• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.

getting diagnosed

B

bev

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent
Hi all!

I now realise that Alex was suffering from Ketoacidosis(?) when he was first diagnosed. He had been ill for 14 days - lost loads of weight - being sick - drinking for england - weeing for england - and laboured breathing.
Doc kept telling me it was a virus as lots of kids in his class had been ill too.
Only phone contact as Alex wasnt well enough for appointment (couldnt get one either) so in the end took him to a walk-in-centre, where they took one look at him and tested his blood - it was 38! I was still clueless at this stage!

Anyway - my point is - do you think he was close to a coma?
If so, do people come out of comas?

Also, there is loads of information around regarding meningitis and other childhood illnesses - but absolutely nothing about diabetes? If i had been aware of even 2 of the symptoms maybe Alex would have been diagnosed sooner!
I still feel very guilty that he was left for so long without a diagnosis - but - the gp didnt seem overly concerned - when i told him he was drinking loads he just said 'good at least hes not dehydrated'!

Just needed to share that with you all. :)Bev
 
It could have been a virus or at least started out as one - some diabetics including me, get a virus and this seems to trigger something and we become diabetic. Me and my sister got the same virus, she got better but for me it became ketoacidosis. I had been drinking loads and losing weight for a while and of course since my dad was type 1, my mum had an idea what to look out for. But my pancreas was still working in fits and starts and whenever she took me to the doctor, it seemed to pump out a little more insulin so the tests did not show anything. So maybe Alex got the same virus as the kids in his class, but it triggered something and led to ketoacidosis. I was close to coma at one point but I don't know anything about how likely it is to come out of it or not.

I think meningitis is more common, maybe thats why there is more information on it. Also it is contagious so it is important for a parent to know if their child has it, so they don't send the child to school and pass it around the class.

But now you know the signals to watch out for, so if Alex gets ill you know to test his blood and also his ketones so he does not get ketoacidosis again or if he does, it is not as serious.
 
Hi Bev,

I was sick for 5 days and lost an awful lot of weight. I couldn't keep anything down, even sips of water. Eventually, I decided to get help as I couldn't even walk across a room without gasping for breath, my heart was racing and pounding, I couldn't hear properly - was really in a bad way. When I called 999 I couldn't talk properly, nor when the ambulance arrived. I don't think I was far from coma, and if I'd gone any further I wouldn't be here now. My blood sugar was 37 in hospital, HbA1c was 11.8.

If Alex was managing to drink throughout his illness, this probably helped as it would have been helping to flush out the ketones. I do think that the GP should have spotted the symptoms - it really is poor how lacking in knowledge and initiative some GPs are. If Alex had gone into a coma, you would have got him straight into A&E and would have had every chance of recovering once they got him on intravenous insulin. I was feeling pretty much back to normal within 24 hours.
 
Hi bev
U really shouldnt feel guilty, there was nothing more u could of done. I had classic signs and as a health professional I knew what they were but never put it all together!

I had been to see my GP 4 times in space of 2 months times and each time they didnt listen to me properly. I had lost 2 and half stone, drinking and weeing for England. Recurrent thush/gynae problems.2 throat inections and feeling really unwell. They sent me for an ultrasound scan at hospital but when I asked about urine sample/blood test/examinations was told they would do it when results came back from scan!

The 5th and last time I went to GP's saw a locum who listened to me and saw just how ill I was, did urine test and was rushed straight to hospital.

Just think he's getting sorted now and he's ok. Thats how I look at it evrytime I get annoyed with the poor care I recieved. If they had listened in first place maybe I wouldnt have been so ill and wouldnt have had to have so long off work. But at least im on the mend now.
 
Hi all!

