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How did you feel on being given your diagnosis?

Quill

Quill

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Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
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Just curious as to how you all felt on being given your initial diagnosis of Diabetes, whichever type you fall under.
I’ll be honest - until I landed here I thought there was just 1 & 2 so my mind has been blown!
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Obviously no need to answer if it’s not something you like to discuss.

13 days until my repeat bloods and I’m still going over how I might feel and process things when the time comes and just wondered how everyone’s came about.
Hashtag Nosey Northerner 🙂

((( squidges to all )))

Q xo
 
You've decided to go with the test then and not put it off?

Deep down I knew I was diabetic even before diagnosis but stupidly chose to do nothing about it. Didn't want to go to the docs, kept telling myself I'd lose the weight and eat better.

I was pretty clued up on nutrition and what I shouldn't be eating but I couldn't stop myself. No matter what I tried.

The diagnosis came about as I was ill with some other stuff and they done a hba1c alongside other tests. This was at end of Nov beginning of Dec last year. I knew it was going to be high. It was 75.

I actually felt ashamed. Ashamed that I never did anything about it even when I knew things were bad. Let myself down really. The thing is nothing apart from a health scare was going to give me a kick up backside I needed apart from a diagnosis. I would have just carried on. As it is I've lost 2 stone since then and my BG levels are going well. Hba1c test booked for beginning of Feb. I'm confident I'm going to be under 48.

Sorry for the long post! The song is oasis rock and roll star, just heard it on a video on social media!
 
guybrush said:
You've decided to go with the test then and not put it off?

Deep down I knew I was diabetic even before diagnosis but stupidly chose to do nothing about it. Didn't want to go to the docs, kept telling myself I'd lose the weight and eat better.

I was pretty clued up on nutrition and what I shouldn't be eating but I couldn't stop myself. No matter what I tried.

The diagnosis came about as I was ill with some other stuff and they done a hba1c alongside other tests. This was at end of Nov beginning of Dec last year. I knew it was going to be high. It was 75.

I actually felt ashamed. Ashamed that I never did anything about it even when I knew things were bad. Let myself down really. The thing is nothing apart from a health scare was going to give me a kick up backside I needed apart from a diagnosis. I would have just carried on. As it is I've lost 2 stone since then and my BG levels are going well. Hba1c test booked for beginning of Feb. I'm confident I'm going to be under 48.

Sorry for the long post! The song is oasis rock and roll star, just heard it on a video on social media!
Click to expand...
No sorry allowed, long posts very much appreciated 🙂

I never in my life thought I’d be at this point this early but randomly asked for the test to be thrown in and now I’m here!
I think sometimes you just know.

But yeah after speaking with Mr Quill, we reckon just see how much of a dent I’ve put in it.
I don’t feel that it’s enough time but I think lovely GP wants to see that I can do it to be honest and might do a best out of 3 (fingers crossed all round)
 
Hello, here goes.
  • When was yours? Mid 1970s.
  • How did you feel? Like utter garbage. Sleep walking in a desert?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it? Ill for a week or so getting worse, unquenchable thirst. Loss of appetite & loosing weight I didn’t need to loose. I was basically a skeleton. Spent a week in hospital learning to inject oranges.
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now? Oddly I’ve just been out with my wife bopping away & this tune is still ringing in my head.
 
Diagnosis was 8 years ago, was put on statins so my memory was totally shot away for a while...

For some strange reason - Nelly the elephant.
 
March 2018
"Thank Gebus it's only diabetes!"
Optometrist detected retinopathy; my left leg started giving out after walking a couple of hundred meters; I was constantly urinating & thirsty; I felt completely poxed.
"Rhiannon" because it was playing in the supermarket & now I can't get rid of it.
 
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It was a complete shock to me. I only went to the doctors because my mum had been told her cholesterol was abnormally high and that she might have some kind of familial hypercholesterolaemia (sp?). The GP said I could have cholesterol tests but because I was overweight he would test for diabetes too. I had always tended to have low blood sugar in the past and would get episodes where I literally felt like I would die if I didn't eat (shaking, sweating, irrationally angry) so I thought there was no way I could have diabetes.
But the next day I got a call from the surgery asking me to make an appointment with the diabetes nurse. My fasting blood glucose was 14.2.
I remember being distraught and crying for days. I had always been a comfort eater and I said to my husband that I felt like my best friend (food) had turned against me.
Eventually I settled down and got used to the idea, I was determined to get on top of the situation. Once I reduced carbs and got used to eating that way, I felt a lot better, less lethargic and I lost all the excess weight without even trying. I went from being almost 15 stone to under 10 stone in about 18 months.

