Awareness of Type 1 Diabetes

Elaine M. Apperson, MD: Sometimes it takes a second or third visit to an urgent care or a PCP [primary care provider] office to recognize signs of type 1 diabetes. Buzzwords are important to have in a PCP’s ear. Fatigue and frequent urination, for example. Sometimes they hear frequent urination and they go right to UTI [urinary tract infection]; or polydipsia, nocturia, UTI. Additionally, unintentional weight loss and abdominal pain. Abdominal pain can occur if you’re having keto acids with fat burning.

I think they will never ever go wrong with doing a urinalysis and a fingerstick blood sugar test. If a patient is spilling glucose and has some ketones on their urinalysis and they get a blood sugar test done, they’re always going to find it. Sometimes I never get to see the blood sugar results, and there is no urinalysis. To me those tests are so easy because they have the ability to do that in every single office.

Transcript Edited for Clarity