How Long Were You In Hospital??

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I'm afraid I don't have a positive experience to share either.

I became very ill over the course of about a month while I was studying in the US. I lost a horrendous amount of weight, was drinking constantly, (getting through 3 2litre bottles of water a night), very tired, various infections, etc, essentially ticking all the symptom boxes.

When I returned home my mum was horrified by my appearance (my friends thought I had an eating disorder), she had done some research (having seen how awful I looked in photos) and took me straight to the pharmacist for a blood test which was off the scale. They advised me to go straight to the GP. As it was the summer holidays from uni I saw a GP at my mum's as a temporary resident who diagnosed me as type 2 based on another random blood test, no fasting or urine test etc. He put me on metformin and increased the dose for this each week for the next month or so. Not knowing any better I didn't question this or look any further into diabetes.

When I then went back to uni I got my notes sent in from the temp GP to my uni surgery who called me straight in, very confused why I hadn't been referred to a diabetes centre, given more tests etc. She said she was going to call the temp GP and find out why he'd done what he did. A couple of hours later I got an urgent call from the GP receptionist who said I had to urgently go to the diabetes centre at the hospital the next day, have to say I was more than a little worried at this point! I was also testing positive for ketones. I went to the diabetes centre the next day, had various tests and was on insulin within a few hours, diagnosed as type one. Sent home that afternoon, I've never had to stay in hospital for my diabetes.

All quite a bizarre and worrying experience and it's only looking back when I realise how dangerous it all was. I really didn't appreciate how ill I'd been feeling until I started feeling better. Of course, after this there was a long time before I really started looking after myself, and I think a lot of that was down to me not taking it seriously as no one seemed too concerned when I was first diagnosed.

This has turned into a bit of an essay! Just also wanted to add, Becca, if you want any help with your campaign I really would be happy to assist.
 
A very different story but not in the UK

I 'knew ' I had diabetes, the symptoms were clear enough but I thought I had type 2 . I read this could be controlled by diet, exercise and weight loss. As I was at the lowest weight I'd been since I as 14 I didn't need to lose weight and I thought I had a healthy diet! In reality I was worried about visiting a doctor in a strange country, the longer I left it, the more difficult it became.
having neglected symtoms for almost three years, my children became worried and were nagging me to go to a doctor ( I now look at photos and realise I looked ill).
I could always think of a reason to delay going.
Eventually, I went for a bike ride and after a short distance started having problems with rapid breathing. My husband insisted I find a doctor.
I told this strange doctor in very fratured French that I thought I had diabetes.
He seemed sceptical, (very thin 54 year old saying she had diabetes) but sent me for a fasting blood test next morning. The results were faxed to him, (fasting BG 380mg/dl about 21mmol.) , he called me back. Whilst I was there he got on the phone and talked to the consultant and told me to go to the hospital. I thought I was being fitted into an outpatients clinic and even went to have a coffee on the way. Oh so wrong!
Armfuls of blood were taken and I found myself in a bed on an insulin pump. After 3 days they explained that I had type 1.... or 'maybe we could call it 1.5 '. (aka LADA and I'd used up the long LADA honeymoon).
I stayed in the hospital for 10 days, daily doctors visits, daily dietitian visit ... sometimes staying for an hour at a time, teaching me about diet and insulin injections and testing They were enormously patient, none of them could speak English and my French wasn't up to the task. I had a full body scan, echographs on kidneys, heart and arteries, exercise stress test and goodness knows what else. They even made sure that I had a c smear and mammogram. I was still shocked and a bit scared when I left hospital, but they had given me the tools to cope.
 
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Hello,

I was 18 at the time (1996) and 2 of my cousins were already diagnosed, so I knew I was showing all the symptoms. Excessive thirst (I was drinking full fat coke as well which only made it worse), frequent toilet visits, low energy, sleepy, and blurred vision.

Made an appointment at the doctor and got my blood sugar taken there and then. No fasting or glucose tolerance was done. My finger prick test came back at 17 point something and he instantly told me I was Type 1 diabetic and would need to go to hospital. The finger prick test was done on either a Tuesday or Thursday (can't remember exactly) but I didn't have to go to hospital until the Sunday. I also said I had a martial arts grading on the Sunday and he said I could just go after that. That was it, no other information and no medication at that point.

I only spent 2 days in hospital which was basically to try and get my levels down and learn me how to do blood tests and inject (twice a day back then). Got very basic information on 'reverse testing' (think thats what it was called) where you base how much insulin to take on your previous BG. (ie your evening insulin was dependent on what your morning BG was)

Have to say looking back it could have been handled a lot better. I'd have preferred to have been sent to hospital more quickly by GP as there didn't seem to be any urgency on his part. I also definitely didn't get enough info during my time in hospital.

