Were you diagnosed with diabetes properly when you first got it?

[BriOnH]

Just curious how the diagnosis process went for you... For me the doctor told my mother (I was 2 at the time) that it was just an flu and will pass. Two days later, and in a coma, I was diagnosed.

How about you?

[gettingby]

I voted other because I was diagnosed quickly and correctly but was treated wrong for over a year. I ended up in a severe DKA coma that they were unsure I would come out of and if I would have any kidney function left when I did come out of it.:(

[ProudMOM]

Yes, my son was diagnosed within 10 minutes of the appointment with the pediatrician. However, based on his symptoms, I knew the diagnosis going in:(

[Mich]

It was 1960. On my day of diagnosis, after several tests I was "sleeping" on the couch in the doctor's waiting room while he explained to my mom my diagnosis. He sent her to the drugstore to fill an insulin prescription, I was slipping into a coma. The injection came just in time, but it was too large and I had a huge insulin reaction. I was then hospitalized for a few days. My family did not have insurance at that time, nor did many others.

We were sent home with an Ames Clinitest kit, NPH and Regular Iletin, and a pamphlet from the Joslin Diabetes Clinic.

Mich

[mg_2204]

I voted 'other'.

I can't say I was diagnosed after feeling ill and I have no horror stories. It's not the way it happened at all. Had three diabetic pregnancies. I kinda stayed in what the doc called a 'grey area' after my last child. Was that pre diabetes??! Don't really know when I finally became T2.

[notme]

I was diagnosed by my PCP as type two and given Metformin. Two days later DKA and hospitalized, I was then diagnosed properly as type one.

[HiImDan]

No, Doc. said I was "perfectly healthy" when I'd lost 40 pounds at the ripe old age of 9, I was nearly 13 when he got it right. Constantly thirsty, using the bathroom all the time, didn't grow an inch for three years. To make matters worse, his daughter's a diabetic.....

[ozbuc]

I was diagnosed properly at the Veterans hospital but since I was there for agent orange screening and post traumatic stress syndrome testing it was the shrink who broke the news to me. Kind of weird though he said I also had a bladder infection, he wasnt worried about the diabetes but he said you better get that infection looked at right away. So he sent me to see a nurse that works for the shrinks and she would talk to me or let me see the Doc until I joined AA because I drink a few beers on the weekends. I just love govt doctors.

[SueM]

My Mum diagnosed me in 1965. She took me to the Dr and told him I was diabetic. He told her not to be so silly and to stop acting like an over protective mother :eek: Told her I was far to young to develope diabetes :eek:
BUT he did say to her "just to make you happy I will test her urine. Bring in a sample when you next passing." Mum had come prepared :D She handed him a sample in a jar lol. He then got down on bended knees and ate humble pie. Put the surgery on hold and drove Mum and I to the hospital in his car.The rest is history. :)

[EasyType2]

A "no" for me. I had complained for at least two years - and I think even longer - of somewhat vague symptoms. Frequent urination, and a feeling of extreme lethargy were the two primary things. I could not get the doc to listen. When diagnosed as T2, I only had a mild case, but it has gone down hill since then.

[Penny]

I was told at 13 or 14 that we needed to "watch my sugars"....that was all that was done. Then when I was pregnant at 19, I was told I had gestational diabetes. Years later my then doctor told me I had the "opposite of Diabetes". I really don't think I was diagnosed or treated, until I was in my 30's and saw the doctor I see now. It's a shame the internet wasn't around then, I didn't get any real help until I could research it more on my own.

[cheryl]

I had voted yes but it took some time, since I was 12, and well they were testing me for lots of things, it was confirmed the next day....not too long, I think a confirmation of a same day result would be a hospitalization or an adult with type 2. I think back then anyway, it was unsure what it might of been with me, but i think he told my Mom he thought it was diabetes, but it a day no wait two days, yea, went to the doc's went to the lab the next day, and the next day they were calling our house like crazy saying rush me to the er, the sugar or whatever in my urine was 742, and all, so it took two days total but I don't think it was because he was a bad doc.....at all.....by the time i got to the hospital, ummm well....the machine only read to 1200, i wouldn't register....so I guess good timing...

