How did you find out you had diabetes?

I was really thirsty, lost 10 pounds, and was going to the bathroom a lot. I was telling my mom how thirsty I was and she took me in for bloodwork. We didn't think much of the weight loss because I had started gymnastics just a few months before, so I was exercising a lot more. The doctors were suprised we caught the diabetes so early. They estimated I'd only had 3-6 months before my diagnosis.

i lost more like 30 pounds.  I really thought I was dieing.  when you lose a lot and are that dehydrated it makes you feel really bad.... still remember it.   went to the pediatrician and was admitted to the hospital that afternoon.

I was really lucky my mom figured it out and took me to the dr. My bloodsugar was only 288 when I was diagnosed. I didn't have to stay in the hospital either. I still remember how thirsty I was. I was drinking about 10 glasses of liquids a day. Some of which were pop(not smart)!

I didn't know what was going on with my body, so i didn't tell my mom how much water i was drinking or how much i was going to the bathroom, she took me to the doctor because i got sick a few times and i wasnt feeling well, they just told me that i had allergies and gave me medicine and sent me home, i started to feel better with the medicine, but now that i think about it, it was all in my mind. Well three weeks later i was getting much much worse, i had lost 15 pounds in a week, and i was a little girl to begin with, and i was so weak that my mom had to carry me into the doctors' office she made them do blood work, they called later that day and said that we had to come in right away, i was scared and didn't know what was going on. My mom and dad came out of the office crying and i had no idea why, but the doctor told them that they needed to drive me to the hospital that was an hour away and fast because there wasn't enough time for an ambulance to come i was a day away from dying. My blood sugar was only 250, so now whenever it is higher than that i get really sick, but i had to stay in the icu for 5 days and the step down unit for 3, i was really scared because i knew nothing about diabetes.

When I had to go in for the dr to explain everything, my mom started not to feel well and had to lay down on the floor. I was the one who had to get that shot and everything and I was fine, but a little overwhelmed.

Wow Lizz, that must have been terrible! I can't even imagine how terrible you you must have felt.

I did feel really terrible, but i was younger so i didn't understand what was really going on.

I was diagnosed a little over a month ago. I hadn't been feeling well for a while, and had blown off everything that I enjoyed doing because I just didn't feel up to doing it. My parents just figured that I was faking to get out of my responsibilities. I ended up going to the military base hospital because my stomach was bothering me something terrible, and I could barely move becuase of it. After waiting for over 3 hours, they finally called me back and I was so relieved until I figured out it was only to take my blood pressure, and they sent me right back to the waiting room for another 2 hours. Finally they decided to make me give a pee sample, and in less than 5 minutes I had doctors surrounding me and rushing me to the back. I had no idea what was going on and the idea of having diabetes had never crossed my mind. I am(was) DEATHLY afraid of needles and when the doctors started trying to take blood I freaked. After taking what seemed like ALL my blood, they tested and came back and told me I had diabetes. I can't remember exactly what my sugars were, but it was somewhere between 480 and 490. I ended up staying in the hospital for a couple days and not 4 hours after being diagnosed they walked in and make me give myself my insulin. I wont lie, I cried for an hour before I finally did, because like I said, DEATHLY afraid of needles. After I was on the insulin for a day or so, my stomach started to feel better and they said we were lucky we came in when we did.

I was at the Dr. because my lower back hurt after getting dropped on it while wrestling around with a friend.  They couldn't find anything but before I left, doc said "let's take a urine sample".  

Next thing I know, he's asking me if I've ever been diagnosed with diabetes and how my BS was 380.  

Doc wasn't too educated about diabetes because he assumed, at the time, I was Type 2 and put me on some pills.  Luckily I made an appt. with an endo and after some blood work, officially diagnosed me at Type 1.  Good times!

But before that, I remember for at least a year I was always thirsty, peeing a lot at night and felt like I was going to die whenever my stomach was empty (turned out to be low blood sugar).  I told another doc this 6 months before being diagnosed and his reply - "Maybe you should eat when you're hungry next time."    Anyone can be a Dr. these days, I swear.

I was diagnosed with diabetes at 15. I had gone to the doctors for a physical so I could get my driving permit. They ran a urine test and told me that I had diabetes. I had all the classic symptoms weight loss, dehydration, constant urination but we never really thought anything of it. What was really odd was that I had this physical in September just before my birthday but had had another physical in May/June in which they didn't catch the diabetes then. Lucky for me I went for another physical!

it was eight years ago when I was eight and I remember going to fill up a glass of water and just staying by the tap because I knew I would finish it before I got back to the couch.  My parents were freaking and they kept taking me to the doctor. who turned out to be an idiot who never thought of diabetes and kept diagnosing me with weird stuff.  they finally took me to the hospital and i was hallucinating at around a sugar of around 850.  I had to stay in the hospital for about a week, they said the next day I would have been in a coma.