Unfortunately shortly after that my marriage broke up, I met someone else and moved in with him. It was just too easy to allow carb creep and I regained a bit of the weight and my A1c went back up. I'm not sorry I moved in with him as ten years on we're still happy, but I wish I'd been better with my diet. I still don't have any complications from my diabetes but I've decided to tighten right back up and I've started the insulin now. It's easier now because my partner is a bit overweight and pre diabetic now, so he's finally stopped cooking puddings and carby meals! It's much easier to do it together.

Song in my head "Rocking carol"
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir
We will lend you a coat of fur.

Don't ask me why as I have NO IDEA!
 
  • When was yours?----------------- Aug/sept 2024 (hba1c 51)
  • How did you feel?----------------- Determined to reduce it to < 51 ----- last blood test 46 (Dec 24)
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?------------------ Routine blood test which I had put off for a year
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?-------------- We are the champions--Queen

    I am very target driven, so this was just what I needed to improve my general health.

    I set myself targets

    1) lose weight
    2) increase exercise
    3) reduce carb intake

    The doc gave me 3 months

    Results

    1) lost over 2st BMI now 23
    2) Walked everywhere and in all weathers
    3) Reduced carb intake to iro 230 and reduced calorie intake to iro 1200 per day

    Whilst 46 is not great, it is non diabetic (in the pre zone) so room for improvement.

    Next blood test is in June, so targets have already been set and it doesn't include giving up red wine :D

 
Quill said:
Just curious as to how you all felt on being given your initial diagnosis of Diabetes, whichever type you fall under.
I’ll be honest - until I landed here I thought there was just 1 & 2 so my mind has been blown!
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Obviously no need to answer if it’s not something you like to discuss.

13 days until my repeat bloods and I’m still going over how I might feel and process things when the time comes and just wondered how everyone’s came about.
Hashtag Nosey Northerner 🙂

((( squidges to all )))

Q xo
Click to expand...
Hi Quill
Mine was August 23 with a level of 120 but put on insulin.
I felt a bit shocked but soon got over that and once I knew the diagnosis and had good support I could deal with it.It was no huge surprise after my bout of pancreatitis just sooner than expected.I know a fair bit about diabetes due to my job so was happy to know what I had to do.
Circumstances were it was triggered by necrosis of Beta cells during my acute pancreatitis in March 2022.
The song “ I am a Survivor” has always been one I have liked and certainly in my darkest days in hospital during my Pancreatic episode and recovery it was my go to song in my head in the middle of the night.
 
Diagnosed on 6 Dec 2024.

Was and still am in shock really. GP was pretty blunt on the phone and didn't really explain anything. Then much confusion over type and now, having got used to one routine looking like I'll need to try something else hasn't helped but hey, I am where I am. Trying to stay positive, trying to stay open minded.

Had been invited by my GP for my first 'you're officially old health check' and had routine bloods as part of that. GP then called me in a blind panic as my Hba1c was 121. No real symptoms and wasn't expecting it at all as pretty fit and healthy.

She just said she'd start me on Metformin but I want quite happy with that and quickly ended up at the diabetes centre in Sheffield who have been pretty awesome.

Plan from here is to reluctantly try Metformin and probably something like Sitagliptin, try and lose 5kg, focus on my running and see if I can't knock this thing into remission.

Song - 'I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves etc' 😛
 
  • When was yours?
February 1991, a mere 34 years on the clock for me
  • How did you feel?
Pretty devastated. I was glad to know what it was, but I was really uncertain about what it would mean for my future. I’d never really been ‘ill’ or had much contact with Drs or hospitals. I seemed brush off colds in a day or two. The phrase that really cut deep was a nurse who said I was now “chronically ill”. I was in my early 20s
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
I’d been been feeling tired and really thirsty for a month or so. Was drinking constantly and getting up in the night to wee. I put it down to ‘final year stress’. But it was only really when someone on my course saw me walking down the corridor and asked if I had lost weight that I realised how drawn I was looking, I’d lost about 20% of my body weight.
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Strength will Rise, which I’ll be playing later this morning. I was working out widdly guitar parts for it yesterday.
 
