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

Well done, you’ve saved his life. I hope you get some sleep and wishing your son all the best.

This thread has made me quite angry, the symptoms the op stated were clearly signs her son was going in to dka.
This is where this type of thread, where posters who are not medically trained spout dangerous information, in this case it was about about as life threatening as it can get but yet posters saying it’s not serious enough to go to A&E!
Op I’m a fellow parent of a type 1, it’s not easy, but the advances in medical treatment have been amazing.
My DD has a pump now, it has been life changing, please feel free to ask any questions as I understand you will be getting overloaded with information

Diabetes consultant here.

I read the first thread and agreed with you straight away that your boy needed to be seen asap - well done for trusting your gut and taking him to A&E. YOU saved his life and in the whirl of today and the next few days, you can remember that you did that. I'm really sorry that the diagnosis has been confirmed but Type 1 diabetes is so manageable now and there will be lots of support available.

I do hope that the people who were commenting that this isn't a medical emergency take the opportunity to learn more about Type 1 diabetes so that perhaps your post might save others in the future.

As others have said, if someone is Tired, going to the Toilet lots, is Thinner and losing weight, Thirsty, they need to be seen by someone that day to assess for Type 1 diabetes.

All the best to him and to you.

Glad to hear hes picking uo. Just been chatting to Dh about this as 56 year old type 1 of 50 years he still gets mad when people dont get it. Libras are great btw and get him to think about a pump. Dh was life changing but he had to think hard about the perminant artachment of a device. 15 years on he wouldnt give it back. If he's planning on uni maybe time to consider a year out get his head round it all, and allow you to know he can cope. Well done op and hopfully things will feel brighter soon

I was diagnosed T1D at the same age (29 now). Spent 10 years on injections because the idea of a pump freaked me out, but I've had a pump for a year now and it's been life changing!
I know how terrifying this is for him and for you, but I can honestly say I live a full and normal life - it will take some adjusting but it won't stop him from doing almost anything.

My DMs are open if there's anything I can help talk through

I’m currently in a hospital bed after tests at the gp today. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 56. Just felt thirsty and weeing lots. I didn’t know much about it but I have been rushed through and am on multiple drips. It’s been good to hear positive stories and that there’s lots of support out there. Think I have a lot to learn in the morning.

Oh OP - it's such a serious condition. He was in danger. You did really well.

Your poor boy! You must feel shocked and he will probably feel sort of bereaved - losing the life he expected. But the pumps make such a huge difference now, and he has so much to look forward to in life.

Gosh OP. Just read this. I'm so pleased you trusted your instincts and took the advice to go. I wish your lovely son all the best and you too obvs 💕

I’m so glad you got to A&E in time.
i remember when my daughter was diagnosed, we were sent to A&E by the GP, the receptionist just told us to wait our turn and we sat there for 20 minutes and my daughter was so very poorly!
My best friend who has two type 1 children rang through to the ward concerned because my daughter had ketones of 8.6!!
we then got called in rather quickly (the receptionist obviously never told them we’d been referred as urgent!)
we spent 24 hours in intensive care and I couldn’t stay… but they did put me up a bed in a disused office or something … we spent a week in hospital learning everything and it was so overwhelming!

A few things I can advise -

when you go home they only give you enough of everything for a few days and they put the prescription into your GP surgery. Mine was very unhelpful and I ran out of everything and the GP surgery had the attitude that hospital should’ve sent me home with more, rather than them having to do the prescription ASAP…
So it might be helpful if you ask the diabetes team to send the requests across asap so that it’s all ready and waiting for you before you leave hospital, also put in the repeat straight away so you have enough insulin and needles…. It’s better to have surplus than to run out!

Another tip I didn’t know until told on rather helpful Facebook groups is that if you do ever run low you can call 111 and tell them what you’ve run out of and as long as it’s on your repeat and deemed necessary they will put in an urgent prescription to the closest pharmacy so you can collect asap… closest 24 hour pharmacy if out of hours!

Also while in hospital, ask if you can get a parking pass… some hospitals let you get as weekly pass which saves you a fortune.

Definitely try to get him to speak to someone.. it’s a tough diagnosis, my daughter coped for about 2 years then it hit her hard !!

Glad he's being seen, what a shock you've all had 💐

Even then...

