Misdiagnosis as an Adult with Type 1 Diabetes

You hear a lot about kids going un-diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and the results are catastrophic. Many end up in the children's hospital and sometimes it's not caught in time.  As an adult mis-diagnosis is an all too familiar occurrence.

Many of the warning signs may be things that you've "dealt" with all your life? Wetting the bed, peeing all the time, short tempter, mood swings, etc. All things that normal people go through and not necessarily red flags for diabetes.

I visited my Dr after having issues with anxiety and stress. I was having panic attacks and I explained the helpless feeling I would have when I was stressed or the anger I would display and then the remorse I'd have after.  There was no reason for me to act like this and I wanted help.  My Dr prescribed prozac as my first course of treatment and explained that it may work, but if it doesn't there are a variety more we can try.

Out of the gate it seemed to work...I was fake happy. After a couple weeks the anxiety and stress came back and my Dr changed meds on me to see if it would help.  Soon enough I quit taking the happy pills as I knew it was not the problem.

I continued on with these feelings and started doing Cross Fit as a form of tension release.  It was amazing how quickly I started shedding weight and trimming down.  I could gain and lose weight quicker than anyone I knew.

One day though, after applying for life insurance I got a phone call that my A1C was at 13% and I needed to go to the Dr right away.  I was sure it had to be the gatorade I drink the day before.

Initially I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes considering my age and what little my current doctors knew about diabetes.  They gave me metformin and lantus as well as a beta function test.  I called a couple days later for the results of my beta cell test to be told the function was a 2 and at the bottom of the scale.  The nurse actually told me on the phone that I have type 2 because people my age don't get type 1.  We had an argument that ended with the phone being disconnected.

By this time I had done enough research that I was able to guess that I had type 1 diabetes.  I made contact with Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle, Washington where I took the tests and confirmed that I did have Type 1. Fortunately for me, now I have a great Dr that I see and I am able to share my experience with others.  There are a great number of people out there living in hell and don't even know that their blood sugars are high.

Frequent urination, stress, fatigue, thirsty all the time, these are all signs that I can trace back many years.  I am lucky the way I was diagnosed, some people aren't always that lucky.  Please help spread awareness and keep people close to you informed.