My Type 1 Diagnosis Story

I was 13, in Home Economics class, and I was being cheeky and angry towards my teacher, causing me to get sent out of class (which was unlike me). During the class, I asked to go to the toilet. I asked to go fill up my water bottle. I also asked to go to the medical room because I felt faint when I stood up. The teacher put all of these things down as typical teenager behaviour, me trying to skive class because I was being punished. She wasn't to know that I was being angry, constantly thirsty and needing the toilet, and feeling really tired and faint, because I had diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes.

I told my mum I felt unwell, and she told me that I should go home. Although I did feel slightly under the weather, I felt like I was faking it, and like I shouldn't be going home. While I was waiting in the medical room for my mum to collect me from school, there was a poster in the school by Diabetes UK. It was the 4 Ts campaign (Toilet, Thirsty, Tired, Thinner as the symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes) and at the back of my mind it registered that I had been experiencing these, but I never thought anything of it.

The 4 Ts campaign poster

It was a Friday Morning, I was at home after my mum dropped me off, and she called me to tell me she made a doctors appointment for me. I honestly thought this was a waste of time, because after sitting for a couple of hours, I felt fine. I told my mum this, and she told me that I was going to the doctors, because drinking about 4 litres of water in one morning and losing 2 stone in 3 months wasn't normal, and I agreed to go.

As it was last minute, we got an emergency appointment with the nurse at our GP. Atfer explaining to the nurse everything, she told me that she would take blood from me to test for things on Monday morning, but she didn't think it was anything. My mum prompted her that I had common symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes, and that a blood sugar test takes 10 seconds tops. The nurse looked doubtful that it could be Type 1 Diabetes, but agreed to give me a quick blood sugar test anyway. While she was setting up the test she told us that I would have to come back in on Monday to get blood taken and further tests done, because this test would be normal. My blood sugar was 28 moll/l (usual range is 4-7 moll/l), and the nurse told my mum to take me straight to A&E, because I definitely had Type 1 Diabetes. I could have ended up really ill over the weekend if my mum hadn't pushed the nurse to test me and I had just come in on Monday.

My dad and I, 6 days before I was diagnosed (notice how baggy the dress is)

In the hospital, I was told I wasn't in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) yet, so all I needed to do was learn how to inject myself with insulin, test my blood sugar and generally learn everything about Type 1 Diabetes. I remember a nurse asking me how I felt after my first insulin injection, and I told her I felt like I could go for a run as I was feeling so much better!

About 2 months before I was diagnosed, I was on a long bus journey with my brother. I only had fresh orange with me, and at every service station I had to run in, go to the toilet and get a litre of water. Afterwards, I told my mum about it, and she joked, "I wonder if you have diabetes". It was a complete joke, and she never thought it was true, but its hard to think that even though people know the signs, we don't believe the symptoms.

I remember me and my sister, Iona, going for a run at the park near my house, about a month before I was diagnosed. I had went to the toilet before I left, but I didn't bring any water with me. We had gotten to the park at a jog, and that took us 5 minutes, and I told Iona that I desperately needed to the toilet. She got mad at me because I had just gone, but in the end I had to go in the trees in the middle of the park, with Iona guarding me to make sure no one could see. We both went back after that, because I was too tired and thirsty to continue, and I just put it down to me being unfit. It frustrated me and Iona because all in all, we were out for about 15 minutes, and 5 of them was me trying to find somewhere to go to the toilet.

Iona and I shortly before I was diagnosed (I'm 3 years older than her)

So much happened that could have led me to think Type 1 Diabetes. I even saw a campaign with all the symptoms on it that I had, yet it never crossed my mind as a possibility, even when my mum was talking about it, until the nurse diagnosed me. I thought I was just a teenager feeling tired and going through puberty.

It is scary to think about what could have happened if my mum hadn't known the signs of Type 1 Diabetes. Doing a blood sugar test is so simple, and takes 10 seconds to do, yet the nurse didn't even consider doing one without prompting. My diagnosis isn't dramatic, I wasn't near death yet and I was only in the hospital for 2 days to learn the ropes, but it was the start of a lifelong journey. I didn't realise at the time how much of an impact Type 1 Diabetes would have in my life, but it is funny looking back to before I was diagnosed, and noticing the subtle signs.

It took one finger prick and one afternoon, to change the rest of my life, to discover that I will always be dependent on insulin to survive.

Until next time,

Alyssa x