To be worried about Diabetes?

[WorriedAboutTeenMama]

Sorry posting here for traffic as I am so worried at the minute and could do with some thoughts from you lovely lot!

My DD13 for the past month has been really 'off'. I will bullet point symptoms below to stop me going on! But for context she is autistic (high functioning) so doesn't communicate well when it comes to feeling poorly. She has previously had appendicitis and didn't show any sign of discomfort until it burst! She is an extremely sporty girl, plays football several times a week, eats plenty of fruit and veg, only drinks water and plenty of it. She has always been thin and tall too.

So here are the symptoms she has experienced the past few weeks:

• Extreme tiredness to the point where she will only play her football then its lying down shattered (very unlike her she is usually bouncing off the walls!)
• She has had two 'collapsing' episodes now during football training, the first one being 2 weeks ago where she went shaky and dizzy and collapsed, followed by a headache, blurred vision etc. Took her to A&E straight away who said its probably due to the heat and activity level, only tested BP and temp sent away. Another episode last night and we have been told she seems much slower than usual in training.
• Since then she has had many bouts of dizziness and shakiness during sport but also when she isn't active. She has to physically lean on the wall and grabs hold of something as she feels so unstable
• She has been getting numbness in her arms randomly
• She feels generally weak and has so little energy for anything other than football (this is an obsessive interest of hers!) For example we went on a break last weekend and she didn't want to go swimming, didn't join in playing on the field, kept going dizzy when we were on a walk etc
• She said she is filling her water bottle up at school a lot more than she used to but I haven't noticed at home so much because she has always had a bottle of water in her hands.
• I can't say I have noticed her peeing more either

She has been to A&E as mentioned above, the doctors a few days after A&E as no improvement who said probably a migraine and then the doctors yesterday who dismissed migraine and ordered the blood test for today, on the blood form it says Hbac1 - Suspected Diabetes Diagnosis, but then its also got iron, calcium etc so probably just looking for everything. Both times her BP has been normal.

I never even thought of diabetes but after googling she is displaying symptoms but the lack of noticeable thirst and more peeing is making me doubt it could be this.

Anyway, does anybody have any experience of what this could be? We initially thought it could be related to her cycle but it has happened far too often in between so ruled that out.

She is in bed at the moment, I have let her stay off school as was really weak and dizzy last night and just needed sleep bless her.

TIA x

My son was the EXACT same, he was in DKA with blood sugars in the 800s!

take her to the GP ask for a urine sample and test for ketones. Immediately this morning. Don't hang about.

My first thought for a teenage girl would be anaemia to be honest, so see how the iron test results come back. I was anaemic and had low blood pressure as a teen and I was a wreck and fainting all over the place

Sounds awful, I had episodes like that as a teen. Nothing conclusive. Years later it turned out to be hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s).
If blood work comes fine, insist on full thyroid check.

All the best to your DD. 💐

Did your son have the excessive thirst and frequent urination? I thought that was the tell tale sign but doesn't appear obvious to me in DD.

I will call the Docs in a min and ask to send in a urine sample - thank you

Yep my son wss the same he collapsed in February in DKA ,we had no.idea he was diabetic his blood suffers were so high they were unreadable it wss terrifying ,he's now insulin dependent and has a Dexcom,but overall doing well
Hope your son is too.

I had also thought anaemia but BP has been fine.

Also thought could it be anxiety which she does get being autistic but never during sport, sport is her release and safe zone so I doubt it is that. Just don't know whether to wait for the blood results or get her seen again.

Interesting about thyroid check, both my parents have thryoid problems never thought of that in a child..

Also....

Sorry another thing is she said her eyes keep going funny as in she will look to the side but feel like everything is lagging behind almost like slow motion to be focussed again. Had eyes checked last year and all was fine so I will book her in the opticians too

My son is16i hadn't noticed him being excessively thirsty or urinating more until the day he collapsed
But DKA ,can come on very sudden!y
Did they check check her blood sugar levels ( finger prick.test)?

My teen was diagnosed with diabetes recently. Being tired all the time was the first sign, then excessive thirst and a sudden, pretty dramatic weight loss.

The dizziness and visual disturbances sound concerning. It could be so many things. If she seems to be getting worse, especially if she is drowsy, seek medical attention again - don’t wait for test results necessarily.