Well done on following your gut instinct. I'm sorry he's been diagnosed with diabetes.

While I'm not saying it's the case for your son, this is a good moment to flag that covid infection is linked to new diabetes diagnoses (this was identified very early in the pandemic), so we really should be trying harder to prevent our children repeatedly getting reinfected in schools every year. This means cleaning the air in schools. Check out Clean Air for Kids for resources to advocate for action on cleaner air.

Full article: New onset of type 1 and type 2 diabetes post-COVID-19 infection: a systematic review

Good that OP didn’t take your advice. Saying it’s not a medical emergency was clearly wrong, and no, we might not all have been aware how serious this was, but don’t make statements like that when you have no idea if its a medical emergency or not. As it clearly was. That kind of advice is dangerous.

If i rang my GPs with my child having those symptoms and they couldnt deal with them they would immediately suggest the closest urgent care - this was what they did over my daughters eye injury (not serious- more ridiculous)
If i was unsure or couldnt get through I would ring 111 for advice.

GP practices can dipstick wee and also do finger prick blood sugar, can also assess for dehydration (which would likely be present) - I diagnosed acute onset DM in practice and referred directly to the medical teams for management (so no sitting around in A&E)

Sadly many have been brainwashed into thinking that we are clogging up the ‘precious’ (insert Gollum’s voice here) NHS with ‘trivial” needs. 🙄

It makes me so annoyed that people have become too scared to use a&e for medical emergencies because of the political narrative that people are time wasting etc. The waits are long because of a chronic underinvestment in beds (ie they can’t get sick people out of A&E). The OP had a clear medical emergency and people were still saying don’t go. I actually find it really worrying that the next one of these threads could go the wrong way.

I was diagnosed with diabetic ketosis with a dip srtick in the GP and told to go straight to A&E, but only was there less than 10 min before taken to resus for a day on a drip , then an a&e bed , and then bed on ward for another 5 days.

I have 2 nephews , different sides of the family who are type 1. I diagnosed at 4 years old and one on his 18th birthday. Both use the freestyle libra. One has an insulin pump and one refuses to use it. The one who has the insulin pump says it's changed his life. Both are fit and healthy in their 20s and 30s. I think the hardest thing they both faced was not being 'normal' anymore.

Just wanted to say you sound like a lovely mum. Wishing you and your son all the best x

Sending most un-mumsnetty love.

This was me three years ago. I posted exactly the same thing on Boxing Day 2023, and these ladies saved my son's life.

It will feel so far away, but he will adapt so quickly. They become experts in their own bodies, how they react to certain foods, optimal gaps between dosing and eating. My DS's T1D has stopped him doing nothinf.

Does your son have exams coming up? We were in the midst of exam years and there was some to-ing and fro-ing between Support for Learning and outselves whilst we negotiated extra time, the ability to check his glucose levels in the exam etc.

If I can help at all, please DM. I've been exactly where you are and remember it like it was yesterday.

It feels overwhelming but these boys are stronger than we realise. He's going to recover, adapt and learn, and live a very full life.

They never will, they've been merrily commenting away on other threads since. They've also been called out on another thread for giving out ridiculous medical advice, but chose to double down on it again

Just heard in the news last week about a new drug that's just been made available on the NHS which can be used in these circumstances. It can be started at the point of diagnosis and delays the need for insulin for a couple of years. Ultimately your son would still need insulin eventually, but this would buy him some time to get his head around it.

Just jumping on again to say I see someone has mentioned school - definitely get in touch them regarding his A levels, he could have been climbing high for weeks and the high glucose can cause clouded thinking, reasoning and focus - none of them great for exams. If he is on a uni path, they can also guide you on that as his application changes a bit, including accomodation to some extent. My son has good days and bad a year on, but getting his friends on board quickly helped us both, and for once I was a social media fan as he gathered accounts of people living huge lives with T1D. There is masses of guidance online for you both. My son ended up in adult care too, despite only turning 16 the week before and they were exceptional in terms of his T1D care. I refused to go home at night - not least because there was a prisoner handcuffed to two prison officers in the next bed, but that's a whole other story...

Thanks everyone for this thread. I read it and thought ‘well GP obviously’ (glad i didn’t comment and read the thread first). I’ve learned something new which might save someone’s life one day