Prior to diagnosis, did you ignore/miss any symptoms?

[stephknits]

Really interesting to read everyone's stories. For me I had the usual symptoms, particularly the tiredness and thirst. But then I put it down to working, looking after family, poor sleep etc and I've always been a thirsty person. I would never have gone to the doctor with these symptoms and was diagnosed through a routine health check. With regard to weight loss, I had been half-heartidly trying to loose half a stone and did succeed quite easily for me. Now I don't seem to be able to keep any weight on, I think it must be the low carb diet. For the first time in my life I have to think about eating things that will keep me at current weight, feels very weird.

 

[Bloden]

My doc sent me home at first too. She told me not to eat any sugar all weekend and to come back on Monday (it was a Friday). By the time I got home there was a message on my answer machine telling me go straight to A&E instead. In the meantime I'd been to the hairdresser and done the weekly shop - all in a bit of a daze...I'm diabetic?!!!

 

[am64]

Well I was not right for a while had been tested when 16 cos of thirst but came back fine ...im sure now that they were not even looking at T2 ...whilst a student they tested me with a negative result... during my 2nd pregnancy tested after a nasty turn ...but no all fine...it wasnt till I was 44 yrs that a gp was concerned as I had abcesses that I was finally dx with hba1c 7.2 ...the main sympton that was ignored was that I was sooooo tired ....I even remember looking at those sort of lorrys that had sleeping compartments thinking how nice it would be to have a bed availble whenever ...😱

 

[Andy HB]

Looking back, I think my symptoms were around in one form or another for up to ten years prior to diagnosis.

The first possible indication was when I had a small insect bite on my lower leg. It became ulcerated and took quite a strong dose of antibiotics to clear up.

Closer to diagnosis, I had frequent bouts of lethargy, couldn't walk for more than 30mins without feeling awful and became aware that I could not keep up walking speed with my sister!

I was also drinking 2L bottles of fizzy pop like there was no tomorrow. Sometimes two or three in quick succession.

Then there was the unexplained bouts of sickness along with the occasional pear-drop taste.

Just before diagnosis, I had a problem with cellulitis which I eventually realised was down to puncturing my big toe with a nail in the floorboards whilst doing some decorating in the house. I hadn't realised that my toe was not looking good!

Oh yes, and once, I noticed that there were what appeared to be blood blisters at the side of the nail on several of my toes. They cleared up within a few days so thought nothing of it!

It's the cellulitis episode that bothers me a bit because the GP didn't put two and two together. She just treated the infection without thinking about the cause. But, to be honest, by that time, I think the diabetes symptoms were already well established and I was diagnosed shortly after when I took ill in central London. So no additional harm was done.

Finally, when diagnosed, I had unexpectedly lost nearly 1 stone. On the good side, it gave me a good start for some proper weight loss later!

Andy 🙂

 

[Pine Marten]

Gosh, you lot have been through some awful things! I don't remember any symptoms - I was having regular checks at the surgery for high blood pressure, and on one occasion my (now retired) GP was staring at my results on the computer and said, 'Oh, I think you're mildly diabetic...' and my heart sank! So a blood test later they confirmed I was 'mildly diabetic'(!), I was given the usual printouts saying eat carbs at every meal and that was that. My GP did say that I should try and control it with diet and exercise but that I'd probably have to take medication in the future. They offered me a Desmond course but didn't really explain what it was so I said, no thanks, as I didn't fancy the idea of sitting round in a group of strangers.

Fortunately they are much better now at the surgery and the new diabetic nurse has been very supportive.

 

[Pigeon]

My symptoms started when I was on holiday in Edinburgh age 25, I remember it seeming a long way up the stairs to the apartment, and drinking loads of water and peeing all night. But my grandma passed away that week (after a long illness) and so I put my symptoms down to stress and grief. I remember drinking glass after glass of juice at her funeral but thinking I was dehydrated because of all the crying. Felt really tired and lost a stone gradually over the next 6 months, but again, put it all down to grief (I'd never lost someone close to me before then). As well as thrush and athlete's foot, I remember a horrible taste in my mouth that wouldn't go away, obviously ketones, with hindsight. And really dry skin, muscle cramps, but as it came on gradually I didn't really tie it all together, and forgot what normal was like. I remember running for the bus holding up my trousers as they were so loose, then needing to carry a bottle of water with me everywhere, but thirst never going away.