I'm not suggesting it isn't diabetes, but numbness/tingling in hands and feet is a symptom of anaemia

@x2boys thank you that is interesting and must have been a very scary time! I hope he is ok now? No they didn’t check blood sugars/do a finger prick test - makes me think they weren’t overly concerned about it though.

Go to the GP this morning a simple finger prick will tell if she’s diabetic
My son was very similar symptom wise extreme fatigue weight loss but not noticed his increase in urinating he also said his eyes were funny he was 11 and ended up DKA in a coma for 5 days.
hes 22 now and living life with a pump and libre
hope your DD feels better soon and you get to the bottom of this

@SlidingHoors thank you and I hope your teen is on the mend now and coping ok? I have just woke her up and she is really lightheaded and having to hold onto things when walking. I am going to get her back in the doctors

@Bagpuss2022 oh that sounds so frightening! I am always nervous that I am overreacting because I am so protective of her with being autistic and not communicating the best but I am going to get her in the doctors again for the fingerprick test. Does anyone know if you can get this done at a pharmacy? Might be quicker our GP surgery is a nightmare to get in!

Yes he's doing well now thanks he's insulin n dependent and has a Dexcom
But has adapted really well.

Go to A&E.

You are me, seven months ago. This was my post on boxing day: Diabetic teen? Everyone on here urged me to take him to A&E and they were spot on - he was diagnosed with T1 diabetes and was in DKA.

Thinking of you and your daughter.

If it's T1, it's very manageable. You have to be organised, but she can do all the things she did before. My son is so much healthier and happier since diagnosis, and has found parts of life much easier again (like school, where he was really struggling. Now he can focus and learn, and his attainment has improved dramatically).

Go now

You can actually buy them off Amazon ,and in pharmacy etc ,its about £20 ish,but if it would make it more comfortable for her ?

Yep diabetes effect the eyes when high or low. It may not be, but honestly I'd get those ketones checked. It's really dangerous if it is and just left.
My son nearly died because an a&e doctor sent him home without doing the correct checks, 3 days later a GP did a ketone urine sample and sent him immediately to hospital via ambulance. Another day and he'd of died.

He wasn't weeing that much either, he was thirsty but not to the point where he was drinking out of taps etc.

You can get it done in pharmacy but can also buy the finger pricker and test strips from the pharmacy not cheap but it may make it easier for her if you do it to her
good luck let us know how you get on

You can by a very cheap finger prick blood sugar monitor from any pharmacy. They cost about 20quid, I would get one, normal range for a non diabetic is 4-6.Anything else is very concerning. I would get a monitor and test , particularly if it's difficult to get into GPs. My son was diagnosed as T1 over 20 years ago, it's manageable but please get the test done.

Thanks all, can’t get her in the doctors until 4pm which incidentally is the same time as her blood test at a different location. I have just ordered a blood sugar test kit which will arrive between 1 and 3pm. I think I am best checking her before worrying her with A&E. Obviously if she deteriorates I will go straight there.

Poor thing… just want to see her all energetic again.

I will keep you updated - quick thought what reading is abnormal on the testing kit? I haven’t a clue what to be looking for!

@FuckingHateRats oh wow! Very similar posts that’s uncanny! I have just ordered a glucose test which will be here in a few hours. But if gets any worse I’ll go straight to A&E - so pleased your son is much better and you’ve even seen an improvement in school work that’s amazing and I’m sure a credit to his support network for getting him through it all x

They say between 5-8 now below 5 is going into.s hypo.,hypoglycemia ,my son corrects this by eating jelly babies ,anything above 8 is high but if its going into.the teens or above its more concerning .

Anything over 10 in a non diabetic is worrying especially if not after eating I think they diagnose if over 14 I may be a little out as it’s been over 10 years since DS was diagnosed

If it's in double figures go to A&E, if it's over 7-8, then wait for GP's , but being me, I would tell the GP practice if you get anything over that you now believe diabetes might be the cause. If it's below 4 you are heading for a hypo. My adult child always ran slightly high till he got a Freestyle Libre and now a Dexcom, and they issue alerts when blood sugars are heading in the wrong direction. BTW some finger prick monitors will also say Lo or Hi.Hi really does mean straight to A&E.