Thank you all so much for your replies. It really has helped to put things into perspective and at least now he is healthy and happy. I suspect all parents and family members feel a little bit of guilt for not getting help sooner. And, now i know what to look out for - he will never get to that point again - hopefully! Bev x
 
Bev, please don't feel guilty - hindsight is a wonderful source for us to beat ourselves up with at times. Your doctor thought it was a virus and as the medical saying goes "there's a lot of it about". You did the right thing and took Alex to the walk-in centre where he got the right diagnosis. Since his diagnosis, you have been seeking help and learning so much - I take my hat off to you - I think you and Alex are doing so well

As I was a health care professional I still wonder at how I missed the signs of my type 2 diabetes for what turns out to be a number of years and at times feel I should have known better. Gave myself quite a hard time over that for a while until I came to realise that it wasn't helping either me or my husband get to grips with what needed to be changed
 
Thanks Vanessa,
Thats very kind of you to say - i think health care professionals are often the 'last' to think about themselves as they see so many awful things on a daily basis! My sister is a radiographer and did work in breast screening and she is always the last one to recognise whats going on under her nose where family are concerned! Perhaps its a bit like when a plumber doesnt ever do plumbing jobs in his own house etc...lol. Bev x
 
bev said:
Hi all!

I now realise that Alex was suffering from Ketoacidosis(?) when he was first diagnosed. He had been ill for 14 days - lost loads of weight - being sick - drinking for england - weeing for england - and laboured breathing.
Doc kept telling me it was a virus as lots of kids in his class had been ill too.
Only phone contact as Alex wasnt well enough for appointment (couldnt get one either) so in the end took him to a walk-in-centre, where they took one look at him and tested his blood - it was 38! I was still clueless at this stage!

Anyway - my point is - do you think he was close to a coma?
If so, do people come out of comas?

Also, there is loads of information around regarding meningitis and other childhood illnesses - but absolutely nothing about diabetes? If i had been aware of even 2 of the symptoms maybe Alex would have been diagnosed sooner!
I still feel very guilty that he was left for so long without a diagnosis - but - the gp didnt seem overly concerned - when i told him he was drinking loads he just said 'good at least hes not dehydrated'!

Just needed to share that with you all. :)Bev
Click to expand...
hi all this happen to my son 2 years ago when he was 3 i went to the surgery 4 times i asked to test for diabetes but the gp knew better!!!!! the week after we were in hospital with graham in ketoacidosis coma we did not know if we would come back home with our son alive luckily everything went well but at the end a lots of doc dont have a clue is allways a uti for them and dont trust the parents !!!!
 
Hi Grahams mum,

How awful for you and your son. It makes me wonder whether doctors even know the basics sometimes! As a lay person i did not worry about him drinking so much and the fact it made him wee was normal as he was drinking! I think a mothers/fathers instinct should be relied on in going towards diagnosis of any condition with a child - we know our children inside out and we know when something isnt right!I am so glad your son is doing well now. Bev x
 
Doctors

If you think that is bad then this will make you laugh, nothing to do with diabetes though, my son had an appointment with a new consultant today about his colitis, he is 12 and a half, this old fashioned doctor sat in his chair looking down his nose at me and told me that my son doesn't have colitis and because i give him sugarfree squash this is why he has had chronic diahorrea all his life from birth......i only introduced sugar free squash 6 month ago when diagnosed diabetic but would he listen to me?? Would he hell, so to me at the minute my opinion of doctors is very very low!
 
I hope you have asked for a second opinion? If your son has suffered all this time and only had squash for 6 months - then it doesnt take a doctor to realise that there is something not right! My son has sugar free squash and doesnt have diarrhea! Why is it so hard for doctors to understand that we are best placed to know if our children are not quite right? I would take him back and ask for tests.Bev
 
graham has sugar free sqash and juices and he never had diarrea but he became lactose intollerant when he was 2 maybe could be a possibility of that?;);)
 
Doctors

I will be asking for a 2nd opinion because as a child i was exactly the same and now have Ulcerative Colitis and tbh my mum found out when i was little that i was allergic to sugar (didn't feel the need to tell me till i was diagnosed diabetic) and so is my son (makes him hyper for one and upsets his stomach big time and makes him a grump beyond normal if he has too much) so the additional worry is that he has for some time got the shakes when he misses a meal or doesnt eat on time etc but the doc wouldn't listen to me on that one either, they think they know everything because they read it in a book but half of them don't have hands on experience and that does make me cross when we live with it on a daily basis *rant over*
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top