Apparently I'm not type 1!!

[Mummyt]

We have a Nurse at our GP's surgery who is exactly the same! God - It really pi**** me off too.....Ever since I referred myself to Diabetes Clinic at th Hosp ital they have taken care of my Diabetes Thanks to them too they found out my kidney probs too
I still go to the same GP surgery , but I make da* sure I don't get that nurse at all! The surgery is great and I have a fantastic GP

Hope you get things sorted 🙄
Hugs Moxx

 

[HelenM]

I was diagnosed in my 50s, I've heard of a person developing type 1 in his 80s!

According to JDRF, the world's largest charitable funder of research leading to a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications, half of those diagnosed each year with type 1 diabetes are adults

http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=D7461A82-1279-D3DC-F933E79F1AF9FC41

A 2005 study of diabetes diagnosis in Italy also showed that type 1 is not rare in older people.

Risk of type 1 diabetes between age 30 and 49 years is similar to that found in the same area between age 15 and 29 years. Further studies are required to allow geographical comparisons of risks of both childhood and adulthood autoimmune diabetes, the latter being probably higher than previously believed.http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/28/11/2613.full.pdf

and that study was only looking at the incidence up to age 49 . There were 2 age groups of peak incidence 10-14 and 45-49.

In some ways you can't blame your nurse, so many sources of information, including from official sources, stress that type 1 normally develops in childhood(untrue according to the Italian data), The idea that it can develop later seems to be almost dismissed . At best they say something like this from Diabetes UK ' Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age but usually appears before the age of 40, and especially in childhood.'
It was sources of mis-information like this that made me ignore symptoms (I didn't fit what I read for t1 or t2) By the time I saw a doctor, I was dreadfully underweight and started having breathing problems when I tried to exercise My GP was fortunately better informed than your nurse and sent me straight to the specialist at the hospital.

 

[Northerner]

I wrote a poem on the topic, 'Too old for Type 1!':

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/too-old-for-type-1.html

 

[ypauly]

I wrote a poem on the topic, 'Too old for Type 1!':

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/too-old-for-type-1.html

Tiz very good sir

 

[casey]

I was also diagnosed type 1 , two weeks before my 50th birthday.

 

[tracey w]

I'm doing something right as my sugar levels are excellent!

It was her statement that if diagnosed as an adult you must be type 2 that concerned me. She didn't have any records nor did she have blood test results, But she was adament she was right and that I shouldn't question her knowledge.
I thought it was funny that she didn't need to know if I was producing insulin and in what amounts also keytones and all the other associated factors were all irellevent, It's age that matter lol

This is so annoying to me 😡 Initially i was told by gp i was type 2 purely because of age, I was 41

I knew nothing about diabetes and was given glicazide, and consequently ended up in hospital a week later, where later blood tests proved i was indeed a type 1.

Of course type does not matter, its treatment, but ignorant gps who assess diagnoses purely on age is not just wrong but dam right dangerous.

 

[tracey w]

I wrote a poem on the topic, 'Too old for Type 1!':

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/too-old-for-type-1.html

Loved it 🙂

 

[sugarfreerach]

ive a similar story, basically ive been type 1 for 5 years, since i was 21. Been at the same drs surg throughout until they basically had enough of me not knowing what i was doing and palmed me off on the hospital (best decision they ever made!) 3 years ago i had 3 monthly bloods done and received a letter from them stating to make an appointment straight away to see a doctor, quite urgent. So i did and was quite worried, thinking what have they found?!!

Anyway i sit in front of the doctor and he tells me that my sugars are quite high. I say well yes, Im diabetic type 1. He says pardon? Are you? How long have you been diabetic? I say for around 2 years. He looked very embarrassed. Then he says "right well i think im going to refer you to (insert name of the consultant i was under)" to which i replied, "yes im already seeing him every 3 months, im about to go on pump" to which he then replied ah yes very good.

idiots. I wont go to him now, all my diabetic care is through the hospital.

 

[Northerner]

Astonishing Rach, truly astonishing! I bet he felt so embarassed after you'd gone - or at least I hope he did! Presumably he wanted to break it to you that you were diabetic!

 

[sugarfreerach]

yeah i know! what astounded me was that i still had to wait 10 days for this appointment.

 

[margie]

The 10 day wait was probably because due to your age they thought you were type 2........

Seriously if they had looked at your repeat prescriptions they would have known, and shouldn't the record be flagged in some way so that you are asked if you would like flu vaccinations etc.

 

[sugarfreerach]

No i was 22 at the time, still in type 1 boundaries! ah well ive not seen him since, hope he's well...

 

[jane]

I moved to a new area. I went to see my GP about my thyroid blood test results. When I saw my notes on the GP computer I saw it read that I was type2, instead of type 1.I query it. My GP then ask me what aged I was diagnosed at,when I said 31 he said that I could not be type 1. I then told him that I was on the pump trial and before you could start it you had a blood test to make sure you are type 1. Next time I went to the GP,s my notes had been changedto type 1. So please do not give up .

 

[novorapidboi26]

back in the 'olden days', hope no on is offended, this mistake might of been made as they didnt really know themselves.........today though its just stupidity if the cant get it right.........

 

[AlisonM]

What a bleeping fool! Mind you Doctor Idiot still reckoned I was Type 2 even after the tests proved otherwise, why? Because I'm in my 50s. Sigh! There's a section of the medical profession out there that seems to be stuck in the Dark Ages when it comes to diabetes and the treatment of same. I wouldn't mind, but they're let loose on us and just add to the stress and distress we have to live with. I hope you get your particular example straightened out soon Rach, I'd kick up a fuss if I were you.

 

[novorapidboi26]

Out of curiosity, do they confirm type with a blood test (eg autoimmune markers etc).........I was back in 1998 but it was farily obvious........??

 

[ypauly]

I was going to reply that I am glad I wasn't the only one. But then I realised how stupid that is. I wish it was just me lol

 

[HelenM]

OK I wrote a detailed answer but haven't posted it as it would probably bore!
There are tests for a variety of autoimmnune antibodies but although in most cases people have one or more of them they are not definitive. (some people with them don't have obvious t1, some people without testing positive for them do)
There is also a test which shows how much insulin people are producing (c peptide) but again not definitive since people with long term type 2 can also have reduced insulin. (earlier on they normally produce more than normal).
So docs look (or should look) at the whole picture and symptoms. In younger people the development of T1 is rapid so it's relatively easy, with older people its more difficult as the development is slower.

Having said that I've just seen a video I'd never seen before of me taken a month before diagnosis. I looked dreadful, very thin, no muscles in my arms and very withdrawn from everything else going on.
Seeing that made me realise that I looked really ill (and now I realise why my daughter was concerned enough to try to make me promise to go to the doctors).

 

[Northerner]

...Having said that I've just seen a video I'd never seen before of me taken a month before diagnosis. I looked dreadful, very thin, no muscles in my arms and very withdrawn from everything else going on.
Seeing that made me realise that I looked really ill (and now I realise why my daughter was concerned enough to try to make me promise to go to the doctors).

I know what you mean Helen. There's no record of how I looked, but I must have looked dreadful. My BMI was around 17, now it's around 23! 😱 I imagine it was quite a shocking sight to my friends who visited me in hospital, and it took around a year before the weight started going on again properly - I remember my neck, in particular, went very scrawny.

 

[sugarfreerach]

i know! my friend who took me to hospital on diagnosis said i looked worse than some of his customers- He's an undertaker! ha ha