To be sick with worry than DS (12) may have diabetes!

[HumiditySucks]

Please help calm me down until I can get a GP appointment this afternoon.

DS 12 has started drinking a lot more water, saying he feels thirsty. Started about 3 weeks ago while abroad. Obviously it’s hot but this is more than that.

He’s also lost a lost a lot of weight on his stomach. That may be him shooting up in height but he wasn’t over weight before.

Also saying he feels more tired but that could be due to being up until early hours of the morning 😡and sleeping rhythm messed up.

Noticed last night his breath has a chemical smell like acetone.

No Type 1 diabetes in families. MIL was diagnosed in her late 60’s with Type 2.

GP had no appointments by the time I got through this morning so have to try again at 2pm. Aarghhh!

@Simonjt if you honestly believe they'd immediately test, where's the logic in the GP surgery refusing an appointment? They wouldn't.

Exactly same symptoms by son had at same age. GP sent him straight to a&e - take him.
My son was unknowingly quite poorly and T1 confirmed

Triage can take time though. You’re not guaranteed automatic triage as soon as you present to a&e because it depends on the waiting times of others who are already there and the number of staff they have.

OP can go to a pharmacy who will do an immediate blood test and can give OP a printout to take to a&e. If she presents this at the desk then they will see her immediately. So no, going to the pharmacy is not wasting time.

If it’s not diabetes the pharmacy will be able to tell her that as well and she can then go back to the gp.

My son became type 1 age 13. Same symptoms. Go straight to A&E, he needs to get his sugar levels balanced before any organ damage is caused.
Good luck, my son is 49 now and a healthy specimen of manhood. Xx

It isn’t I believe it, I know that it happens and I have experienced it myself. GPs are nortoriously poor type one diabetes, like mine who advises me to eat more carbohydrates and sugar filled yoghurts. Even a good GP is the wrong person/place for OPs son as they aren’t able to provide the care needed.

Exactly Ghost equally if she has called 111 then the department they are sent to are expecting them.

My son has T1 diabetes, there was no history of it (I knew nothing about it really) and he was tested by a paramedic who called an ambulance so I didn't know exactly how a direct presentation at A&E would go, but I do know how serious it is. He had DKA at that stage. It's a blood glucose metre ( I have 2 of them), and they also measure ketones (which were through the roof in my sons case!). Thanks you.

Another mother of a T1 child here, who was diagnosed in a&e after I took her in with very similar symptoms to those being described. It’s absolutely the appropriate place to head to.

And if it is diabetes, you’ll feel like the bottom has fallen out of your world, but I absolutely promise you that it will all become normal very soon and that life will go on smoothly. C eats everything, plays sport for her county, has sleepovers with friends and generally lives a wonderful and healthy life.

Type 1 here, I was diagnosed at A&E and spent the next 5 days there because of DKA, I delayed. Please don't, go to A&E now.

I presume all the posters suggesting not to go to A&E do not have personal experience with T1 diabetes. It absolutely is a medical emergency, if it is T1 he will need to be admitted for a few days at least.

My DC was diagnosed by the GP and we were sent straight to the hospital and told not to even go home to pick up a bag first! The advantage of going through the GP was that he referred us so we were admitted immediately when we arrived rather than going to A&E with the potential waiting times there. If you can get a GP appointment today it may be worth doing that but if not then absolutely please do go to A&E.

DKA is life-threatening and I'll say it again IT IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

Good luck and don't panic. T1 is life-changing but it is manageable. If he does get diagnosed then search on Facebook for "Parents of Children With Type 1 Diabetes In The UK" it is an invaluable group where you will find lots of support.

A&E straight away do not wait

I’m type 1 diabetic. Phone NHS 24 if you can’t see the GP today and they’ll get him seen either at a clinic or hospital. I wouldnt rush straight to a&e unless he’s showing signs of DKA

He's already showing signs of DKA.

Undiagnosed Type 1 is an emergency. You don’t need to wait for an appointment. Go to your GP, say you’re concerned he has Type 1 and insist on a test there and then. It takes seconds. The nurse can do it.

If he has Type 1, he’ll be sent to hospital immediately.

All of his symptoms could be signs of DKA.

A and E. untreated type 1 diabetes - even suspected - is an emergency

Stop posting about things you know nothing about. Every single person contradicting you either has type 1 diabetes, has a child with T1 or work in paediatrics.

The “advice” you are giving is medically dangerous and could put a child’s life at risk. Just sit down and keep quiet and leave this to the experts.

@LateAF it's not something I know nothing about. You're not an expert because you have a child with diabetes.

And tbh the op posted 3 hours ago so whether she rang 111 or went to A&E then, your 'expert' advice isn't going to help now

Well then you need to scrub up on your “knowledge” because you are outrageously wrong on all points.

And I am well placed to advise having a child with T1- you need all the training available to keep your child alive. I don’t allow any gaps in my knowledge because I want my child to have the best chance at a healthy future as possible.

Hope all is ok OP

thing is - if it is t1d (which is likely from the symptoms) it's not just diagnosis that's needed. the derailers are right that a pharmacist could do that with a finger prick test.
in addition to the initial test a newly diagnosed t1d needs urgent medical treatment that neither a gp or pharmacist can give.

I hope he is being treated. Being informed about signs and symptoms of untreated T1 diabetes is something that every parent should be aware of, and people reading this thread might remember something important down the line. I wasn't informed (my fault) and assumed my son was tired/disorientated because of something else (this is why I phoned 111 and a paramedic came by car to assess him) The day before his diagnosis we went shopping for his school uniform and we went to the park. It can come on quickly and I don't want to concern anyone unduly, but in his case it was life-threatening. So the expert advice is good.

OP, please Don't piss about waiting for a GP to get their act together.
My 2 year old ended up in intensive care with DKA earlier this year because of the GPs ignorance of T1D and reluctance to see any patient face to face. If we hadn't decided not to listen and to take him to A&E he would have died.
It was less than 5 minutes between arriving at A&E and diagnosis. We had been trying to get somewhere with the GP for weeks.

You're not an expert because you have a child with diabetes

Jesus wept. You are fucking clueless. It is well known amongst the type 1 community that there is very, very little help or support coming from GPs.

Countless incidences of people with symptoms being fobbed off, sent home, told it's nothing to worry about. My own child was at death's door and saw an out of hours doctor and our GP on the day he was diagnosed - if I had listend to them, he would be dead. Because the peadiatric diabetic team were in no doubt that had I put him to bed, he wouldn't have woken up in the morning. There are persistent incidences of GPs stopping prescriptions for insulin, for example, in the name of 'reviewing medication'. It's not bloody rocket science to know that someone with type 1 diabetes is insulin dependent and will die without it. You can't review that. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The shit that type 1s deal with, day in day out, is beyond compare. Just staying alive some days is complex and utterly exhausting.

So yes, those of us who have type 1 or who have manged type 1 are absolutely experts in all things type 1. And we know that in the OP's situation, the child concerned will need hospitalising if it's type 1. So straight to the hospital she needs to go. End of.