January 12, 2003
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Phoenix, Arizona USA:
I started showing symptoms of diabetes when I was nine years old. When they had me pee in a cup, they said I was spilling protein and sugar in my urine, but they did not do anything except test it every six months. However, when I was 15, I was officially diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and was almost dead. My mom wonders if the doctors’ lack of trying to see what was causing the problem made it so bad.They just tested my urine for years, and it always showed up. Today, I am 17 years old, I have acid reflex and I am showing that I will most likely get celiac disease in the near future. Could all this have been prevented or caught when I was younger?
Answer:
It’s hard to know how to answer your questions. Sometimes people have intermittent problems that are difficult to diagnose for months or years. Then when things are more specific or there are more symptoms or more abnormal lab tests, we can make a definite diagnosis. Now we also have other specific antibody tests to help us that were not so available several years ago. It would be good for you to have a consultation with your diabetes team and ask these questions since they will know exact information and be able to answer this for you instead of just in general terms.
SB
