21 Comments
If you were misdiagnosed with another condition before being diagnosed with T1D, were you experiencing diabetes-related ketoacidosis (DKA) when you were eventually diagnosed with T1D?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2023 T1D Exchange. All Rights Reserved.
I was admitted to the hospital with hypertakacardia.My heart rate was 190. Doctors told me they had to treat the hypertakacardia so when routine bloodwork came back 3 days later.( I was in ICU) my blood glucose was over 700. They removed my glucose IV from my arm and started looking at symptoms. I was diagnosed Type 1 11/22/1988.
I’m not sure what the Gatooma Government Hospital (Zimbabwe) diagnosed me of back after my 1965 motor car accident, but they missed diabetes!
I was misdiagnosed with Type2 diabetes and asked to go on insulin four years later because the pills I was given could not keep my blood glucose in control.
I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, and treated as if I did drugs or was an alcoholic. I had a couple visits to the ER with extreme stomach pain, before finally being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 42
Sorry, but there is no selection for “N/A”.
My son wasn’t exactly “misdiagnosed” but the doctor I took him to see did not think to test his blood sugars right away. He was stumped by the symptoms I reported and then suggested that we could run some labs. The results were reported to us three days later when the results had already come back the next day. He had already been in DKA which explained his symptoms
Frustrating! 🙁
I was misdiagnosed as type2 when my fasting BS was only 130 and then 139. Quickly needed insulin a few months post diagnosis. I’ve posted before that as a nurse I was not comfortable with first diagnosis. I was always on the thin side and had no other symptoms like high BP or cholesterol. Took awhile but then was properly diagnosed with LADA.
When I was misdiagnosed with T2, my A1C was over 14, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I had DKA. I didn’t have any DKA symptoms though. I got my A1C down around 8 by basically starving before I got an endo appointment. Tests showed T1D. She did say it would be interesting to know if I was throwing off proteins when I had A1C of 14.
I was misdiagnosed with both viral and bacterial infections for over 6 months prior to my T1D diagnosis.
When my T1D was diagnosed, I definitely had DKA with a lab reported Blood Acetone level of nearly 3% and somehow I not only survived but I never even lost consciousness. All the documentation the Hospital had available at the time said that a blood acetone level of only 2.5% was 100% fatal with survival listed as impossible.
This is where I wish I had the heart emoji to click on. One tough person!
I had all the classic symptoms. They knew as soon as I walked in the door. 1974!
I was not misdiagnosed. But my son’s doc could not fathom that he could develop T1D at age 8months and was convinced it was something else.
I am unsure because I was never diagnosed with DKA but I did lose a lot of weight (~15#) and could barely climb a flight of stairs. I never was admitted to the hospital. I was given a glucose tolerance test then told to wait until I felt like driving home. They put me on metformin. I was 38. Back then adults didn’t get type 1:-/. I was put on insulin around 6 months later. It was more than one doc visit which were 3 months apart. The Doc’s words were that 10% of type 2 diabetics had to go on insulin.
I was 4 years old. The first thing my doctor tested in office was my urine when my mom brought me in sick. He walked back into the room with an quick and accurate dx just based on my ketone level alone. A trip to the hospital and immediate admittance for a week for treatment and stabilization.
Unsure because when it was confirmed through C-Peptide test that I had Type I, I was also suffering from hyperthyroid symptoms, so felt unwell and wasn’t tested for ketones.
After 3 physicians and 5 appointments my son was misdiagnosed with cyclical vomiting syndrome (vomiting from high blood sugar, in hindsight). Took him in for an unrelated test weeks later and they tested his fasting glucose at 289.
When I was admitted to the hospital I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I had lost 20 lbs in about a week, and as an already skinny 14 year old I went down to 72 lbs. I don’t ever remember hearing the word ketoacidosis, but I remember waking up once to find some nurses sniffing my breath and commenting on the symptomatic smell.
My story was unfortnately all too common. I was 30 years old, recently retired ballet dancer. I had gone from my working weight of 110 lbs (I’m 5’6″) to 95 lbs. No D of any type in my family. But since I was 30 years old, I was Dx’d with T2D, told to watch my weight and restrict my food intake (which is why the comment about having been a ballet dancer comes in). This was when the types were still “juvenile” and/or “adult” onset. Still felt awful. A few weeks later I was found by a neighbor in a DKA coma. She called my day job to say I wouldn’t be coming in, mentioning that she couldn’t rouse me. Lucky me, I worked for a large city fire dept with EMS. They dispatched from HQ and I got the correct Dx in the ED.
Hi kristina!
I remember your story from other posts and it still blows my mind that the doctors told you to restrict your food intake given your job and height and weight. I just am lost for words.
I’m so glad your neighbor found you in time and called your work/EMS!!!
Misdiagnosed with T2D at age 42 and was basically accused of being anorexic. I am 5’6” and weighed 110lbs down from 120 usual weight at the time. They asked me if I thought I looked good. I said NO – I look like hell. Help me. Put me on pills, starved myself, walked stairs, but at least went from 10 A1C to 8. I knew I needed insulin, begged to get into Endo, and he is the one I credit for correctly diagnosing and pushing me towards a pump.