There is one thing that every PWD, regardless of the type of diabetes that they have, where they come from in the world, or anything else for that matter, has in common. Their diagnosis…….
Most of us probably remember the day we were diagnosed – I certainly do – but if not the exact date, I’m sure we remember how we physically felt and know that we had at least one, if not all, of “the 4 Ts”.
Sunday 14thJuly 2019 sees the launch of National Diabetes Week in Australia, and Diabetes Australia is building on their past years’ campaign to raise awareness of the signs of undiagnosed diabetes and reduce the number of people that are diagnosed with either type1 or type2 diabetes too late. The earlier the diagnosis the better the outcomes.
The 4 Ts are not always easy to spot at the start, it depends on how fast the onset is. Even with T1D, my diagnosis was fairly slow, so it was people that didn’t see me that often who first noticed the weight loss, not those that I lived with, and because I was not trying to lose weight I just ignored them (and because I ignore most of the population of this planet).
The onset of T2D can be much slower and subtle, and in fact people can live with the condition for an average of 7 years before they are diagnosed. You may wonder how you can be that unwell for that long without realising or doing anything about it, but I can associate with how that could happen.
Looking back on my diagnosis I’m pretty sure that I had an onset that took at least 4-5 months. That’s based on when that first person asked me if I’d lost some weight to the day I finally took myself off to the doctors and, well, the rest is poorly documented history….
In that time, I don’t remember feeling that unwell. Tired yes and at diagnosis I was exhausted. However, it wasn’t until I started on insulin that and felt better that I realised exactly how crap I’d been feeling. The slow daily progression must have just felt like my new norm and my brain took that as the baseline of how I felt. With those changes being so subtle (ironic as subtle really isn’t me, is it?) I didn’t really register that I was feeling less and less well. So, I will never judge anyone for “not acting fast enough and looking after themselves” so please don’t do that either.
People noticed the signs of my undiagnosed diabetes.
They flagged them to me without knowing what they were.
When I realised what they were, I didn’t act as I didn’t know how serious this was.
As a result, I got a hell of a lot more unwell than I needed to.
It could have been avoided if I’d know the facts.
So please help raise awareness outside of our own diabetes community and stop others being diagnosed later than they could be.
https://www.itsabouttime.org.au
Live Long and Bolus
Grumps
Disclaimer:
Diabetes Australia has not funded my trip to Australia or paid me in any way. They have just been kind enough to let me work with them and support this campaign.
The Grumpy Pumper 
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