I had lost a lot of weight and also had terrible thirst and was peeing for England. I suspected this may be diabetes so made an appointment at GP's one Friday. Sure enough the HbA1c came back as 123 (13.4%). Was telephoned on the Saturday early evening and told I needed to go to see an emergency GP at an out of hours clinic. Did as I was told and was just sent away again having been told that it would sort itself out with diet and exercise (this after waiting 2 hours to be seen grrrr!). Come Mon morning I got a phone call from my own GP asking me to come straight in. This I did and was immediately started on Metformin and statins and given a meter and strips.
The biggest grievance I have regarding my diagnosis, is that approx 1 year ago I was suffering from a stress related illness. A battery of tests were run, including a HbA1c test that came back at 50 (6.7%). I only know about this result because the GP I saw at diagnosis showed me this chart on his computer showing the rise in my results. At no point did anyone ever discuss this result with me, mention pre diabetes, suggest I changed my eating habits or plan another blood test.
It does leave me wondering whether this could have been nipped in the bud back then with a little advise. If only I had found this forum back then! I certainly think it shows how things can 'slip through the net'. I so wish I'd followed up on those blood tests myself.