Months or years

[diamonddamaris]

Is there a specific amount of time you can be a diabetic without being diagnosed?

 

[In Response]

Is there a specific amount of time you can be a diabetic without being diagnosed?

I think the question is a bit like "how long is a piece of string?"
Some people find their diabetes comes on very quickly but others can have it for years without knowingly experiencing any symptoms.

What is the reason for your question?

 

[diamonddamaris]

When I got diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic last year in October at the hospital they said they think I might have had it for 6 months but when I think about it I would drank quite a bit before starting work, was feeling tired and was eating but didn’t really seem to gain weight. I never really thought anything of it at the time but I’m starting to wonder about it now.

 

[jaywak]

Looking back I think I must have had it for a few months before I was diagnosed , I had all the symptoms but didn't pay too much attention to them , I guess our pancreas slowly deteriorates rather than just stops .

 

[In Response]

Our beta cells definitely die gradually as this is the honeymoon phase but for some (especially children this could be a few weeks) but for others it could be years.
And the point at which we notice the symptoms also varies. I know I was feeling unusually run down for a few months before my diagnosis but I see no value working out how long. I cannot change the past and prefer to focus on managing my diabetes now and in the future,

 

[Zhnyaka]

hmm, as far as I know, depending on the diet, it can take from several months to several years between the onset of type 1 diabetes and when we fall into a hyperglycemic coma. The question is at what stage the diagnosis is made. Severe weakness and thirst appear in theory in a few months, as well as weight loss, but people may not pay attention to it for a long time. I was very thin all my childhood, I don't know if this is due to diabetes, severe thirst definitely lasted for several months before I was diagnosed, while at the time of diagnosis my bg was slightly above 20, and not a precomatous condition, as it usually happens

 

[diamonddamaris]

I’ve always been quite slim as well so didn’t notice any difference but I collapsed at home and when I was in hospital I was told that my blood sugar reading was in the 40s and they didn’t know if I would survive.

 

[Antje77]

I think I had diabetes for two years before my diagnosis.
That's when the recurring thrush started.
Never had it before or again since starting insulin.

 

[In Response]

Severe weakness and thirst appear in theory in a few months, as well as weight loss,

What is this based on?
Do you have a reference for a paper where this is mentioned?

It was definitely not the case for me.
I loss no weight, I was not thirsty.

 

[jaywak]

I seem to remember having lots of awful boils and spots just before I was diagnosed and visited the Drs who told me as I was going through puberty that was why , it was a few weeks later that I couldn't be awakened one morning and was rushed to hospital ,

 

[Jaylee]

Hi,

From what I remember it was the summer of 1976.. (the drought.) I think everyone was drinking more. Then around a week or so before the school broke up leading into the first week of the summer holiday (2 weeks maybe 3?)
The usual suspect symptoms, then diagnosis.. (well, not quite. A GP fobbed my mum off, so I got rushed round a kiddie ward & was diagnosed by a nurse my mum knew & admitted on the spot…)

Oddly, @jaywak . As a kid, I was always playing about in the garden knocking together wooden constructions with some really antiquated tools & some spare ironmongery I was given to play with? Somehow just prior to diagnosis in that hot summer.
I got an infection on my thumb that got a little puss filled & was patched up for that..

The only time since I had anything similar was on an index finger traveling through India..

 

[Grant_Vicat]

What is this based on?
Do you have a reference for a paper where this is mentioned?

It was definitely not the case for me.
I loss no weight, I was not thirsty.

Interesting one this. At 11 months I went from being a highly active baby to "something out of Belsen" as was said at the time, indicating severe weight-loss drinking more than I had been, getting through loads of nappies, totally torpid and eventually cyanosed with stertorious breathing. How long this was brewing I shall never know, but I suspect in a baby not very long, maybe days? It would be interesting to know the experience of others at diagnosis.

 

[lovinglife]

I’m T2 reckon I had it for about 8 years before diagnosis, starting as pre diabetic and working it’s way up slowly until I was full on raging T2 with a Hba1C of 99, I remember a raging all consuming thirst for a couple of months, massive weight gain with no apparent reason, lot of low level infections, sleep standing up, skin tags, a couple of boils and a really bad sinus infection. All went as soon as I had numbers under control

 

[Zhnyaka]

What is this based on?
Do you have a reference for a paper where this is mentioned?

It was definitely not the case for me.
I loss no weight, I was not thirsty.

I hope it is permissible to attach links
not sure what your question refers to, so it's about the symptoms :

https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-1-diabetes/type-1-diabetes-symptoms

and this is about how diabetes develops:

Staging Presymptomatic Type 1 Diabetes: A Scientific Statement of JDRF, the Endocrine Society, and the American Diabetes Association

Insights from prospective, longitudinal studies of individuals at risk for developing type 1 diabetes have demonstrated that the disease is a continuum tha

diabetesjournals.org

 

[In Response]

I hope it is permissible to attach links
not sure what your question refers to, so it's about the symptoms :

https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-1-diabetes/type-1-diabetes-symptoms

and this is about how diabetes develops:

Staging Presymptomatic Type 1 Diabetes: A Scientific Statement of JDRF, the Endocrine Society, and the American Diabetes Association

Insights from prospective, longitudinal studies of individuals at risk for developing type 1 diabetes have demonstrated that the disease is a continuum tha

diabetesjournals.org

I was referring to the length of time you have diabetes before it is diagnosed.
Given I have Type 1, I know the symptoms.

The research paper is interesting but I think it is is misleading as it only refers to children. It is often discussed how the honeymoon phases is, typically, longer in adults,

 

[Zhnyaka]

I was referring to the length of time you have diabetes before it is diagnosed.
Given I have Type 1, I know the symptoms.

The research paper is interesting but I think it is is misleading as it only refers to children. It is often discussed how the honeymoon phases is, typically, longer in adults,

Heh, now I'm thinking about what we call the word "honeymoon" different things. I confess I always thought that this is the period when we already need insulin therapy, but our beta cells are still able to produce insulin. But yes, you are absolutely right that children develop diabetes faster than adults

 

[Grant_Vicat]

I seem to remember having lots of awful boils and spots just before I was diagnosed and visited the Drs who told me as I was going through puberty that was why , it was a few weeks later that I couldn't be awakened one morning and was rushed to hospital ,

I would hope that they would give you a routine check-up nowadays, but maybe time is against them?

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Is there a specific amount of time you can be a diabetic without being diagnosed?

I would say no, as the following posts bear out. Medics, like most people, like to put patients into neat compartments. But in a single family metabolism can vary hugely, there can be different blood groups among the siblings and different immune problems. They would also love to say that we all inherited diabetes, but I, for one, have had it proved by the genetic department at Addenbrooke's (Cambridge University Hospital) that I did not inherit it.