To think this is the start of type 1 diabetes

[NeuroSpicyCat]

Hand hold please.

My 13 year old son informed me tonight that he wet the bed last night.

This has never happened before.

His late father had Type 1 diabetes which started around this age.

My son also has a sore tummy (that comes and goes) and sore calves (that come and go).

He seems to have low mood also.

He's always been really thin.

My husband (his stepdad) is driving to A&E with him right now. I’m staying home with the other 4 children. (I can’t drive).

I’m autistic and scared. I’m so worried for him. AI said he is highly likely to be diagnosed given his symptoms and family history, and he’s likely to be urgently admitted to hospital.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I really feel for A&E staff. You definitely need support for your anxiety as that’s a real over reaction. Your poor son sat in A&E all night.

Because he told her last night. It’s right there in the post.

And as has been said ad nauseam he wouldn’t have sat in A&E waiting to see a doctor if the triage HCP hadn’t thought there was enough reason to. This is not rocket science.

Imagine being carted to A&E as a teenager for wetting the bed, bet the check in at reception with the presenting symptom being declared as 'pissed the bed' was a hoot.

And as I and others have told you, everyone sees a doctor. Triage just determines the order and whether tests are needed first before you see a doctor.
A triage nurse does not have the medical capacity to determine who sees a doctor or not. They simply help organise the patients based on priority.

What a disgusting post. Seriously - bed wetting is one of the symptoms of several serious conditions, one of which is T1D. No wonder it’s missed so much if your horrible attitude is anything to go by.

And as I have said several times, from experience, no not everyone sees a doctor. The triage staff are there to ensure that A&E is the most appropriate healthcare option. Triage staff assess and determine if A&E is appropriate and if so, the level of priority. If not, they signpost to other options, which could be a referral back to own GP, other, more appropriate urgent care centres, and sending people home with self care advice. My DH has type 2 diabetes and has attended A&E several times with concerns. And he hasn’t always seen a doctor - many times he’s been signposted to the diabetic clinic, GP or had blood tests and been sent home. All by triage staff who know what they’re doing. Or do you not understand what the word Triage actually means ?

As a T1D I can confirm I never wet the bed before diagnosis, I have no family with diabetes and my main symptoms were excessive thirst, weight loss and frequent urination. His blood sugar level is normal, it would be significantly higher.

So we should take any child that wets the bed once in teenage yeats to A&E? Solely A&E? There isn't anywhere more appropriate? Hilarious!

A headache is also a symptom of many serious conditions, I'll drive right over the the hospital next time.

I can only imagine the eye rolls in that department.

Ah I see, your DH also attends A+E when he doesn’t need to.
It all makes sense now.

Just an observation, but surely if a triage nurse is not sufficiently qualified to decide who sees a doctor, surely Joe or Josephine Bloggs is similarly not sufficiently qualified to decide to not seek medical help when they have symptoms of a potentially life threatening condition which runs in their family on the basis that it “probably” isn’t that? 🤔

Is there an update on your son OP? I hope things went well for him, and you!

Well you’d hope common sense would prevail, but this is the human population we are talking about!

A+E is for medical emergencies (that is immediate risk to life or limb). It is not for “well it might be a dangerous illness, despite only having one vague symptom and the patient displaying no immediate obvious signs that their life is danger/no signs of obvious distress”

The only times I’ve turned up to A+E it’s been via ambulance where I was admitted to HDU, or with broken bones requiring re-aligning/ casting and/or surgery. I have never gone to A+E and been sent away to a GP or a pharmacy, because I would only attend A+E in a genuine emergency. If people go to A+E and get told to see a GP, then they need to have a word with themselves about why they went in the first place.

If you’ve seen the state of the average A+E department, you will realise my anger about this.

He's 12, do we need to state the obvious? His Dad may have not had the " talk" with him

I know several boys who are Type 1 and all live very active lives (football teams etc). Whilst I understand why you took him to A&E it is a really sad reflection of how poor our GP service is these days, isn’t it?

This is such a weird post. With or without "the talk", there's no way any 12 year old on earth doesn't understand what that substance is. His mates will have discovered it and joked about it long ago, even if he hasn't yet.

Actually you're wrong. Depending on where you live A&E isn't just for emergencies anymore. Our local A&E Will triage urgent but not quite emergency cases to an on site all night GP service. You turn up at A&E, they quickly assess you and send you across the hall to a brand new urgent care building staffed with GPs and nurses. We were very grateful for the service when my daughter had appendicitis symptoms on a Sunday evening. It wasn't quite deemed serious enough for A&E but she did need a medical professional to examine her straight away. This was the proper use of the service based on advice from 111 and is exactly what it's designed to do.

He has type 2 diabetes which goes hand in hand with long standing and serious vascular problems, along with heart failure. He’s had both legs amputated because of these problems. Standing instruction that if there are any concerns out of hours the first port of call is A&E, where they can get to him and see what’s needed rather than risking death waiting for GP or 111. You really don’t know who you’re dealing with on these threads and a snotty and supercilious attitude sometimes backfires badly. I’m assuming an apology will be along any time now - but probably not. Maybe change your username because your advice isn’t so priceless in this instance is it ?

His Dad is,dead which you would know if you had even bothered to read the first post of the Op ,he was also a tyoe1 Diabetic.

Several posters missing this. OP hasn’t said whether the death is T1D related but if it is, then her health anxiety for her son is entirely understandable.

Do we need to state the obvious? His dad passed away as it states in the post if you bothered to read it.

Type 1 diabetes requires injections of insulin, type 2 is sometimes managed by diet and exercise.

Yep. The difference is that type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas stops producing insulin. It’s not ‘treated’ as some posters have said. It’s managed, and the only way to manage it is to inject insulin according to what you eat, and closely monitor blood sugar. The main misconception is that type 1 is caused by bad diet. It isn’t. So altering your diet makes no difference whatsoever, it’s all about insulin to carb, sugar and protein intake. Type 2 can be caused by poor diet, being overweight and lack of exercise, but can often appear as a comorbidity with other conditions which make you more prone to developing it. Type 2 can be managed in many cases with diet and exercise, but as you get older, you tend to have to add in various medications to control it. Basically if you eat more carbs/sugar than you use the body stores them as glucose and because type 2 means you can’t control your blood sugar, it rises accordingly.

Yes, it looks like they do, sadly. Know fuck all about Type 1? Just write some random crap 🙄 Fuckwits! And yes, I’m angry.

If you don’t have Type 1 nor have a child/very close relative with Type 1, then stop googling crap, stop muddling it with Type 2 and just stop.

That’s to Alondra and the other people writing rubbish about a condition they don’t have and know zero about.

Im type 2 and managed with Insulin as is my sister.
It actually took a few months before the doctors decided whether i was type 2 or 1.because i wasnt producing antibodies but it wasnt straightforward to diagnose.