Diabetes did cross my mind, but I thought you got type 1 as a child or type 2 when you were old and fat, so therefore aged 25 and under 8 stone, that didn't fit.

Eventually went to the doctors after 6 months and mentioned the weight loss (but no other symptoms) and he thought it was a thyroid problem and ordered blood tests, thankfully they did everything. It was the Thursday before Easter then I went away over Easter weekend to my boyfriend's parents. I remember I kept hiding in the bathroom to drink more water as I felt really greedy keep asking for drinks.

Got back home Easter monday night to find a letter from the doctor saying I had diabetes and not to eat anything sweetand to go back to the GPs urgently. We'd been eating chocolates and cake all weekend so that sent me into a panic. Went back to GPs next day who sent me to the diabetes clinic, BG was 23, spent about 3 hours there then was sent home with insulatard and a load of leaflets, went back the next day for more information and every couple of weeks after that for a while. Have to say they were great, I wouldn't have wanted to be admitted at that time. Everything made sense after I was diagnosed, and although I felt a bit like denying it, with the injections I felt so much better that I didn't mind that part of things. Think it was months later that the emotional side of it hit me.

 

[gwnm]

i was told i had pre-diabetes about 2years ago after the doctor did a load of blood tests and was told it was nothing to worry about, then i was checked last year with a routine health check and told sugars was normal and no diabetes, this was in the summer where i would spend the day drinking loads of fruit juice and my drink of choice a nice cool glass of milk, if i was out then i would buy those little cartons of orange juice and drink one within seconds and finish all 3 by time i got home and a bottle of water, then i would have a carton of milk sitting beside me and drink that while i sat chatting to friends online, doctor put it down to it being hot and anxiety due to depression, then as it got colder i found i was still very thirsty but again doc said it was the medication i was on and to just increase my fluids and drink less coffee 😱 i was on a constant diet trying to shift weight and getting no where no matter how i tried tried to exercise more but with limited mobility its not easy, and the less mobile i become the worse it becomes, like a catch 22 and i'm stuck in the middle. November i was checked with a routine check along with my thyroid function and told i had diabetes type 2 and needed to see the diabetes nurse, so seen her and am now waiting to have my eyes examined and to go to something called Desmond, i had my 3month test done and now been put on metformin and that's it, everything i know about diabetes is what i have read here and read in the book that has been recommended on this site

 

[happydog]

I had no symptoms whatsoever. It was picked up at the walk-in centre because I had a severe side/backpain which was renal colic. They did a finger prick test and said that the meter reading was over 18. I seldom went to the doctor as I was always working and too busy with the family. We have no one else in the family with diabetes of either type, I was of normal weight for my height, although I have lost about 2.5 stone since diagnosis. Friends remark about how thin I am now. One of the doctors that I saw said that it could be 1.5 because I have low platelets and and underactive thyroid and no family history. He was overruled by the senior partner in the practice who said it is just type 2. I guess he must be right as I have brought the level down to 36 with diet and exercise. I did feel tired sometimes but regularly worked 70+ hours per week at that time in a stressful understaffed job. I often did not get any time off at weekends, so might work 20+ days in a row. I don't work there anymore 🙂. This forum saved me as no one gave me any help or support and just left me to get on with it. I shall always be grateful to the people on this forum 🙂

 

[maddisonsquare]

I never thought I had diabetes. I went to see my doctor with a list of 'ailments', including feeling unhappy, thrush, thirsty, peeing up to 5 times in the night, mood swings, tiredness and many others. Doctor just looked at me and said he wanted to test me for diabetes and go from there. I went away bewildered. Returned a week later to be told I had Type 2 and the rest is history as they say. I was only diagnosed a few weeks ago and am on Metformin and diet/exercise. I have a DESMONDS course in couple of weeks and am looking forward to this.
I am so glad I have found this site.

