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Before you were diagnosed with T1D, how long were you experiencing “T1D-related” symptoms?
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Not sure because it was 51 years ago when I was 9 years old. It probably was 3 months or less I am guessing.
Same here. I was 9, but that was in 1960.
It was 3 months or so – Dec – Feb. But I was 30 years old, so Dx’d with T2D (then called adult onset, 1985). Of course now I know that I wasn;’t a candidate for T2D – but I didn’t know anyone with any type of D (no one to ask) and there was no D of any kind in my family (clue for the Dx’ing MD perhaps?) I was found in a DKA coma by a neighbor. Luckily my “day job” was with a large city Fire/EMS Dept (I was in the process of retiring as a professional ballet dancer so of course I had a “day job”). Thank goodness. When the neighbor called to say I wasn’t coming in, my colleagues knew something was going on and dispatched EMS from HQ. My day job literally saved my life!
My Mom was very familiar with the disease/symptoms, so she realized it quite soon. I was 10 years old at the time of diagnosis.
1977, I was drinking water, non-stop for several days, and was totally exhausted walking up a flight of steps to the bedroom. Went to the doctor was diagnosed immediately. All within one week.
Having said that, I remember feeling low blood sugars, light headedness, for about a year prior to my T1D diagnosis. Went away when I ate. Never thought anything of it.
I was 2 years old, but my mother was a nurse. When she first brought me to the doctor, he laughed at her. So, it took a while to get officially diagnosed.
same story, but I was ten.
Instead of merely laughing at my (nurse) mother, the GP wanted to send her for counselig/meds.
In 1976, I was at college. It was a long weekend of drinking water and peeing constantly. I saw the school nurse on Tuesday who sent me to see a doctor on Wednesday where I got the diagnosis. All in less than a week, like Lawrence S.
I experienced the symptoms 2 weeks in 1976 before I made an appointment with my doctor that led to my Type 1 diagnosis. I was 27 years old. In the span of taht 2 weeks, I had excessive thirst, frequent urination and lost 13 pounds (from 120 to 107). As a child I had watched my Dad deal with his diabetes that was diagnosed in the early 1950’s. He had literature around the house about the warning signs of diabetes and I suspected diabetes when I made my doctor’s appointment.
I was dxed at 60 about 6 months after a bad case of Covid. Started not feeling well about 2-3 months before dx. Lost weight, felt like I was starving to death but didn’t have the excessive thirst or urination.
I was 13 MONTHS old at the time of diagnosis. I don’t remember any symptoms.
I was mis-dx’d by my PCP as T2 8 years prior to a correct dx of T1 by an Endo. I had T1 symptoms for 3-6 months prior to the T2 dx; unfortunately my PCP didn’t test for T1 and assumed due to my age (58) it was T2.
I told my parents, a doctor and a nurse, that I was extremely thirsty all the time. My mom said, “It could be diabetes because your great-great grandparents and aunt had it, but it’s not that.” My dad said he’d give me a blood test when I was working at his clinic. A month later I did get that blood test three hours after lunch my BG was ~450. He started me on oral medication that day. Nine months later I started on insulin.
I was 18 at the time. I’m grateful for the 39 years of life since that day.
I’m in the “got it in college”–grad school in my case–cohort. Had a nasty virus in late-September ’83, was over it by mid-October, but around the start of November started feeling bad. Ignored it for a while but it kept getting worse—peeing and drinking constantly, headache, nausea, losing weight, standard stuff. Went to the doc mid-December and dx’d on the spot. So about 6 weeks maybe?
Funny that a number of us who got it in our 20s had a much more acute onset (here and among others I’ve met), vs the typical LADA presentation, which seems to take much longer and too often ends up with people being misdiagnosed for months or even years.
I don’t remember exactly when the symptoms first started. I had a bad case of mumps in May of my fifth grade year, which in hind sight had to be what precipitated my body’s incorrect immune system attack. But, it wasn’t until October of my seventh grade year that I was diagnosed. I think the fact that I was an extremely physically active child delayed the symptoms onset awhile. But, I also had a major sweet tooth, so that did not help. I remember the summer prior to my diagnosis that I was so thirsty and hungry. But, I continued to lose weight and by the time I was taken to a hospital, I was practically a skeleton. I might add that I remember my Mom taking me to the doctor several times prior to my diagnosis, but I guess my T1D symptoms were not severe enough yet or my doctor just did not pick up on what was happening to my body. I wish he had. That hospital stay was no fun at all. 😳
6/7/06 Cervical Discectomy and Fusion fasting bg 120
7/23/06 Shoulder impingment Surgery fasting bg 230
August fasting bg 320. Dizzy, nausea, couldn’t see properly, not recovering well from shoulder pain.
Diagnosed T2. I was slim eating South Beach diet.
9/23 06 Hosp for Type 1 Diabetes BG over 500.
While some things improved slowly, felt better after first injection. Eye sight went back to normal. Big surprise pain levels from surgeries were quickly improved with corrected BGs!!
I had no symptoms just before turning 31. Who knows, maybe it was caught early!
It was only through my annual physical that this was discovered even though I wasn’t put on insulin for two or more months as the pills for T2D were not working.
Put me on pills because was 54. Didn’t work at all. Still diagnosed as type 2 insulin dependent. Have to be own advocate
I was in nursing school before diagnosis of diabetes. I was 54 when i graduated. New pcp diagnosed me with type 2. Also first Endo. I am 5’7” and weighed 110 lbs. no metabolic syndrome. Only thing i remember is when learning how to use the meter in hospital my BS was 62. Just passed it off to being hungry. I ended up diagnosing myself as lada.
I am guessing that it was 2 to 6 months.
I don’t remember really as I had just turned 5. I remember my diagnosis, unfortunately, but the stuff before is my Mom first took me to a doctor is hazy.
I don’t know how accurate this memory is, but I recall my Mom telling me in later years that the whole family got a summer flu and I was the only one not to recover. I would take that to say, the flu could have happened anywhere from June to September and I was diagnosed late November 1971.
I answered “less than months” but in truth, I don’t remember. From what I’ve been told, my mother noticed I was drinking alot and urinating alot while we were on a family vacation. She told my dad and my siblings that we had to go home so that she could take me to the doctor. I should note, my uncle, Mom’s brother, had been diagnosed in his 20’s, so she was familiar with the symptoms. Lucky for me!
I was 4 and remember asking for water constantly and never quenching my thirst. It didn’t take my parents long to get me to a hospital 67 years ago.
I was diagnosed at age 18 months. My symptoms were thirst and incurable diaper rash.
Diagnosis arose from screening to check I was clear of jaundice.
Impossible to remember, was less than 4yo
At least a couple of weeks before I went to the hospital.