17 year old son, GP or A&E?

[Imamumgetmeoutofhere]

My son is 17, almost 18. For the last 3 days he’s been peeing a lot more than normal and drinking a lot more than normal. This morning I found him asleep on the sofa and he said he had been too tired to go up the stairs to bed, but feels ok in himself today, just wiped out.

I said take him to A&E as these sound like possible diabetes symptoms, husband think it sounds like a UTI and has done an e-consult and urine sample for him at our surgery.

Am I over panicking? Or should I be trusting my judgement and taking him to A&E?

Thanks in advance

I wish people would not be so quick to chime in on medical threads if they don't know what they're talking about. I'm only medical-adjacent and I recognised from the first post that there was a high chance of the OP's son being diagnosed with new onset T1D, which is absolutely a time sensitive medical emergency. The symptoms she described were classic. Some people were not only confidently stating GP but being dismissive of those who disagreed. You don't have to comment on everything!

Hope your son is doing okay now OP

Wow OP, hope your son (and you) are ok. You have also educate me (and by the sounds of it several other) on the symptoms of diabetes

Definitely A&E (friends v young child had same; waiting on GP diagnosis and took to A&E in mean time, type 1 confirmed but was touch and go, they saved her life by going A&E). Defo go to A&E

sorry to hear the news even though I too was immediately thinking DKA. Glad he was seen quickly and they caught it as they did. It will take a long time to adjust to it and there are lots of ups and downs on the journey. Good Luck to you all

Just seen you did, so glad you took him straight in. X

I probably worded that wrong - not unusual for a young adult to have T1 diabetes but quite unusual to be diagnosed at that age, it's normally younger. My other son was diagnosed T1 at age 4 and died earlier this year in his 30's with diabetic ketoacidosis - so not something to be taken lightly hence the advice to go to A&E. I'm heartbroken.

You did compleatly the right thing , deveopling type 1 in teens is very common. And DKA is a medical emergancy. DH is type 1 and things have moved on alot in 50 years, but it will take time to adjust and adapt.If hes still at school/ 6th form he will need support espcially for exams as stess can drop sugars but I'm sure his team will support. Watch his mental health too as type 1 especally in teens can be a heavy mental load. All night drinking and partying takes a little more thought. Its hard but doable as those of us with type 1 in the family will tell u x

So sorry to hear the news. My son was dx’d aged 7 and spent a few days in hospital. He’s living his best life with a pump and sensors- he’s an adult now. You’ll all be feeling the awful shock of it but you’ll soon be managing it xx

Take it steady. There’s a lot of info to absorb but also great help and support available.

I’m so sorry to hear this, sending hugs.

No, it’s not unusual to be diagnosed with Type 1 at 21. It’s very common to be diagnosed in late teens and early 20s, and in your 30s, 40s, etc. Type 1 diabetes is not a childhood disease. It can be diagnosed at any age (even in late old age). That’s why it hasn’t been called Juvenile Diabetes for many, many years - because adults get it too.

You so did the right thing in the end. It just shows how you really have to trust your gut, I would have been tempted to call 111 but they may well have given you poor advice and delayed his treatment. Diabetes is a very manageable condition, I know it comes as a shock especially as he's so young but they have all the best treatments now I'm sure your son will be fine long term. Sending love OP.

This but also their horrible useless posts should be deleted and HQ should ban their miserable ass from here to judgement day.
Shame on you @takingitdown

He could slip into a coma. Diabetes is incredibly serious and this is an urgent matter. So many people are uneducated about the severity of diabetes. People die!

FFS do you not realise your stupid, uninformed comment could kill someone. Stop giving out incorrect information when you obviously have absolutely NO clue what you’re talking about.

Glad he's being treated and sending you best wishes and hopes that he adjusts well to what comes next. Very glad that you took him in when you did.

A friend I used to have was diagnosed at 28. She had no idea until she collapsed at her new bar job and they called an ambulance. She’d lost quite a lot of weight, but other than that hadn’t noticed anything. She was also was unaware of how much she’d lost as she wasn’t weighing herself and attributed it to the increased movement from going from an office job to one where she was on her feet all day! It’s crazy how quick it can come on.

If I remember correctly she was in hospital for ten days as they couldn’t discharge her until she’d been seen by a diabetes specialist (don’t know if that’s the correct term) who was on holiday. So it might be worth bearing that in mind OP and looking at anything he might need to give advance warning of being unable to attend over the next week or two. Glad he is getting help.

My eldest son was 15 when he had these exact symptoms, I got him an appointment with the gp and that day he suddenly became worse, really drowsy and sleepy.

We got to the GP and he collapsed. They took his blood sugar and it was so high that it couldn’t be registered.

They called 999 as the GP believed he was in DKA and (after a 3 hour wait… for an unconscious child 🙄) he was blue lighted to hospital where he was in a diabetic coma for 4 days.

Turns out he has type 1 diabetes.

take him to the GP please.

Best wishes to your son @Imamumgetmeoutofhere , diabetes care has really improved over the years so hopefully he will have it all stabilised pretty quickly .

Big handhold for you and your son and a quick message to say that while this is very scary, T1D is so much easier to manage these days with insulin pumps, monitors and apps. It will take a little while for your son to get to grips with things but the VAST majority of young people diagnosed with T1D - including as an emergency such as this - are able to live totally 'normal', healthy, active lives with just a few small adjustments. Fingers crossed for a short hospital stay and a supportive care team to help you during the first weeks and months 💐

Did you even read her post? No need to be so harsh!

So glad you went, OP. And didn’t listen to the idiots who said GP or other such nonsense.

The poor woman lost her son earlier this year. Maybe show some empathy and cut her some slack eh?

Just chiming in, and initially want to say how sorry I am for your difficult news, which must be taking a lot of processing, and equally how many people do lead full, active and really happy lives, albeit with a bit of planning.

To the way the thread has gone though I would like to offer the following (insider) view. Neither GP nor ED is right or wrong in this situation, it all depends on who can see somebody soonest, and it was clear from the outset that your son needed to be seen as a matter of urgency. Both GP and ED are two sides of the same coin, and both of them are gateways to the hospital itself. ED has more resource in terms of immediate blood tests, imaging, wider range of drugs etc. than GP, but GP often has the benefit of seeing a senior doctor more quickly, and a direct referral into the hospital itself (medical admissions unit for example). GPs are trained to manage medical emergencies and GP - ambulance - MAU has the potential to be speedier in some areas than ED - twelve hour wait - junior assessment - senior review - MAU. In many areas ‘walk ins’ take the lowest priority since they carry no cost in terms of keeping an ambulance off the road waiting to handover, so taking somebody to ED really can mean waiting all day to be seen.

Both GP and ED do an amazing job with limited resource and in this case both would have recognised what was going on and acted appropriately to get your son into the medical bed he needed. Your original post was of course a completely reasonable request for advice, but for wider awareness it is probably helpful to think less in terms of ‘is this a GP or an ED problem’, and more in terms of ‘what is the quickest way to get somebody with an obvious health problem seen by a senior, decision making clinician’.

Interestingly, for all the perception of time wasters and people clogging up the system unnecessarily with minor complaints there is little evidence to back this up. Most people instinctively know when something is wrong, and where and how to seek help and they generally get it right, as you obviously did in this case OP.

Bloody hell….

Yes, I did read it, and I Reacted with Flowers due to what she wrote, which is absolutely tragic.

I know someone who died from undiagnosed Type 1. I always correct wrong information - not to be picky but because it might save someone’s life.