How urgent is it to get diagnosed?

[omarm]

@elaine, i'm confused - will a prick blood test be worthwhile doing?
or will it just give a false result that can't be relied on?
if so.... maybe i'll just wait until my son gets back and take him on monday
still anxious - don't like waiting

 

[Clover]

Hi Omarm

My 2 children are now grown up, but I can understand how you must be feeling.

If diabetes is a possibilty then a finger prick test would give a snapshot of the moment. But you would need to know the circumstances in which it was done - for example how long after he had eaten or drunk either fruit juice or a very sugary drink.

The actual prick can be uncomfortable, particularily if done by someone inexperienced and I would have thought that ringing your doctor and asking how urgent a blood test is would be the best course of action. Your doctor should put things into perspective for you.

Best wishes

Moya

 

[elainechi]

wait til he gets back on monday but as i said get the blood form from the gp and make appt at hospital for blood test monday.....with a prick test you are measuring blood glucose at that time and if you had eaten say chocolate or cake the prick test would be higher than normal for a couple of hours even if you weren.t diabetic......it will not be reliable...also a rhe gp might want to test the blood for other things like another infection.....try to relax please

plan...get blood form from gp
organize where the blood test wil be
he is 7 so may take a while to take blood as may need numbing cream

and may be start buying sugar free fizzy and squash as its better for all of us xx

 

[omarm]

@elaine, @clover thanks for the replies - it really helps speaking to others
i won't do the prick test for the reasons given - either way it could give false information

i'll go to the gp and get the blood slip
i meant to do that today - but it slipped my mind despite making a diary note

i'll definitely post back to let u all know the result

 

[mrawfell]

Firstly yes diabetes is a serious and potentially fatal disease. However don't panic. I doubt if anyone on this forum was diagnosed as not diabetic yesterday, diabetic today. Sugar in the urine is only a crude test and the blood sugar has to high before it shows. His urine test came back as normal. So if he has diabetes he is not in a serious situation yet. A blood test a chemist which will normaly give you a result within 5 seconds, is accurate, at that moment. I have compared my home meter result with a hospital check, the difference was 5.5 vs 5.4 samples taken within 1 minute of each other. Difference was within experimental error. So I suggest get a chemist check, and ask his opinion of the result. NICE has guideline results which I am sure the chemist ( and hospital and GP ) will all use.
So relax and just take one step at a time. Hope you get good results, and you can relax. Remember, it's only a possibility that the doctor is checking. For at least 2 hours before the blood test, no sugar or sweet drinks. I am not a doctor but suspect an infection is more likely.

 

[omarm]

@mrawfell many thanks for the reply

we called around pharmacies and none of them do an on the spot prick test
i've experienced the nhs before and didn't want to bother with relying on them to transfer a blood test result from up north to down south in just a matter of few days

so... the other option was to just go and buy a home blood test checking machine - i've seen these for as cheap as £5 in chemists in the past - obviously the manufacturer makes their real money from the test strips

but then i thought, drawing any conclusions from any results got at home would not be good if we're not clued up

right now i'm just counting down the days for him to get back

i didn't say before, but my family does have a long history of diabetes
my mum has it, my dad had it, at least 3/4 of my brothers have it (i have a large family)
my wife's dad had it

the diabetes cases in the family - i assumed was because of bad diet and zero exercise
and as such wouldn't ever thought it would be an effect at all

when it comes to diabetes in kids - i just was't sure and am fairly clueless - i just know it's super serious and needed to be controlled really well

urine infection - i don't know. he was put on antibiotics for 5 days - had no effect
last friday i spoke to the doctor who said that the results from the hospital had come back and all was clear

i'll post back when we get results - that will be maybe a week after next monday when we get the blood test done

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Apart from your current concerns you might want to get hold of a meter anyway as you have a family history. Many manfacturers provide them free if you ask as they make their money from the strips. There is a make called Codefree form Amazon etc that has very low cost strips. Normally you would test 2 hours after a meal to check what foods affect you; if at all. You would be looking for a result noticeably below 8.5 mmol if perhaps pre-diabetic and below 7.5 mmol if not diabetic; it depends on the amount of carbs in the meal and what level of diabetes you might have if any. Note that once a pack of test strips is opened it needs to be used by the end date to keep it accurate; this may be 2 years ahead or less. BTW don't over-react if you see one 'bad' reading as illness etc can cause sugars to rise. Test over several days and meals to see if you need to see the doc at all.