Just a few months ago, about a week before starting college, I went to the doctor to make sure I had all my vaccinations and health forms filled out.  I casually mentioned the frequent urination and all, but didn't have many other noticeable symptoms (or, at least, I didn't notice).  He did the usual checkup, shots, and urine sample... and was horrified to find that my blood sugar was 664 (and I'd just been outside playing tennis for two hours in 90 degree heat).  When he told me that my blood sugar was about six times what it was supposed to be, I shrugged and asked if that was a good thing or a bad thing... didn't even know what diabetes was.  Hmm.  I found out pretty quickly.

I was six, and I had been feeling pretty crappy for a while.  My grandmother was diagnosed with Type 1 when she was an adult, and my dad had been there, so he recognized the symptoms, but denied them for a long time because diabetes had killed his mother (in the early 1970s) nine years after she was diagnosed.  He finally stopped denying it when I had to leave the stage at a Christmas Eve pageant because I had to pee.  I went to the doctor the day after Christmas, and my father insisted they do a blood test, and not just a urine test.  The doctor called my mom the next day, and he said my blood sugar was 776, and I needed to see a endocrinologist.  My mother didn't know how bad that was, and she left a voice mail at my dad's work.  We then went out because she needed a mammogram, and my dad had to call the clinic (this was 1994, we didn't have cell phones), an they didn't want to interrupt the proceedure so he could talk to my mother.  He told the receptionist to look for me in the waiting room, and informed her that I was very ill and needed to go to the hospital right away, but my mother didn't know.  They went and got her right away.  The doctor then told me I had diabetes, but he never explain what that was!  All I heard was the "di" part, and I was convinced I was going to die.  I heard the nurse telling my mother I'd need to take medicine for the rest of my life, and I pictured Children's Tylanol (which is gross!).  When the nurse told me I'd need to do three shots a day, I said, "Oh, really?  That's not so bad!"

I'm new here, and I saw this post...it brought back some memories.

I was five years old. I was with my family in France. My father had a job over there. We had been there a while when I started getting extremely thirsty and thin. I was tired a lot. My mother took me, I think...we went to a French hospital nearby where it was not immediately apparent what was happening to me. The doctors told my mother and father to not give me any water. I had an infection of some sort or other. The doctors put me in a children's ward in the local hospital with a girl my age who had TB.

They put the plastic around me, I remember...this was in 1981, I think...I remember I had to put urine in a glass test tube and then drop a pill in it...if it was blue, then hunky dory...if it was a different color, my blood sugar was not where it needed to be...pretty funny, huh? Whoo...there was another pill that took a little bit longer to change...and that one turned different shades of pink to demonstrate ketone presence (or lack thereof). Another thing about the hospital...they gave me coffee for breakfast!

There was this nurse with large combat boots who stomped up and down the hall. I've had type 1 for going on 27 years. The changes in that time have been amazing. When I think back to the pill/test tube method for measuring blood sugar...and then look at what's around today...what a difference a couple of decades make! I took pork insulin in these larger than usual disposable syringes. I remember when I went one time to the doctor (still in France) that the doctor who was trying to show us how to do a blood sugar test (anyone remember the wipe-off method with the two colored strips?) accidentally nailed his thumbnail. I don't think he really understood something...or maybe he was just nervous.

The medical practices in the hospital were not safe...they took up washrags from the rooms, threw them in a bathtub, washed them, and handed them back out indiscriminately. Remember, my room mate had TB. The way they took blood was to take a small razor, make an incision, hold a plate underneath.

Thanks for letting me share...when I think of what people went through who were diagnosed earlier than me, my head spins. None of it was particularly bad as much as odd. I think I just sort of went with the flow. I did get annoyed when I was told I couldn't have a cookie...and I remember my brother used to slip me sugar cubes.

Anyway, that's my story.

I had been very thirsty and going to the bathroom a lot. My mom and grandmother had been noticing this and decided that I should go in for a check up to see what was going on. I was sent straight to the hospital from the doctor's office because they couldn't figure out how I was still walking around and conscious because as high as it was I shouldn't have been. I remember this day clearly also because it was the week of homecoming and I missed all the events and dance that was going on.

I heard the symptoms on the radio while I was riding home on the school bus.  My mother was  a nurse, working with the VNA and had the urine test kits (4/1983).  When I got home, she asked me the usual about "what I'd learned..."  So I told my mom that I was a diabetic.  I had no idea what it meant but I was very certain.  She finally tested me (to shut me up) - then used up the rest of the tests in her kit to prove the first one wrong.  After she was convinced, she showed me some of her medical texts with people boiling syringes - to me, the things looked like something you would see in a National Geographic magazine to hunt elephants - I was (and pretty much still am) terrified of needles...

The next day I went to the doc - got some blood work... and the rest - well - ya'll have a pretty good handle on the rest ;)

Cheers!

A-D