Cheryl

[rocky]

It took my doctor a good 2 months of me coming in with something new wrong every week before she caught it and by that time I was in DKA and had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks. A few of the things I can remember being treated for were strep throut and thrush (in my mouth)... I also lost about 15 pounds in the last month. I'll never forget that final time going into the doctor, she started to cry and kept saying how sorry she was for not catching it sooner.

[shabbie6247]

when i got diagnosed in may 2006, i had no idea i had diabetes. all the symptoms i had over the previous 5 years i had put it all down to stress.
of course as a result they treated me with metformin and diet at first, i was still honeymooning. i finally went on insulin in the october.

[kgm0612]

NO. I was dx'd a type 2 by my PCP over the phone and put on oral meds the Friday before Easter 03'. When I had my annual visit the following Wednesday, she was "unsure" of what type diabetes I had and referred me to my brother's endo. I saw him 4 weeks later. He did a complete series of blood work, and it was confirmed through a C-Peptide and a GAD that I was indeed a type 1. Type 1 runs in my family.... I just happened to develop it a little later in life than the others.

Karen

[Olidus]

DX'd a week before my 30th Bday.
Lost a **** laod of weitgh - running to the bathroom all the time, drinking water like there was no tomorrow.
Thought it was all stress - A1C of 12.8 made it clear.

[Scratch]

Yeah, I was pretty easy though.

I had lost a quarter of my bodyweight, when I peed in the cup at the doctor's office it was an ugly brown and it turned out my pediatrician was an endo.

[grace girl]

I voted yes because after weeks of symptoms my type 2 step-father did a fasting finger prick on me and I had a 360. I went to an internist, who did another finger prick and told me I was type 2 and put me on meds. I was 32 at the time.
A year and a half (and 65 pounds) later I was sick, sick, sick...and my insurance forced me to go to a new doctor...who immediately thought that I was really type 1. He did the GAD-antibodies and C-peptide and I was on insulin within 24 hours and I finally started getting healthy again.
You didn't offer a "sort-of" choice...so there it is!

[miss_ok_ish]

i voted yes.... i found out by accident, I was a new patient at a new doctors, i was registering so had a new patients check up... height, weight, blood pressure, wee test...

oooh you have some sugar in you urine. Blood Gluc test....17!

Hospital for blood tests to confirm...A1c 12

I had never even felt ill, i did loose 2 stone over 6 months, but got told when i ask a yr prior it was my contraceptive pill....

Thanks goodness i didn't find out like some, DKA's and horrid things like that.

[Chris Graham]

I voted "other". I was dx right away with diabetes, but it took over a week for them to figure out that it was type 1 not type 2. I was 32 at the time and the general docs just assumed it was type 2.

It was an awful week...no one taking me seriously until I found my endo. Who, sadly, just moved to Shervport. If you live in LA and need a great endo you should consider Sherry Ryan.

[Keezheekoni]

I think I posted my story on here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look back through my posts. :D

I voted no because for nearly 17 years I was considered a T2. I was on insulin the whole time though. Metformin and various other oral meds never worked, so I just stayed on insulin.

It wasn't until I joined a study last year, for T2s, that they did a c-pep and GAD antibody test, so that they could confirm type when I found out I was actually T1. I guess I was really lucky that I was never in DKA from incorrect treatment.

[cathyd]

I was 18 and at university studying to be a doctor. got very poorly over about 3 weeks, was drinking approx 20 litres of water per day and sleeping about 20 hours a day. i knew what was wrong but didn't want to face up to it. Woke up one night and was close to DKA most likely, couldn't stop throwing up, and phoned NHS direct (24hr helpline in the UK)
I told them I thought I had diabetes and had tested myself for glucose in my urine which came back as the max amount of glucose, and that I needed urgent treatment. They said if i had concerns about diabetes i should read about it online and that was all they could do. That was 4am.
Took myself down to A&E at 8am to be rushed straight in very close to DKA. that shows the stupid nurse on the phone! :-p

[kayt98]

Yes vote. I was diagnosed when had 1st heart attack.