 

[Northerner]

I never thought I had diabetes. I went to see my doctor with a list of 'ailments', including feeling unhappy, thrush, thirsty, peeing up to 5 times in the night, mood swings, tiredness and many others. Doctor just looked at me and said he wanted to test me for diabetes and go from there. I went away bewildered. Returned a week later to be told I had Type 2 and the rest is history as they say. I was only diagnosed a few weeks ago and am on Metformin and diet/exercise. I have a DESMONDS course in couple of weeks and am looking forward to this.
I am so glad I have found this site.

So many of the symptoms can be misinterpreted or put down to other things. It's great that you have a DESMOND course so quickly - many people find one of the biggest benefits is actually meeting people in the same boat 🙂

 

[HelenHanfe]

Similar to a lot of people, I put my various ailments down to stress, as a family member was very poorly and I was working and spending evenings going to / from hospital....running around....not eating well.

I think I sort of had an idea, that it wasn't just stress, with the repeated thrush and with a small cut on my hand, that just wouldn't heal.

I was then talking to someone, across the room and became aware of them being ' fuzzy ' to look at...and a lightbulb went off ! All the little things that were nagging me hit home - and reminded me of my (diabetic) father !

Ordered a pee test from Amazon, confirmed it, made a doctors appointment and went in, with a sample, which he tested and confirmed 100%.

All became clear...eventually...but even with my father's history, put 99% of all my symptoms down to stress !

HelenHanfe

 

[HOBIE]

Havnt got a clue Was 3 😱 Seems a long time ago now

 

[jules56]

In hindsight I remember feeling very tired and unmotivated for a few months and suffering from dry eyes from time to time. In the four weeks prior to diagnosis I started to feel more thirsty than usual and drinking orange juice and fizzy drinks to try and quench the thirst as water didn't seem to do the trick. Also had a very dry mouth and tongue with a horrible taste. At the same time my eyesight went fuzzy and it was this that sent me to the doctors. I had gradually lost a stone in weight over about 6 months and have lost another stone since diagnosis in Oct 2013 with BG of 33. I was diagnosed as a type 2 and put on metformin and then had Sitagliptin added by another doctor who told me he thought I had slowly evolving type 1. Guess time will tell.

 

[Sally71]

My daughter went down with a nasty virus on the night of her 6th birthday, we think that was her trigger. Ever since she was a baby I could always smell ketones on her breath whenever she was ill (presumably starvation ones from lack of appetite), but that always went away again once she got better. This time it didn't, at 8am when she had eaten nothing at all for over 12 hours, she smelt as if she had just troughed a large bag of Haribos! But in the absence of any other symptoms I thought I was being a bit paranoid and so decided to just keep an eye on her and try not to worry about it. Then she started becoming hungry and a bit thinner, and complaining of leg pains; that just sounds like a fairly normal growth spurt though, I thought I would look like a bit of a prat if I took her to the doctor when she was just growing. The one I really missed was the drinking; she loves apple juice and we thought she was just being greedy, guzzling loads of glasses of juice a day. With hindsight I can't believe we didn't spot it, now she drinks hardly anything by comparison!

What finally started ringing alarm bells properly was one day when she ate 4 whole Weetabix for breakfast 😱 yet when we put her in the bath it was clear to see that she was as thin as a stick insect. Where was she putting all that food, and children don't usually get THAT hungry and THAT thin when they are just growing. Then the following weekend we went to a party; she asked for a drink, all I could find for her was water which she wasn't particularly keen on and I would have expected her to just sip it. She necked the whole glass and then immediately demanded another one. The very next day she spent all morning flopped on the settee and couldn't even be bothered to choose what to watch on tv. At that point I knew I was not imagining things and that I should take her to the doctor.