I've also always wondered how the doctor knew I was Type 1 as I know of others who've had higher BG's and got put on tablets to start with, whereas I was put straight on Insulin.

NiVZ
 
i believe i was in for about 2 weeks, cant remember well though. Rushed in on the 14th with levels in the 40s and very serious dka. according to my specialist at the time i almost died hence being in for so long
 
Wowzer some stories out there.

Sorry to say I didn't go to hospital, 2 blood tests and 3 gp visits and 1 hospital visit to see my DSN, she kept saying I'm tempted to send you to hospital (we were in a hospital?!) It was a friday she was worried about my levels my ketones etc, and said if I feel bad to go straight to hospital?? This confused me as I wasn't sure what she meant. I survived the weekend injecting and kept phoning her every 2-3 days with my levels, eventually they came down.

So I guess I had an easy entry into this lifestyle! Sorry to hear some of you have been so ill.
 
I was in for 8 days. I'd started being sick about 5 days before. Thought it was just a stomach bug, so tried to battle through, but then the weekend came up and it was a Bank Holiday so I couldn't get to see my doctor. I lost 17 pounds in 3 days and couldn't eat or drink. Eventually, when I had trouble walking across a room I thought I might ring NHS Direct. Then I thought, no, this is bad, so rang for an ambulance. They put me on drips and took gallons of blood. I think I was 37 with lots of ketones and DKA. I would probably have been sent home sooner, but a test showed I'd had a heart attack the day after going in, and I had to stay in so they could do an angiogram. The funny thing was, after the first day I felt fine - ravenously hungry and full of energy. I hardly slept all week.

It's truly awful to hear all these dreadful stories of poor care and misdiagnosis. I was cared for extremely well - just a couple of blips by the night staff missing tests, but nothing major. There were some very frightening times, and it felt like I was in there for months with everything that went on. Most of the week I still expected to be able to fly out to Stockholm to run the marathon - naive or what?!!

The follow-up care was, and is, great too. It is appalling that so many people have had bad experiences when clearly it doesn't have to be. So, thank you to Southampton General and the Royal South Hants for taking such good care of me.🙂
 
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Well, I've chronicled it all pretty thoroughly (I think) on my blog, but I was in from the evening of May 1st, which was a Friday, and left late afternoon on the Tuesday. I went to see a practice nurse at my GP's (who I'd registered with that day) after a visit to the walk i clinic had shown glucose in my urine. When I got to see the nurse, she did a finger prick and I was at 31.4. She went and conferred with a GP, who told me I needed to go to hospital NOW and get on an insulin drip. I got told that I had ketones pretty much off the scale, but it was entirely possible that I'd go home in the morning.
I was pretty terrified actually, and if it hadn't been for my friends being around as much as they could, and one extremely lovely staff nurse, I think i would have completely lost it, because it was so hard to get anyone to tell me anything. I never actually got told 'you have diabetes', which I found pretty bizarre, to be frank....
 
SacredHeart said:
c
I never actually got told 'you have diabetes', which I found pretty bizarre, to be frank....
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Oh this reminded me of when we rushed R down to A&E after the GP told us to get her there quick. He had mumbled something along the lines of diabetes but niavely we still didn't know what this meant. The consultant that saw us said on examining R "Oh, how long has she had diabetes then?" WHAT?! WHEN?! And that was how we were introduced into this world 🙂
 
I didn't have a hospital stay, I went to the childrens day ward to have the GTT test and was then told the results and that I had diabetes about 6 weeks later. I remember staying for ages because they weren't meant to send me home with a high blood sugar I eventually got sent home at about 9 because I could have been there hours more waiting to come down to range

I think that keeping people in hospital after diagnosis isn't usually helpful as you aren't going to get blood sugars brilliant. What I think needs to get betetr is the support over the next few weeks.
 
sasha1 said:
Hi Tracey.....

You have no way bored me with this...x🙂....I see exactly where you are coming from.

What worries me though..and this thread has only long been put up...is the startling and alarming pattern that is emerging from Health Care Professionals........Is the misdiagnosis and lack of treatment etc while in hospital.

To be honest it still upsets me what Nathan went through before his diagnosis and what could have been done weeks before to help.

Heidi
x🙂
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Thanks Heidi, yes it is all very alarming, you think your the only one until you hear other stories. I find it alarming that it seems to be a pattern, most gps and health care workers are so not with it when it comes to diabetes. Unfortunately we are in no fit state to tell them they are wrong when we are first diagnosed as we dont know the ins and outs ourselves at that stage, we totaly trust their judgement, it is frightening.