Lisa65 said:
It's better than the Rocking Carol!
Click to expand...

I saw something once about some psychology students who had investigated and really understood the mechanisms by which our brains get stuck with an ‘ear worm’, such that they could casually walk past people busily doing something and in the right receptive condition, humming a snippet of a song, who’d then find themselves with that as an ear worm, with no idea how it got there. :D
 
  • When was yours? January 2004
  • How did you feel? LIke @everydayupsanddowns I had never been "ill" so was shocked. I am usually a calm logical person but I had weepy moment as I realized this was for life. Then, I would taste my tears and be fascinated that they were sweet instead of salty.
  • As well as logical, I am stubborn so I was determined to get back to "normality" as soon as possible so no time off work - just straight back to organising the biggest event the company had run. It helped me stop obsessing on the diabetes.
  • What were the circumstances that led to it? I had recently had a glandular virus - the taste buds on my tongue had swollen. The swelling has gone down but I was exhausted and needing the bathroom every 30 minutes so couldn't get any sleep.
  • I called 111 for advice and they told me to see a doctor as it could be a kidney problem. The first gp I saw was newly qualified and didn't listen. She heard that peeing was painful so diagnosed a UTI and prescribed antibiotics.
  • I went away for a walking weekend and nothing improved. I had to keep finding bushes and was too tired to make it to the top of the mountain. So, I went back to the GP who took a urine test (although at the suggestion, my bladder dried up until I had drunk loads of water) and the colour on the stick indicated high glucose levels. The doc said, although I was in my 30s, I had Type 1 because I was "too slim to have type 2" and got an appointment for the diabetes clinic the next day where I was started on insulin
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now? Unfortunately, although it is 19th Jan, but ear worm is still Last Christmas!
 
Quill said:
Just curious as to how you all felt on being given your initial diagnosis of Diabetes, whichever type you fall under.
I’ll be honest - until I landed here I thought there was just 1 & 2 so my mind has been blown!
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Obviously no need to answer if it’s not something you like to discuss.

13 days until my repeat bloods and I’m still going over how I might feel and process things when the time comes and just wondered how everyone’s came about.
Hashtag Nosey Northerner 🙂

((( squidges to all )))

Q xo
Click to expand...
September 2023 type 2 had been attending doctors with bad chest infection, on the third week was absolutely shattered, she asked if I had any other concerns and did I want a blood test done. As been anemic before asked to test for that, one off my friends suggested diabetes as I had a thirst. Got bloods done and was very surprised came back type 2, changed my whole diet and on next test went from 94-61. February 2024 absolutely shattered again extreme thirst and 3 stone down and couldn’t see properly. Went back to doctors and several phone calls to be told nothing wrong with you, just eat more. My rapid weight loss extreme thirst and eyesight, was nothing to do with the diabetes. Struggled on till April till next blood test, which came in at 123. Phoned doctors was told I would get a phone call, but they must have looked at results and I had to go in. Finger prick 30 keytones 3.5 they could not believe how well I was as not being sick or pains in stomach. Sent home over weekend with medication and if not well to 999. Hospital on the Monday bit daunting got Libre and prescription for insulin. Don’t think I know how I felt that day, just think relieved to finally have answers. Hospital said they thought chest infection had kicked it off. Song in my head is simply the best, because I think all off us are simply the best at managing our diabetes
 
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Quill said:
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now
Click to expand...
1. October 2010.
2. Not surprised.
3. A distal pancreatectomy on 19th December 2007. (Started with an acute pancreatitis attack in 2001 and was hospitalised for six weeks, gall bladder removed and pseudo cysts drained. In November 2007 diagnosed with a tumour on my pancreas after more pancreatitis attacks. Luckily as was well and if I “only” have diabetes well so be it.) Only having a third of a pancreas will soon catch up with you! That third now dead. Told I was Type 2, I didn’t know any better. Started on Metformin, then on a mixed insulin and finally a proper regime of basal and bolus insulin in 2014. In 2018 I was finally re diagnosed as Type 3c after years of fighting to be treat the same as a Type 1.
4. Bob Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man as I’ve just heard on the radio the draft lyrics have just sold for some insane amount of money!
 
