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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?
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I was in the military in Korea when I started having symptoms that I had no idea were related to T1D, so I did not seek medical attention. I returned to the US and did not seek medical attention because I wanted to visit my family as my brother was headed to Vietnam. While at home I suffered DKA and was in a military hospital for a month (not sure why) before returning to my duty station.
I had swine flu in January 1958 and pneumonia. I went Into a coma in April 1958. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong. A doctor from Riley Childrens Hospital was called, he spotted it immediately.
I was diagnosed w/ T1d by an ER doc when I went to get stitches removed following a head injury from a bike accident. My symptoms were keto and obvious diabetes indicators so…my diagnosis was right on, the opposite of the ?
Ketoacidosis is what made the doctor send me to the hospital (I think). I was 8. I believe the Type 1 diagnosis was pretty quick thereafter
I was diagnosed as type 2 and dr wanted me to take glucotrol (1978) I refused (3 brothers with type 1 and I knew it was type 1 but Dr did not agree) so he said take 10 units of NPH and increase it by 2 units every so often if you still have sugar in your urine. Took me a while to get to 20 Units and losing weight before he acknowledged I was type 1.
I have symptoms of Dka
I’m pretty sure I was already in DKA when I was misdiagnosed.
If I didn’t have all of the symptoms of Type 1, I had _nearly_ all. Fruity breath, utter exhaustion, hyper-urination and drinking, losing weight (there are more symptoms but you get the idea), and it still took 3 doctors and a few visits before a doctor recognized what was happening and that is _wasn’t_ all in my head.
I am a T1D as of 2018 yet if being diagnosed as a Type 2 qualifies as being misdiagnosed then that’s what happened to me. I was supposed to go on vacation and my GP called me as he needed to see me since my HgbA1C was extremely high as was my glucose. He thought I was possible Type 2 diabetic and prescribed 500 mg of metformin and told me to go on vacation and would reassess when I get back . I came home and was in ketoacidosis and after 2 days went to the ER where I was officially diagnosed by my now endocrinologist as a T1D and needed to go on insulin asap…the rest is history.
I was so far into DKA when diagnosed that when my blood gasses were checked, the Hospital said according to their reference materials, a Blood Acetone level of 2.5% was considered to be “100% FATAL – Survival impossible!” but when my blood was tested, my Blood Acetone level was nearly 3% (over 2.95%), so the Hospital Lab said based on my Blood Sugar alone, I should have arrived unconscious, by Ambulance, and put on immediate Life Support upon arrival. But even if my Blood Sugar had been normal, my Blood Acetone level alone should have had me getting transported to the MORGUE instead of the Hospital ER.
But I remained fully alert and conscious my whole time in the Hospital, and was awake in the room every time during the first 3 days, when the lab nurses would come in for another blood sample. As high as my Blood Acetone level was, every time they came in for another blood sample, the nurse would tell me “Sorry to have to bother you again, but we’re refinishing furniture in our break room, and I was told to come in to get more of your paint stripper!”
I answered unsure. The only real misdiagnosis was from my parents. They thought I was not eating so my sister checked me at lunch time. They thought I had worms. How gross! They thought all my symptoms had been lies. When I finally felt more and more lethargic, which they thought was an act, they took me to the doctors. After doing a blood test they said to go straight to the hospital and to not eat anything! The guilt my parents felt was kind of sad.