Why I didn't spot it sooner has always bothered me, I was suspicious for a few weeks but didn't do anything until things got quite bad. I knew full well what the symptoms are but kept hoping that I might be wrong and that there would be some simpler explanation (after all I am not a doctor and I don't know if there are any other conditions with similar symptoms). In denial I guess! Daughter was eventually admitted to hospital with BG of 46 and the very beginnings of DKA, if we'd waited one more day she'd have probably been in a coma

 

[Brendan]

Wow loads of different stories but a pretty common theme about many people having problems before diagnosis.
Looking back now I think that I had D for quite a few years before diagnosis. Symptoms were:
Tiredness - Literally could not get out of bed on a Saturday morning as I was so tired after working all week. Kids would be playing on their own downstairs and I would be fast asleep. Not in line for parent of the year award
Pains in legs - Since diagnosed as neuropathy but I just thought it was a sign of getting old
Thirsty - Could easily down a few pints of soft drinks at a time and felt it was "normal"
Weeing a lot - Put that down to the above
Losing weight - Lost about a stone and a half without a change to diet or exercise. just pleased with that definitely did not think it was something that needed to be looked into
Had pneumonia - Alsd in that period (about 6 years ago, I have been diagnosed for 2.5 years) I was hospitalised with pneumonia. Amazed that they did not do any checks then

All in all a very similar story to everybody else. The symptoms on their own do not seem at all serious or concerning but when considered together it is quite evident that I should have done something earlier.

 

[DeusXM]

Out of interest, does anyone else think that a radio campaign quoting little snippets from all these stories might have been more effective in getting people to check their diabetes risk than the massive-posters-of-people-crying campaign that Diabetes UK went with?

 

[Sally71]

Out of interest, does anyone else think that a radio campaign quoting little snippets from all these stories might have been more effective in getting people to check their diabetes risk than the massive-posters-of-people-crying campaign that Diabetes UK went with?

Or a TV one a bit like the coughing lady who ought to get it checked out in case it's lung cancer. Those poster ads didn't exactly say much about what diabetes is, or how to spot it, did they! Good idea Deus!

 

[heasandford]

We were all in denial about it, despite apparently knowing the symptoms!

I was 49, had been 8 stone 4 all my life except when pregnant, yet ignored huge weight loss (in fairness there is no scale in the house), drinking lots which meant weeing lots! People asked afterwards, weren't you tired - yes, of course, but I had 2 young children and a husband working away. It took me about 6 months to get the message, I ended up in hospital immediately after I saw my very on-the-ball GP, but despite having a BG of 29 I didn't get any medication for a couple of weeks. When I went back to the hospital they were suggesting metformin, I am eternally grateful to the senior consultant who told them all they must be joking and 'get the girl (!) on insulin now!' So I have never had to argue that one despite my age, and am now on a pump.

I wonder what would have made me act any earlier?

 

[DeusXM]

Or a TV one a bit like the coughing lady who ought to get it checked out in case it's lung cancer. Those poster ads didn't exactly say much about what diabetes is, or how to spot it, did they! Good idea Deus!

A much better option than the DUK one would have been something like a poster with a confident, healthy looking woman with "I was tired and thirsty all the time. I thought it was because I was a busy working mum. Actually, it was because I had untreated diabetes." Then follow up with some print saying 'Diabetes can affect anyone at any age, and if ignored can be serious and even life-threatening. But if properly managed, you'll be healthy as anyone and it won't slow you down. Check your risk at diabetes.org.uk'

I swear that would have a)made people understand their risk and symptoms better, b)made them less frightened about getting tested and c)made those of us with diabetes feel less like the walking dead or a tragedy in slow motion.

 

[Bloden]

Out of interest, does anyone else think that a radio campaign quoting little snippets from all these stories might have been more effective in getting people to check their diabetes risk than the massive-posters-of-people-crying campaign that Diabetes UK went with?

Missed that campaign - sounds hilarious, loadsa diabetics sobbing! At least they weren't smiling manically. Most publications seem to show us happily injecting while an equally happy friend looks on. 🙄