 

[omarm]

@daibell, thanks for the tip about codefree

i never imagined that the diabetic problem would be a concern for me
i'm in good shape and weight and take regular exercise + will make sure the kids do the same

the only concern i have now is a bad diet
question: if a child has a bad diet - mainly carbohydrates, does this make them more prone to getting diabetes?
as opposed to a diet where the child has loooads of sugar intake through sweets etc
+ my kids aren't overweight - i thought i'd add that as i'm sure it's relevant

let me know
thanks

 

[shop]

@daibell, thanks for the tip about codefree

i never imagined that the diabetic problem would be a concern for me
i'm in good shape and weight and take regular exercise + will make sure the kids do the same

the only concern i have now is a bad diet
question: if a child has a bad diet - mainly carbohydrates, does this make them more prone to getting diabetes?
as opposed to a diet where the child has loooads of sugar intake through sweets etc
+ my kids aren't overweight - i thought i'd add that as i'm sure it's relevant

let me know
thanks

Hi Omarm,

Just to help explain, Juvenile diabetes is not caused by lifestyle or as some say a bad diet. It is some say an Autoimmune condition, some even say that it is caused by a virus. The pancreas stops producing insulin. This is known as T1 Diabetes.

T2 diabetes is what we here about alot in the media and CAN ( not in all cases, there are alot of T2's who are not. overweight, but this is never mentioned in the media ) be linked to lifesyle and diet and is more common in people over 40. T2 is where the body becomes resistant to the insulin produced and sometimes can lead to the pancreas failing to produce insulin.

If your son is Diabetic then it is more likely that he is T1 ( although there are a small amount of young T2's called MODY )

I hope this helps you to understand a little bit more.

Finger crossed that it is not Diabetes and let us know how it all goes.

Lucy xxx

 

[omarm]

thanks lucy
the community hear is great
all replies have been really helpful
i'll definitely post back with an update in due course

 

[lucylocket61]

Just a thought. If you sons urine was tested for an infection, it may not have been tested for sugar level.

And, as has been pointed out, many T2's are not overweight, or eat rubbish, or dont exercise. Sometimes its genetic, or just the way it is. The media have focussed on overweight type 2's and ignored the many type 2's who are slim, eat healthily and exercise. So keeping an eye on your family blood sugar levels is a good idea no matter how slim, healthy and active you all are.

In my family we have 3 generations of type 2's, all different weights, lifestyles and exercise plans, but all diagnosed around our mid 40's.

 

[omarm]

thanks lucy
better to know than be ignorant, so the info is really helpful

 

[stacey28]

My 6yr old son started to drink large ammounts wet the bed was very moody i then noticed he lost alot of weight in a small ammount of time i took him to the gp who done finger prick his sugars were 38.0 a urine test showed alot of sugar & ketones we were sent to hospital were he was diagnosed i felt awful as i hadnt put all the symptoms together n he had been diabetic a while before we found out all this was only 4 weeks ago i wish you & your son all the best id take him some were to have his urine & blood levels checked

 

[MauBell]

I have similar question in mind. I'm not sure if I should have myself checked. I have several family members who are diabetic and I am not sure if I already have one. I'm scared to know :?

 

[shop]

My 6yr old son started to drink large ammounts wet the bed was very moody i then noticed he lost alot of weight in a small ammount of time i took him to the gp who done finger prick his sugars were 38.0 a urine test showed alot of sugar & ketones we were sent to hospital were he was diagnosed i felt awful as i hadnt put all the symptoms together n he had been diabetic a while before we found out all this was only 4 weeks ago i wish you & your son all the best id take him some were to have his urine & blood levels checked

Stacey!!! You are not a Doctor,

You took your son as any parent would have done and thankfuly he was diagnosed and is not being treated. Hindsight is all very well! I admit that as I am T1 I will be more alert if my son suddenly starts showing possible symptoms of Diabetes, but that is only because I now know what they are.

Lucy xxx

 

[omarm]

@stacey, you can spend eternity blaming yourself (which you shouldn't!)
what matters more than anything: you caught in time and now have the luxury to control your own destinies

@maubell: i am like that with many things in life. brown envelopes - do NOT open these - these contain bad news - it will be a fine or a letter from the inland revenue! best to live life in ignorance... erm... ok... i'm being silly of course
go to the GP and get the tests done - stop thinking and take action

 

[omarm]

All: I've been really busy and haven't had a chance to reply until now

Result: all OK on the diabetes side
We had the blood test done at the hospital. Results came a few days later
Doctor said everything was normal

We still have the problem though - he still needs to go to the toilet too frequently
We've got an appointment at the hospital now
I'm just hoping it will be one of those things that will pass - but no idea what the cause of the problem is

Thanks a million for all the replies - the community here is absolutely fantastic

Omar

 

[NigelM]

The other key symptom in the young is rapid loss of weight. I was diagnosed by a finger prick test done in the doctors surgery. Blood tests were sent off and the results were available in a couple of days.


My view would be there is no risk in going for the test. If you're wrong - that's great. If it proves positive, the sooner treatment starts the better.

Nigel