The good thing though is that even if i see gp regarding other things i dont just take his word as gospel, i research and make decisions myself with their advice, must be a nightmare for them when i walk in lol :D
 
HelenM said:
A very different story but not in the UK

I 'knew ' I had diabetes, the symptoms were clear enough but I thought I had type 2 . I read this could be controlled by diet, exercise and weight loss. As I was at the lowest weight I'd been since I as 14 I didn't need to lose weight and I thought I had a healthy diet! In reality I was worried about visiting a doctor in a strange country, the longer I left it, the more difficult it became.
having neglected symtoms for almost three years, my children became worried and were nagging me to go to a doctor ( I now look at photos and realise I looked ill).
I could always think of a reason to delay going.
Eventually, I went for a bike ride and after a short distance started having problems with rapid breathing. My husband insisted I find a doctor.
I told this strange doctor in very fratured French that I thought I had diabetes.
He seemed sceptical, (very thin 54 year old saying she had diabetes) but sent me for a fasting blood test next morning. The results were faxed to him, (fasting BG 380mg/dl about 21mmol.) , he called me back. Whilst I was there he got on the phone and talked to the consultant and told me to go to the hospital. I thought I was being fitted into an outpatients clinic and even went to have a coffee on the way. Oh so wrong!
Armfuls of blood were taken and I found myself in a bed on an insulin pump. After 3 days they explained that I had type 1.... or 'maybe we could call it 1.5 '. (aka LADA and I'd used up the long LADA honeymoon).
I stayed in the hospital for 10 days, daily doctors visits, daily dietitian visit ... sometimes staying for an hour at a time, teaching me about diet and insulin injections and testing They were enormously patient, none of them could speak English and my French wasn't up to the task. I had a full body scan, echographs on kidneys, heart and arteries, exercise stress test and goodness knows what else. They even made sure that I had a c smear and mammogram. I was still shocked and a bit scared when I left hospital, but they had given me the tools to cope.
Click to expand...

Wow, what a difference diagnosis in a different country makes! :( makes me so mad again thinking how most of us were treated, you were very lucky and had such great initial care.
 
I think I have been helped a lot by the fact that I am older than many/most of the healthcare bods I have dealt with. They have to earn my respect - and most have - before I will place my trust in them. I think when you are younger maybe you are less likely to challenge them, until, of course, you get fired up by the support here! I'm sure that, when I was younger, I used to view doctors as authority figures who were a level above me in knowledge and intelligence - now I see them as equals and fallible human beings like me.

There's really no excuse for some of the stories related here though - whatever happened to professional pride and vocational commitment?
 
I was diagnosed 21 years ago, and my diagnosis was both good and bad. My mum took me to our normal GP and despite the fact that I had *textbook* symptoms of diabetes, he told her I just had a virus and she was being an overprotective mother! My mum took me to see another GP a few days later, and the GP took one look at me, smelled my breath, and phoned an ambulance, telling my mum that I was diabetic.

I have no idea how high I was, but I know I was in DKA. I think I spent around ten days in hospital, but I don't really remember it. My mum says it was a nightmare trying to take in all this new information and understand how things were going to change, but she also says that the doctors and nurses at the hospital were excellent - really patient and took their time to make sure my mum and dad understood everything.

I can't believe the differing experiences people have. It's such a life changing this, surely it's not to much to ask that you're given time and patience enough to take it all in and learn how to deal with it?
 
Hello,

It seems from all the stories on here that there are definitely two areas that need improving:

1. The way GP's handle diagnosis and referral to hospital
2. The duration and methods of education provided when first admitted to hospital

When you start suspecting sypmtoms, these are usually the next 2 logical steps, and if you are confirmed as having diabetes this is your first introduction to diabetic care, and it sounds like many NHS trusts make it quite a frightning experience. This isn't good for a first impression and will only make people reluctant or worried they'll get a telling off everytime they need to seek advice from the professionals.

Just another point on this, with Diabetes care accounting for around 10% of the NHS budget you'd think it would make sense for them to invest more time in the education of newly diagnosed patients to help them avoid complications further down the line.

If people were given more advice over a longer period of time at the start it could drastically reduce the number of people admitted with complications later on and could end up saving the NHS money on hospital stays and operations.

NiVZ
 
I was in hospital for 2 days back in 1993 (aged 11), and then went back to school the next day (on the recommendation of the diabetic sister).

I remember my BG was 35 when diagnosed and then I practised doing an injection with a syringe on an orange.

Thinking back, we weren't help very much, treatment was poor. (and isn;t that much better in my area now).
 
Urbansoulpie said:
I was in hospital for 2 days back in 1993 (aged 11), and then went back to school the next day (on the recommendation of the diabetic sister).

I remember my BG was 35 when diagnosed and then I practised doing an injection with a syringe on an orange.

Thinking back, we weren't help very much, treatment was poor. (and isn;t that much better in my area now).
Click to expand...


Hi Urban

Can I ask which area of the Northwest you are located in...I'm up in Cumbria..South Lakes..near Barrow in Furness

Heidi
🙂
 
I'm not far from you! I'm in Lancaster.
 
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