Could I have had symptoms in childhood?

DaftThoughts

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Type of diabetes
LADA
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This has been on my mind a lot since diagnosis. As a child, I remember these following things quite clearly:

- I was ALWAYS thirsty. When eating out, I felt bad because I constantly needed several glasses of whatever I was drinking otherwise I would be parched, racking up the bills. I was more focused on getting fluids than eating pretty much all the time.
- I peed a lot because of drinking a lot.
- I was always very hungry despite eating enough.
- I was always lethargic and felt like I had less energy than everyone else around me.
- Gym class and other forms of exercise were more exhausting to me than to others, for some reason.

I was always a bit on the chubby side as a kid (as well as the tallest in my class all through elementary) although never particularly fat - I actually gained the most weight in my late teens. I didn't lose weight and the symptoms weren't debilitating. As a teen I also had extreme menstruation issues that I tried to iron out with hormonal birth control (which helped, until I got on insulin full time, then the birth control was making my menstruation hell again).

Most of these symptoms indicate diabetes to me now, but I can't recall ever having had tests for it. I was never really hospitalized for anything or had been in situations where I needed the kind of medical attention where bloodsugar tests are standard. My bloodsugar values weren't super abnormal the first time I was marked as prediabetic, just a bit elevated for fasting.

Now I can't stop wondering, have I always been showing signs of diabetes that just went ignored because I was deemed a chubby kid who was 'just hungry all the time'? Since I got the right treatment and my bloodsugars have been down, I've actually never felt as thirsty or hungry anymore as I have basically my entire life. I pee maybe 3-5 times a day now, I drink 1.5-2 liters per day (if that), and my excessive hunger appears to be fueled mostly by out of whack hormones as outside of my period I sometimes have to force myself to eat.

I don't really know what to think of this now. I clearly wasn't diabetic as a kid because otherwise I would probably have been in DKA or been diagnosed earlier. But if I had known the things I know now, I would have been tested for diabetes at 8 years old for these symptoms. Does anyone else recognize this? It might just be coincidence or something specific to me, but I can't really stop thinking about it.
 

ickihun

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This has been on my mind a lot since diagnosis. As a child, I remember these following things quite clearly:

- I was ALWAYS thirsty. When eating out, I felt bad because I constantly needed several glasses of whatever I was drinking otherwise I would be parched, racking up the bills. I was more focused on getting fluids than eating pretty much all the time.
- I peed a lot because of drinking a lot.
- I was always very hungry despite eating enough.
- I was always lethargic and felt like I had less energy than everyone else around me.
- Gym class and other forms of exercise were more exhausting to me than to others, for some reason.

I was always a bit on the chubby side as a kid (as well as the tallest in my class all through elementary) although never particularly fat - I actually gained the most weight in my late teens. I didn't lose weight and the symptoms weren't debilitating. As a teen I also had extreme menstruation issues that I tried to iron out with hormonal birth control (which helped, until I got on insulin full time, then the birth control was making my menstruation hell again).

Most of these symptoms indicate diabetes to me now, but I can't recall ever having had tests for it. I was never really hospitalized for anything or had been in situations where I needed the kind of medical attention where bloodsugar tests are standard. My bloodsugar values weren't super abnormal the first time I was marked as prediabetic, just a bit elevated for fasting.

Now I can't stop wondering, have I always been showing signs of diabetes that just went ignored because I was deemed a chubby kid who was 'just hungry all the time'? Since I got the right treatment and my bloodsugars have been down, I've actually never felt as thirsty or hungry anymore as I have basically my entire life. I pee maybe 3-5 times a day now, I drink 1.5-2 liters per day (if that), and my excessive hunger appears to be fueled mostly by out of whack hormones as outside of my period I sometimes have to force myself to eat.