Quill said:
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Click to expand...
1. March 2024
2. Totally gobsmacked that I was still functioning and not in hospital with HbA1c of 165
3. Nagged by hubby to see doctor after continuing weight loss despite upping calorie intake to 4000ish per day. Hungry and thirsty and stressed but I put it down to house move and a lot of work in hot weather to make new place liveable.
4. Whiter shade of pale. ( Annie Lennox version )
 
Quill said:
Just curious as to how you all felt on being given your initial diagnosis of Diabetes, whichever type you fall under.
I’ll be honest - until I landed here I thought there was just 1 & 2 so my mind has been blown!
  • When was yours?
  • How did you feel?
  • What were the circumstances that led to it?
  • To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
Obviously no need to answer if it’s not something you like to discuss.

13 days until my repeat bloods and I’m still going over how I might feel and process things when the time comes and just wondered how everyone’s came about.
Hashtag Nosey Northerner 🙂

((( squidges to all )))

Q xo
Click to expand...
mine was over 20 years ago
relieved at last i knew wot waswrong
constant thrush drinking up to six litrers of sugary pop a day feeling very ill all the time
Disco 2000 by Pulp
 
When was yours?
July 2022
  • How did you feel?
Same as @everydayupsanddowns and @helli I've never been an "ill" person so it came as a big shock - Went through all of the emotions as described in the change curve:
1737280685133.png

What were the circumstances that led to it?

We'd just sort of got over COVID and I started to get some itchy skin, in various areas - worst was painful cracked sin on hands, but flaky skin on legs too and also behind the ears and on the eyelids - I consulted Dr Google and determined I had Psoriasis - managed to get an online consultation with my GP and sent her pictures of the affected areas - she asked me to come straight down to the surgery for a face-to-face appointment - she took some more pictures to send off to a dermatologist for a full diagnosis, and also had the practice nurse take some blood and checked my BP (which was high), plus height and weight - I was sent away with a precription for some cream to help with the symptoms until it was confirmed
Got a call from her again 2 days later and she asked me to come in to see her again - she said that my blood had come back in the diabetic range (only just - with HbA1c of 49) - she also confirmed Psoriasis diagnosis and precribed me all manner of steroid and Vitamin D creams for this (which cost me a fortune!) - she said she was going to speak to the diabetic team at the local hospital as she didn't think I was a classic type 2
A couple of days later I was called in again and prescribed slow-release Metformin (can't remember the exact dose but had a to have a large tablet before every meal) and a BG Monitor and test strips and was told to monitor my levels - was sent away again - another couple of days past (with ahem, insteresting digestive problems), and was called back in again, for another blood test - she was convinced I was type 1 as over the past week or so she'd noticed that I'd lost even more weight and had also been diagnosed with another auto-immune condition (Psoriasis) - this one was an antibody test which would take a couple of weeks to come back - in the meantime I was finger-prick testing 8-10 times a day and what was clear was that the Metformin was doing nothing, other than giving me bad stomach problems, to put it politely!
2-3 weeks past and I had another phone call from her - the Antibody test had come back positive for 2 auto-antibodies and I was now officially type 1 - was given an appointment the next day at the Diabetes Centre and was sent away with a Libre and 2 insulin pens that I didn't really have clue what to do with!
Then the learning began - I bought the Carbs & Cals Book and started eating more carbs as instructed by a dietician as my weight was concerning - I also bought the "Think Like a Pancreas" Book and literally read it from cover to cover in a day or two - I found the online BERTIE Course and did that too, literally in one or two sittings
The rest is history - eventually got on to a face-to-face DAFNE course which started on my 49th birthday last year and since then have more than doubled my insulin intake as the "honeymoon period" has gradually come to an end (I hate that phrase, as it's anything but a honeymoon!
I found this forum and have found it brilliant, with some wonderful people offering great advice - so much so, I now volunteer for DUK, to give something back and help others - This has been great for my mental health as it is so rewarding

To lighten the mood: What song is in your head right now?
I'm a bit of an old school raver at heart and this one is one of my faves:
 
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