Stories

[Fayefaye1429]

Hello everyone,

I am wondering, if people are happy to share, what your story is for being diagnosed?

Here is mine.

I had felt a little poorly on and off for a while having kidney issues and ask doctors to test me for diabetes which was refused. About 8 months later I collapsed in a hotel room and woke up about 2 hours later. No one found me and my parents can be a tad dramatic, plus they didn't believe anything was wrong with me, so i decided not to tell them. Luckily my doctors was near my school (i was 15), so i skipped school in the mornings to go get tests done. It took 6 months to get a referral but i was so happy to not only be close to an answer but to hopefully soon feel better. By this point I had gone (i discovered ) from 90kgs to 55kg, if i was not where i was meant to be like school i was a sleep all the time (which happened in school especially in my mock exams). I was diagnosed on 26th May 2001, the best day ever and i celebrate each year being a live. I do this as two months after i was diagnosed a medical professional announced to my family that i roughly had a bout 1/2 months to live if i had not got diagnosed. My family were very upset, with the diagnoses and being told their daughter could have died. It makes me smile as when i look back on it i remember my doctor saying unfortunately you have type one diabetes, my parents burst into hysterics, the doctor spend most of the session consoling them. At one point though he turned to me and said," you can be upset you know". I said, "nah i am happy, what's next?"

For me for a long time i felt like i was dying so when i got my first injection it felt amazing to feel a little better. By this point i was as white as a piece of paper, and slowly i saw colour come back.
I know I sound positive about it but my for me my diabetes is a part of me whether i like it or not, in away it saved me, gave me life back and gave me opportunities i may not have had if i was not diagnosed. Since I was diagnosed i have spent my life giving back with fundraisers, supporting child with needle use and supporting adults. I am sure i will continue with this till my last breathe because diabetes doesn't mean the end of things, in away its just a path we may not have expected to happen by my that path is definitely eventful in bad and good ways like life.

Would love to hear your stories.

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi I am type 1 as well and ended up in hospital 26 years ago.
Just to let you know there is another thread that has been running on the same subject.

subjhttp://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/how-did-you-find-out-you-had-diabetes.75135/page-2#post-827683ect.

Best wishes RRB

 

[AndyS]

I had been slightly off for a while. Losing a ton of weight and the usual always thirsty and always needing the loo.
Was never getting more than around an hour of sleep at a stint a night and was completely exhausted. But I am a stubborn sod and have other medical issues that can cause me not to sleep and weight to go crazy up and down so I had ignored it all.

The first night I spent in hospital was the best nights sleep I had had in probably more than a year, even with all the plumbing attached to my arm. It was so nice not to wake up every your or so gagging for a drink and busting for the loo.

I too pretty much took it all in my stride and when the nurse came to give me my first shot of lantus that morning I just put my hand out and told them to hand it over and explain what I should do. From that point on I pretty much went out and learned as much as I could. Once I couldn't find anything new I started to experiment so that I could understand how different foods and activities affected me.
With a lot of hard work and note taking I finally now think I live a pretty normal life, which just happens to have diabetes in it.

 

[L3wisr]

I had all the usual symptoms for over a year and they got to the were I didn't want to leave the house. Over the period of 6 months I went to the doctors 8 times and was told at every appoint the to just drink more water and to stand up slower. In the end I went to a different walk in clinic and was sent to hospital within 10 minutes and stayed in there for a week.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I had all the usual symptoms for over a year and they got to the were I didn't want to leave the house. Over the period of 6 months I went to the doctors 8 times and was told at every appoint the to just drink more water and to stand up slower. In the end I went to a different walk in clinic and was sent to hospital within 10 minutes and stayed in there for a week.

I was in hospital for a week too, but hundreds of miles from home, supposed to be having a weeks break at my sister's, that didn't work out well

Doctors eh

Best wishes RRB

 

[noblehead]

Dr you have diabetes and 3 days later was admitted to hospital and stayed there for a week, wouldn't let me home until I could test my urine for glucose, inject insulin and had my first hypo.

Up to my diagnosis I was incredibly thirsty and could have drank from a tap, which in turn lead to frequent toilet trips with a continued broken sleep, also lost weight and just felt lethargic.

 

[Nicola M]

It was a week after my first birthday,my parents noticed I was drinking a lot but thought it was because I was coming down with something. In the evening my mum came to check on me and I was sick everywhere, so the next morning they took me to a walk in clinic who decided to send me straight to the hospital (my poor parents hadn't a clue what was going on because no one told them) I had a lot of tests and a day later found out I had diabetes. Cute thing about me then is that I was hooked up to many wires and so couldn't have my mother hold me so when they came off they put me in her lap and I clamped my arms round her and wouldn't let go, the nurses thought I was adorable

 

[LaineyK]

Mine was blurry vision in January. Luckily caught it quick as when I asked my doc to test for diabetes he said ok, but I thought it would have been type 2 as I'm 42 yrs old and have a little tummy on me.. I thought only children got type 1 you see. My ketones were ++++, that's how they said they knew I was type 1, also bg was 23. I was thirsty and lethargic too.

 

[Erin]

I think I began to be pre-diabetic upon the onset of menopause at 49. But I also take many other medications one of which may affect the pancreas or kidneys after 35 yrs. I had a terrible flu, and a lot of personal stressful events in my life including deaths.. My family shares diabetes as well. So it is difficult to find the true cause which became obvious over a year.

 

[Gaz-M]

I was 2 years (42 year ago) old and had lost alot of weight and was thirsty all the time, one day I was on a green cloth settee without a nappy on and had a wee on the sofa, when it started to dry it was almost turning into sugar, So my mam called the Doctor who rushed my straight into hospital

 

[Fayefaye1429]

Hi everyone,

Wow thanks for sharing you all have amazing stories and its really opened my eyes to peoples various experiences. I know in my school when diagnosed there was only two others and didn't want to talk about it, so thank you for sharing.

 

[pinewood]

My symptoms were extreme, constant thirst, needing to go to the toilet during the night, weight loss and tiredness. GP told me it was stress/anxiety. Only when I read up on symptoms online did I think it could be T1 diabetes - I immediately bought some KetoStix and got a high result, so went back to GP and forced him to give me a blood test. It was 29mmol so I was sent straight to A&E and in hospital for 3 nights.

I would love to know how long it was developing for - I had a routine medical 6 months before diagnosis and my fasting blood sugar was 8mmol. Not sure why they never picked up on that - I was told it was normal when it should really have been looked into in my opinion :-/

 

[Fayefaye1429]

I love the courage everyone has been taking and pushing doctors its awesome