I don't really know what to think of this now. I clearly wasn't diabetic as a kid because otherwise I would probably have been in DKA or been diagnosed earlier. But if I had known the things I know now, I would have been tested for diabetes at 8 years old for these symptoms. Does anyone else recognize this? It might just be coincidence or something specific to me, but I can't really stop thinking about it.
95% of your experience was mine too. I remember horrific thrush at 6 and 7yr old onwards. My dad bought me a bidet as I suffered mainly at the time of our liver dumps 2-3am. My poor mum religiously got up to help me bath/sooth and thicker me with some sort of thick cream (god knows what gp had suggested) - out of a prescription tube. Definitely not natural yogurt, that's for sure. On asking my mum what I was given she cannot remember. She didn't ask questions as gp knew best, or so she thought.
I've fought my heavy weight all my life and not diagnosed til I was 32yr old on changing gp practice after a heavy drinking xmas and new year. I bet many are out there still undiagnosed? :(
The bell's palsy, underactive thyroid and unfertility due to pcos still didnt give a gp an inkling of diabetes. I'm still unsure whether I was ever tested til I was 32.
 

himtoo

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why can't everyone get on........
Hey @DaftThoughts
your thread / post is upsetting and at the same time informative-- to know that you can look back and "see" your early symptoms
this is the sort of information that should be included in doctor training for helping to recognise D earlier.

hugs to you for sharing !! [[[hugs]]]
 

DaftThoughts

Well-Known Member
Messages
397
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
95% of your experience was mine too. I remember horrific thrush at 6 and 7yr old onwards. My dad bought me a bidet as I suffered mainly at the time of our liver dumps 2-3am. My poor mum religiously got up to help me bath/sooth and thicker me with some sort of thick cream (god knows what gp had suggested) - out of a prescription tube. Definitely not natural yogurt, that's for sure. On asking my mum what I was given she cannot remember. She didn't ask questions as gp knew best, or so she thought.
I've fought my heavy weight all my life and not diagnosed til I was 32yr old on changing gp practice after a heavy drinking xmas and new year. I bet many are out there still undiagnosed? :(
The bell's palsy, underactive thyroid and unfertility due to pcos still didnt give a gp an inkling of diabetes. I'm still unsure whether I was ever tested til I was 32.

Oh man that stinks so much, I'm sorry! My childhood was pretty uneventful health wise, besides the thirst, peeing and total lack of energy. I still played with kids, I biked a lot outdoors, but I was exhausted all the time. I think part of my exhaustion was mental (I'm an HSP as long as I can remember) but enough was physical. My weight is probably also a genetic factor of some sort, my sister has a BMI of 18 and has been chronically underweight for most of her life just like my mom. My mom didn't get to a really healthy weight until after menopause. I take after my dad's side of the family, all heavyset. (When I went out shopping with my aunt from my dad's side, they always thought I was her daughter!)

I've been wondering if I might be having thyroid issues too but been too chicken to get tested. My GP would probably need something more than 'I'm fat and can't seem to lose weight at all' and I'm too tired to get into that fight at the moment. I don't fit the PCOS profile thankfully so that's out, but who knows? There's so much looking back at my childhood I can't help but wonder what else I'm missing right now.

Hey @DaftThoughts
your thread / post is upsetting and at the same time informative-- to know that you can look back and "see" your early symptoms
this is the sort of information that should be included in doctor training for helping to recognise D earlier.

hugs to you for sharing !! [[[hugs]]]

I definitely have mixed feelings! It's comforting to know that I might finally have an answer as to why my memories are filled with exhaustion and excessive thirst, on the other hand it's frustrating that we may have skipped over symptoms for so long too. I'm glad I was diagnosed fairly early on anyway in my early twenties before my pancreas really kicked the bucket, at the very least.

You're welcome. :)
 
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ickihun

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@DaftThoughts do you also think back on the not so bad times and see anything familiar with posts who are fighting their weight still?

You may have inherited leptin resistance. Research going on now on children as to whether inherited.

I'm not sure how far things have got regarding insulin resistance being inherited?
Someone might know?
 

Karenchq

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Messages
84
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I also can recognize symptoms years earlier than diagnosis. I wonder if it is that we were (in my case still am) in the honeymoon period for a very long time with some pancreas function to keep us going. I can also remember some extreme lows years back during very hot weather or strenuous exercise. I went to my doctor about 10 years ago being concerned with these lows and after testing he told me that I was pre-diabetic and to just get tested for type 2 periodically. I wonder if at that point I was starting LADA slide. At least now, I know that I am type 1 and feeling better with proper treatment. I was diagnosed a year ago at age 50 and take very small doses of insulin (between .5-3 units NovoRapid for meals and 6-7 units Lantus). It will be interesting to see how long I will remain in this phase.
 

ickihun

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I think diabetes should be tested in junior school. Pre puberty. Poor girls could do without the heartache of related pcos and infertility. Type2 and insulin resistance can be court early and managed. Far sooner!!!
Why wait til a type2 diagnosis?