September 19, 2000
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Madison, Wisconsin, USA:
I know a girl who just turned 18. She’s extremely underweight, she constantly has a water bottle in her hand, and she urinates so often it is unbelievable. She eats a lot, and always seems to be hungry, but never puts on any weight. She is also lazy a lot. One day, she said she didn’t know why she was so thirsty. I said she had a lot of symptoms of diabetes. She looked scared and said that her sister has diabetes which is another symptom. She won’t go to the doctor or anything and she doesn’t live with or talk to her mom. Does she have diabetes? If she does, how important is it for her to get some medical assistance?
Answer:
At 18, the person would be a legal adult in my state: is it true also in yours? You can’t exactly “report her” to anyone. You can strongly urge her to get a definitive blood glucose test at the health department or student health center. It is very important!
To ignore these symptoms is to court disaster. I suspect if it runs in her family, she knows she may have it and is afraid. Thus, she avoids a diagnosis. Be a real friend and go with her to be tested.
CMB