[owlyn]

The doc assumed I was a T2. A year and 30 pounds lighter I told him I wanted to be put on insulin. Then I changed doctors.

[lisa821]

Yep, it was quick. I had been getting skinnier and skinnier all summer, drank water and sodas like a fish, and peed all of the time--classic Type I. I had to go to the doctor for a cheerleading physical, and that's when I was diagnosed at age 13 in 1977 (happy 30th anniversary to me). As much as I make fun of cheerleading now, that physical probably saved me from going into a diabetic coma later on.

Needless to say, they were all very excited at the doctor's office. In a small town, they didn't get much excitement. :T

[blacklightmike]

Definitely not... there was no blood work, no test, just a very irate, distant doctor who ran into the exam room, took a look at the heavyset man complaining of flu-like symptoms and trouble breathing, and said, "You have diabetes... no pasta, no bread, no concentrated sweets", and handed me a scrip for a glucose meter and Glucophage. Not knowing any better, I took the pills, watched my numbers, (normal), altered my diet and to my surprise, the weight dropped off me like a rock, but I still felt crummy. It took six months and several more horrifying misdiagnoses until the fourth doctor down the line confirmed I had Pulmonary Sarcoidosis.

Diabetes did eventually come, thanks in part to the high doses of Prednisone I took and the weight that came back.

[Twisted]

I chose other. I knew that the symptoms I was having was because of diabetes.

[wiseguy]

Voted yes although I had already diagnosed myself and just had my doctor confirm it.

[Jan B]

I likely had diabetes several months before diagnosis (near comatose). I was a teenager (17-18) & the first doctor just called me a hypochondriac. After a bout of pneumonia, I kept getting sicker until I finally drove myself to my parents house for help. By diagnosis I was very skinny, sick, and just plain glad to know I could be "fixed"!

[panda1076]

I was properly diagnosed, but possibly only because my brother told me to insist the doctor test me for GAD antibodies on day 1.

He had been mis-diagnosed originally. He was overweight and our dad has type 2, so the doctor just figured he was type 2. then after medications weren't working, they tested him and realized he was type 1.

[liz32]

I was dxd the day I went in....the doc asked if there was chance I was pregnant or if I had eaten a whole bunch of choclate bars :) before my visit? I'd been feeling sick for about a year before but didn't think alot of it...actually thaught I was having mental health issues and an overactive bladder....it was overactive alright. Doc wasn't worried but clinic was as my 1st a1c was 16 something.
Liz

[Cyborg]

I was diagnosed by an MD with a simple piss test. After approx 5-6 years, an endo finally figured out I was type 1 not type 2...

[patricia52]

I diagnoised myself. First 2 docs did not seem concerned with my high bs levels. Found a doc with diabetes, got the med, a good meter and strips and began feeling better right away.

[JediSkipdogg]

I was diagnosed correctly because I was diagnosed with the same symptons as my brother was exactly one year earlier.

What I would be interested to know though is diagnose correct compared with year of diagnose. But that would be hard since there are still some doctors using 1980 info to diagnose people. So it would need to be comparing the year of the available resources to the correct diagnosis and see if more are correctly diagnoses now than 10 years ago.

[Jodie]

My dad knew I was diabetic straight away because I had all the symptoms so he took me to my GP and he said I wasn't diabetic so then I went to to the hospital and thats when I was diognosed. Obviously I cant remember any of it cause I was only 5 :D One thing I can remember though my diabetic nurse came round not long after I was diognosed and she had this fake needle pen and she tested on my dad lol

[dodo]

I voted other because I was complaining of being tired and sleepy all the time for almost a year. The doctor I was seeing at that time thought I was having a depression and prescribed me some Paxil, but it didn't solve anything. I went back to my family doctor when I was a child and he ordered some blood samples to be done and it came back with a result of 12.5 (without having eaten nothing). He sent me back and I was at 14. He then prescribed me some diabeta (I think) because he thought I was a type 2! I was lucky enough to meet with an endo only a month after being diagnosed.

