day and she remembers coming home one day to find me trying to do dinner and I was semi slumped over the sink trying to peel potatoes, all I said was I don't have the energy to peel them - everything was an effort.

 

[Snootybutnice]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I was talking to my wife about this the other day and she remembers coming home one day to find me trying to do dinner and I was semi slumped over the sink trying to peel potatoes, all I said was I don't have the energy to peel them - everything was an effort.

wow - that's not good - what did she do? did she have to peel them herself? (joke). Just shows you how it impacts you. Hope you're feeling so much better nowadays x

 

[Robynoksana]

I was diagnosed type 1 in February. In November I lost my grandad, thereafter started passing water a lot, constant thirst, vomiting and lost over 4 stone without trying. I'd also started a new job in February so put it down to stress until my new manager made me go to the docs. Walk in clinic, tested 23.7 BG and 5.8 for ketones - was advised to go to A&E and once there was hospitalised with DKA and kept in for a week before being diagnosed with diabetes. They said the bereavement could have triggered the shut down of my pancreas or something. Luckily I'm 22 and hadn't had long term issues before diagnosis so hoping to keep up good management and avoid complications!

 

[Chaobaby7]

hello my name is Ali. I knew I was a high risk as I have inherited the dreaded apple shape and my mother also has type 2 and my father's father s well. I also had PCOS ( have had reproductive organs removed now due to cancer) but I know PCOS is a risk factor for type 2. I am a carb addict,love sugar and prefer to sit and read books than go and do sports.I also pee alot and get very tired. I now have a battle of loosing 3 stone ( as I am apple shaped its very dangerous) with middle age and my un healthy food choices in the past I am now having to not buy sweets and cakes and use my sugar and carb allowance for fruit as I love fruit and love spuds. Its very hard going as I am a foody and love to bake. It was no surprise when I got told I had type two and blood sugar 55.

 

[4ratbags]

Most probably about 6-7 years for me. I had no energy and was peeing for china. I had 4 episodes of sleeping for 4 hours and no one was able to wake me up, I eventually ended up in A&E unable to breath with chest pains. My HbA1c was 100 on diagnosis and I had high BP and cholesterol. It took a year to get everything into normal numbers but so far so good.

 

[tigerlily72]

Ickihun, , wow are you serious. Having had it so long did you have complications already.

To answer your question, I was seeing a GP regularly for unrelated issues, 3x a year at least. I trusted him, the last time he did a blood test on me was 2004. Nothing since, in 2016 may I said to him, I had insomnia for 4 months. Which I have hand before, and constant tiredness for at least 5 years. He ordered routine blood test. Came back 36.1 mmol. Got a call from St Georges to go to a&e immediately, I felt ok, well the same as my usual ****** self for the last 10 years. GP then tested me for ketones, present. Before testing he was skeptical and said "you don't look unwell", I have always been thin, but was down to 9 st from 10.5.Never been more than 11st. Am 5"8. He then said oh I see you were boderline diabetic in 2004. Nobody had ever mentioned this to me then or ever and there was never a follow up. Needless to say I furious with my GP practice and saw dsn next day,she showed be how to inject insulin, gave me a leaflet, told me I was type 1. Left me to it. I have seen her 3x since diagnosis. All the information I have is from amazon books Gary Scheiner, Bernstein,Ruhl and forums. The support was appalling. I have lost all respect for GPs. My dsn is great but overloaded. Horrible time.

That's appalling . Hope you have a new GP? My previous GP (before he retired) was fairly useless and not interested. Shortly after I was diagnosed with T2 by my new female Dr I was then diagnosed with high blood pressure. I later found out my blood pressure had been high at routine appointments with my previous Dr for quite a long time. To say I was annoyed was an understatement and thank God he's no longer at the practice. My new/replacement Dr is great and I really trust her.

I think I was certainly pre diabetic for a couple of years and very borderline T2 for about a year.

 

[Cambo1107]

I was diagnosed in July 1997, which at that time I was only 19 months old. I've now had T1 diabetes for 19 years... I think my parents told me they saw problems with me for a few days, decided to take me to the doctors, then went to hospital and I was diagnosed then, so for me, it was only a matter of days, but I don't actually know as I don't remember anything from that age...

 

[zand]

I think I was diagnosed with T2 within a couple of weeks of moving from pre-diabetes to T2. However I am pretty sure I was undiagnosed pre-diabetic for around 10 years before that.

 

[Eurobuff]

Am interested to know if it was greater than 10 years especially and what complications you had by the time of diagnosis and how you are feeling now.

By the time my mother was diagnosed she was told she must've had it for 10 years or more, at that time she was having pain in her eyes. Had been going to her GP before this with all the classic symptoms, they did blood tests and was told it was an age thing/menopause. She was referred immediately back to her GP who did the correct tests and was told they needed to act fast to save her kidneys. That was in 2002. She was registered partially sighted in 2003 & registered blind 2004. Her kidneys are OK

 

[jackois]

3 years ago at 58. I had all the classic symptoms, including confusion, which is why I made an appointment to see the doctor as I felt a bit off. I don't think I had the symptoms for more than 6 weeks and they grew steadily.

An hour after the consultation, I was at the local hospital, at a side ward attached to A & E while they carried out the C peptide tests to confirm type 1. Shortly after, I was administered my first dose of insulin which had the effect of bringing me back to my senses. The diabetes team spent the rest of the day teaching me how to blood test, carb count & understand how basal/bolus worked. I went home that night, looking like I'd spent the day shopping, two carrier bags of supplies and a promise to phone me the next day to confirm I had taken it all in. After that, it was the follow up by the local diabetes clinic and my GP.

3 years on and I look after my own insulin rates, appear to have no complications, and have an annual Diabetes Review at my local surgery. Like most of us, I've become my own expert. A lot of the credit for this goes to this forum. I also live alone.

I think the excellent care I received on diagnosis left me in the position to feel confident in looking after myself and I'll often admit that having diabetes is preferable to a lot of other things as you control it yourself and aren't in need of others to look after you.

 

[gordonowen]

It was over a year before I was diagnosed T2 and then only because of my insistence of having a blood test which made the revelation.

Cleary from this experience and that of others identifying a treating diabetes early to contain is not dome very well by the medical services and practitioners causing more issues for patients and added costs of the health service which might be reduced if the system managed far more efficiently.

 

[asparagusp]

I was diagnosed with it by chance 15 years ago when I was admitted to hospital with chest pains which proved to be nothing to worry about. To cut a story short my doctor actually broke the news over the 'phone just before my birthday. No symptoms then or indeed now other than elevated sugar levels .....

 

[Lindsay_Mc]

My daughter was diagnosed 9 1/2 weeks ago and we are positive she has had it for more than 18 + months before diagnosis. She has allergies as well and I have no idea why doctors, especially when we have been in and out of hospital constantly for 4 years. This is heartbreaking, what next????