What was your diagnosis experience like?

Well I spent 18 months being given cream for a rash that had develop due to high sugars by a GP. Then one Christmas in 1972 I drank a Watneys party seven in full. My father said "something not right son go to the doctors" so I went saw a nice GP called Darling he told me to drop my pants saw the rash and said would I give a urine sample, which I did and was told I think you're Diabetic that was between Christmas and New Year. Before going to New Years Party I received a Letter saying they believe I'm Diabetic £am new years day after collapsing with Hyper symptoms and taken to hospital where given insulin. Within a week of insulin rash and other problems gone. Note this was prior to all the new testing available for Diabetes(1973). Shock is all I can say.
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I was 10 in 1954 and hadn't been well for a few days.GP came on Friday,did a urine test and said I had diabetes mellitus,( no type 1 or 2 then).We'll send her to hospital on Monday as it's a bit late now.The only things I could drink were Roses lime juice (v expensive) and cabbage water.Monday admitted to children's ward,nearly too late as my parents were told,where I stayed for six weeks !!
Taught to inject with orange ,very thick needles which had to last .
Now 70 years and 70.000 injections later,I'm still alive and kicking

Hi i was 13.5 and i was feeling bad for 3 months then on a Friday ill always remember i was making a coffee and it fell because i didn't have strength to hold it in my hand so i went to my Doctor and she told my parents run to the hospital he has just a little bit of time to live still!!!
i arrived to the hospital early afternoon and a Doctor was passing by and just naturally sad diabetes type 1 and that's what it was
after all the tests to make shore that his diagnose is what i have they took me in to the ward and started to give me insulin so from the shock of the insulin i fell in to a KOMA!!!!!! that i was in for 2 days and in this time i was 3 time's in cardiac arrest needed to get shocked but i survived and was stuck in hospital for 6 weeks to recover and i thank the Doctors for taking such good care of me then and of curse my beloved parents to it was allot of fun learning all the stuff about living with diabetes and i learned in that time firs aid to so when i go to the Doctors i do my blood tests my self together with them and i saved a life 2 years ago by doing cpr in the university so it was a great time and im happy that i have diabetes becouse thats the only way i was able to save someones live

What’s most extraordinary, reading these accounts, is some doctors’ belligerent obduracy. For goodness’ sake, if there’s the slightest possibility of diabetes, just do a simple finger-prick test and work up from there. What’s to lose? I’d assumed things must have improved since I was diagnosed aged 3 in 1966, long before finger-prick tests, but apparently not. My mother was concerned, as I kept refusing to walk to the shops with her and had lost all energy. It still took weeks of visiting GP (which I remember) before I was finally referred when a new doctor spotted what was likely to be going on. I remember men in white coats (paramedics) turning up and chasing me round the kitchen table to take me by ambulance to hospital. I was there three weeks. I got put on glucose drip because I wouldn’t eat the meals – no wonder, as they didn’t make any provision for children’s portions in those days. I remember learning most about managing diabetes from a 13-year-old boy who was in the ward and showed me things (thanks, Russell); the doctors or nurses wouldn’t deign to speak directly to a child in those days. I also remember the nurse showing my mother how to do injections and measure food. We were presented with a glass syringe and a couple of needles (giant 5/8” ones, for a child! I never could manage to do injections with any ease, though I started aged 6), some urine test strips, and some scales to weigh food on. What strikes me about the ‘kit’, thinking back, is that it contained almost no plastic: compare that to the absolute mountain of plastic waste, a lot of it entirely unnecessary, produced by clinical items nowadays, in particular American ones. All foods had to be meticulously learnt for carb content in those days – I gradually absorbed this as I grew up. Later on, in 1980s or so, there was a fad for ‘eat what you like, don’t worry about carb counting’, then that was ditched and we returned to a more informed approach to management, and what I learnt as a child turned out to be useful again – so on the training for pump use, I found I already knew most carb content of foods, at least the ones that were around in the 1960s (that was eye-opening). I’m now weighing most of my food again, like when I was a child, to maintain good control.

I was lucky both with the diagnosis and with the first endocrinologist. I was 8 years old, my mother's sister, who works as a paramedic, came to visit us, she noticed that I had symptoms of diabetes and took me to the hospital. It was traumatic for my parents, of course, but my only bad memory is that the doctor took away a piece of bread that I was chewing (my bg was 20mmil/l at that moment). I rather felt cool because I was allowed to inject myself. I can't say that my diabetes has always been good, but for some reason I always didn't care if I had it or not. It was difficult for my parents to accept that I would spend my whole life on insulin, so they tried to contact any healers who promised healing, as a result they were almost deprived of parental rights, and since then I have neuropathy and hate religion and "traditional medicine". My doctor decided that it was easier to explain everything to me than to my parents, so I was taught to count carbohydrates and give injections instead of limiting myself to sweets. I am still very grateful to my doctor, but unfortunately, she died a few years ago and there is no one to say my thanks.

From what I’ve read even though technology has moved on with regard blood tests , home testing ! Insulins etc at the end of the day we are left to get on with it , but as bad as it sounds it’s what we have to do irrespective of how good or bad our diagnosis is,. We can be given basics but we all have to tweak things to make it work for us, With diabetes it’s never been one coat fits all And everyone is individual, this should be taken into account during diagnosis especially with the focus these days being on mental health

Summer of 76.
Fobbed off by a GP.
Rushed round to a kiddie ward "sweeny" carchase style to see a nurse my mum knew for a second opinion.
Diagnosed & admitted.
Hospitalised for a week.

Hello All,

Briefly, i was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 52 years ago when i was 15 years old, and as would be expected, it was a shock for me, my immediate family and friends. In my younger years it was very difficult, with hypos being the main problem and not having anybody who i knew who in a similar position, which meant i was quite lonely at times. Sport at school was a problem, and when i look back teachers did try and minimise this activity. However, life has to go on and idid so the best that i could. Fifty years later, i see a different 'World for diabetics', where education, diabetic discussion groups are all over the place, and i wish i had some of that in my early life. Life is a gift, and has many challenges for each and every one of us, diabetes is just one of them. So keep positive, smile and just do the best you can for yourself.

Eadwine said:

What’s most extraordinary, reading these accounts, is some doctors’ belligerent obduracy. For goodness’ sake, if there’s the slightest possibility of diabetes, just do a simple finger-prick test and work up from there. What’s to lose? I’d assumed things must have improved since I was diagnosed aged 3 in 1966, long before finger-prick tests, but apparently not.

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An ex-colleague recently told me she'd been to the walk in clinic twice with her young son who was a text book case of type 1 only to be told he had a virus.

Thankfully in the end she followed her intuition and took him to A&E.

So still problems in 2024 with Drs recognising type 1

Hi, I am newly diagnosed and they are treating me as a type 1 diabetic. I went into hospital after I was sick and they said my blood sugars were 19, then 21 but recently they have been at 13. So I have mainly used Levemir as insulin.

Haha I don't remember. But my mum was told by the ward Matron that I wouldn't survive past my early teens!
That was in September 1966 so just coming up to 58 years of T1 as it is called these days.
Yep, had to boil glass syringes with needles the size of a hosepipe - possibly exaggerating just a little. When I was about 5 and practicing to do my own injections I dropped the syringe. It landed needle first in my foot, stuck in and swayed, that's how strong the needles were
So that was my diagnosis, I'll be 61 this year.