[glashalful]

I voted no because it took so many years to determine what type I was. On the very first visit some eighteen years ago I was told I was "glucose resistant" though I have always been thin, and needed insulin within two weeks. Over the next 15 years, and six or eight doctors, I have bounced from T2 to T1 and back again too many times to count. Finally three years ago the Joslin Diabetes Center did a c-peptide test and confirmed T1. I'm guessing I must have been 1.5 or late adult onset before anyone really knew what that was. Never really had any symptoms like most of you, though I remember often feeling faint until I got a candy bar (how's THAT for a symptom?) In the early years I figured out I could skip insulin over the weekend and lose a few pounds, until I started feeling bad without it.

[oao]

All my diagnoses -- high BP, high cholesterol and diabetes --were by luck and there was outright negligence.

A dr who treated me for some ENT problem took my BP and found it 200/100 and sent me to my primary. He did not bother to check my sugar and I ended up with Athenolol and HCTZ in moderate doses. Two years later I lost my insurance, went to the public system and they diagnosed diabetes. Even then they did not take me off those two meds for some time, until I foukd out about it and demanded it. I have a theory that the meds helped trigger the diabetes.

And even then nobody checked my lipids. I went and ask for test myself and they found very high cholesterol and triglycerides, very high LDL and low HDL.

I put myself on a diet and exercise regimen and within a few month I was normal all around.

[ant hill]

I was diagnosed correctly but I had wased a lot of time finding the right doctor to treat me the right stuff.
I was hungry, Thirsty, and drinking most of the time and deathy thin!!! :eek: That day to me now is a sad day. :(

[AJ21]

well my story's kinda long... and i didn't get diagnosed right away, but i did in a way...
after 6 weeks of losing 20 lbs, constantly going to the washroom, being lethargic as **** and looking like i was dead, i had a dr's apmt booked for mid march (this was the last wk of feb), and my parents took me to go and see some random dr. at the clinic.
she looked at me, listened to all my symptoms *which were all classic diabetes ones* and told us to come back in the a.m.
that night i couldnt' breathe, i was having massive issues sleeping, went for the blood test, ate an oragne, totally passed out on the bed, went home, ate a bagel w/ cucumber cause my mouth was so dry.
my parents took me immediately to the hospital where within 15 minutes i was hooked up to every machine in the ER, and was diagnosed w/ T1.
Ended up staying in the ER for 30 hours and the next morning (this all went down saturday), the clinic called with the words 'take ur daughter to the hospital, she has diabetes...' to which my father said 'she's already there cause she was almost dead'.
i was then informed i was like 2 hours from a coma...
so i didn't vote cause i kinda fit into all categories....

sorry for the novella!

[silverfrost]

Yes, they got it pretty much right away.

I went to the doctor's in the first place because I thought I had a bladder infection. They asked me how often I was going and also, how much I drank. (I think I told them gallons and gallons per day :P) Anyway, they also weighed me. The last time I was weighed at that doctor's office, I was 106 or so. That day, I was 94! I lost a huge amount of weight for not even exercising.

So, I remember... the nurse immediately tested my sugar without really explaining what she was doing. When she saw the result, she just walked out of the room silently and got the doctor. The next day, I came back after they had reviewed my blood work and my doctor told me I had Type 1 Diabetes!

