Type 1 Diabetes - the signs

[t1mum]

November is diabetes awareness month and I'm blogging about Type 1 which is an autoimmune disease (nothing to do with weight or diet) that affects around 30,000 children in the UK. Today I'm blogging about the signs, which are too often missed, even by GPs.

On July 10th this year I had no idea I needed to know the signs. On July 11th my son was hooked up to a drip and they are imprinted on my mind for ever. Please take a minute to read my blog so you are aware.

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Permalink to the signs and symptoms is here

Thanks for this t1mum.

If one person reads it and spots the signs earlier then I'll feel I've done some good.

My nephew was diagnosed aged 3, he is 7 now. Good work. Such a difficult disease and so misunderstood.
Hope your son is doing ok.

Thank you mincepies. My DS is doing really well and we have a fantastic diabetic specialist nurse, but the confusion around it, even from medical professionals, makes me

Glad your son is coping well t1mum. I must confess that as a mum of four, I wasn't clear about T1 diabetes symptoms. Petition signed.

What were the first thing that made you think your children had diabetes? My daughter was premature. Is 13kg at age 3yrs 2 months, drinks lots but doesn't complain of being thirsty. She's healthy but tires easily. I had gestational diabetes and my dd was in special care due to her prematurity. Her blood sugar was c low but soon normalised as a baby. Just curious about what Made you worry about your Los x

ktmummy1 - with my DS he was unwell for at least six weeks, probably more, but it mainly seemed like he was really unhappy. He'd transferred to a new school which is quite fast-paced and the first two terms were good but the summer term he was exhausted and started crying easily, and I thought everything was too much. It was very hot this summer so I didn't think anything of him being a bit thirsty when he came home from school.

I noticed he was eating loads, really craving carbohydrate, but had no idea that was a symptom. He wasn't putting on weight, but the weight loss wasn't so dramatic because he was eating so much.

He had a skin infection that wouldn't clear up, and we thought he had hay fever.

Then one day he was really, really thirsty and I realised what it was. But even that day he'd been to a party and performed in a show so you wouldn't have known how ill he was (very).

If you mention the drinking lots to the doctor, they should do a test for you. They can test blood then and there with a glucose monitor. They can also test their wee for sugar and ketones. And they can send blood to the lab to find out how much glucose has been in the blood over the past three months. Ideally they should do all of those tests.

Thank you Oldmum55

I think I might get my daughter tested just because something seems not quite right ,

She has v little stamina
Drinks loads compared to her peers
Is still in pull ups overnight(not sure if this is unusual at 3y2m).
She is quite slim
She doesn't have a great appetite though,if i didn't sit and feed her, she wouldn't bother!

There's something about her though that worries me and I can't put my finger on it. For instance, if she's ill, she seems to get a really bad case eg cold turns to severe cough (hospitalised for bronchiolitis as a baby,) suffers with severe coughs every time she has a cold; chicken on left her skin very pock marked due to the way her skin reacted .

I'm not sure whether to worry or not. I noticed at a party that my dd drank at least 3 times as much as the other children.

*pox not on

The pull ups thing isn't unusual at all, but I would say, if you have any doubt at all, talk to your GP. If you flag the thirsty thing they should test for T1D. Fingers crossed it will just be a case of putting your mind at rest.

Ktmummy - did you get any further with an appointment?

I had her urine dipsticked. All was normal but the sample was a weak one I.e. not first morning. I will discuss with GP next time I take her to GP. Thanks x

The 10th of July is the date when I finally found out what was wrong with my 10 year old little girl. Having been constipated and unwell for 4-5 weeks. We were rushed by ambulance to A&E from the doctors surgery with DKA. The diagnosis was Type 1 Diabetes, the day our lives changed forever. A few months on and she's amazing I will always struggle with the fact that it's "forever', we've learnt a lot and come a long way. It's so so hard to manage and it consumes you. Hats off to anyone who lives with this awful disease.

I mentioned it to Gp . He asked how long she's been drinking lots, I said she's always been that way. He then said I was worrying about nothing and if she's always been that way, we would have noticed something else by now eg sickness.

How is it diagnosed? Urine test or blood test? I have a DC with coeliac and since that raises the chances of another autoimmune disease across the family, I do think I need to be watchful.

My daughter was diagnosed with a simple blood test/finger prick, he BS was 29 and we now know it had been running very high for a considerable time. Her thyroid has also been effected so she's on medication for that too. I would urge anyone with even the slightest worry to get their child tested. I've no idea why our Doctor left it 'til she was unconscious in front of him. I was ignorant plus she didn't show the classic signs.

My DS was dianosed weds eve at OOH and was rushed to hospital he had blood sugar readings that were too high to register and also DKA and was taken to high dependency unit. He's doing really well and we are back home now.

I never knew what the signs were he had been ill for at least an month and I had took him to gp who just arranged general blood tests.

DKA- what signs of illness did you son have please?

Sorry I meant to write lifeandsoul not DKA !

He had been tired and grouchy drinking alot and low appetite. He was very thin but as I never really routinely weighed him I couldn't say if he had lost weight or just took a stretch. He's 14

Last weds eve he was being sick and drank about 4l in 4 hours and was not 'with it'

Thanks for sharing, useful to know the signs