[kews12]

No. Like many others I was Dx as T2 instead of T1. I had lost 50 lbs over 2 months and in resp distress. Due to being a student with no insurance over the summer tried to wait it out. Did my own test and BG was over 450. Saw GP next morning who told me since I was 28 and losing weight he wasn't sure what to do but for me to go on Suga Busters, then that he usually tells his patients to loose weight, but I "already looked like death on a cracker"! Anyway, my insurance kicked in and I went to the student health center on campus when I was unable to breathe, stand, or eat 2 days later. Was immediately sent to ICU for DKA. I have never trusted what Drs tell me since- if it doesn't sound right get a second opinion. GPs can be scary with their lack of knowledge on Diabetes! Luckily I was put in the hands of an exceptional Endo who sent me home in 3 days! Then pumping within 6 months.

[lilituc]

I said "yes" because I knew it was diabetes - I'd been testing my bg at home and knew that it being out of ideal range corresponded with the symptoms I was having. I got an endo right away, which you'd think would be good. Well, I like to call him "Dr. Quack." The rest I will copy from another post:

He thought anything under 300 was "excellent." I kept telling him for six months that eating a "normal" amount of carbs caused my bg to spike too high. I had been on a lowish carb diet for several years before being diagnosed and did a couple hours of exercise a day. That should have been a red flag, but not for Dr. Q. He told me I was a typical Type 2 and to *increase* my carbs to improve my control. I'm not kidding. Unsurprisingly, that did not go well. But Dr. Q just kept telling me to "stop worrying," and didn't care that I had to go to ridiculous lengths to achieve my numbers (because I get physically ill when my bg is high).

Six months after seeing him, I was eating less than 30g of carbs a day and my bg was still too high. I got pretty sick (I get sick on a low carb diet) and it finally hit me: Dr. Q was a quack! I got a new endo. That's when we figured out I had LADA (Type 1).

So yes and no.

[jenet]

I was DXed incorrectly at age 39 as Type 2 by a GP, but then I found out later that I was just in the honeymoon stage of Type 1 after ending up in the hospital with serious DKA.

cheers,
j

[Emm]

I went to the doctor a few times with various complaints that I didn't realise were connected to Diabetes. Eventually when I started the endless drinking/peeing routine, I clicked to what was going on.
I went in and told my doctor I thought I was diabetic, so was tested and told I was a type 2. I wasn't given a meter or any information ...
Eventually I got in to see a diabetes nurse and an Endo, and at that point I was diagnosed as a T1 and put on insulin.
By then I'd already spent a year feeling like ****, losing weight (I kinda miss that bit... but I was fading fast) and feeling sooooo tired. I wish i'd been more pro-active about my diabetes care, because I feel like I lost a year of my life there.

So, in short, my answer is NO. But I'm happy to say that once I was correctly diagnosed things worked out a lot better. That's also around the time I started learning so much online from places like this. You guys are better than doctors!

[gettingby]

Reading over the posts in this thread, I am finding one constant.
The fact that we have to force the doctors to order the tests we know we need. To me, that is just appalling.:mad:

After my diagnosis, there were a lot of pictures taken of me that show my decline. I have begged my mom time and again to destroy these photos as I know they upset her as much as they do me. She still has them and so now, whenever I lose weight (as I did with my thyroid probs), it just makes her worry more.:( I'm 36 years old and I still hate worrying my mom.

[calmali]

I'm a Yes. I was diagnosed 5 months ago in a routine annual physical. I didn't have any symptoms. I wasn't thirsty and I wasn't going to the bathroom more than normal. I was my usual energetic self so when my FBG came back at 132, I was shocked and insisted on a re-test (last year my FBG was 87). My re-test included an A1c which was 6% and my FBG was 116 :( My doctor put me on Metformin the next day.

My daily numbers have been good since and I haven't really had any "spikes" :)

Keeping my fingers crossed that with diet and exercise, I can eventually go off Metformin http://bestsmileys.com/fingers/1.gif

[palefacegirl03]

I was sick for over a year. I kept going to the doctor's for every symptom and no one ever took a blood test.
I was very sick , DKA was setting in I know now, and DH took me to the ER and they ran alot of test and finally came back saying my BS was over 600 an I was admitted to the hospital and started on insulin.