Whenever you see a medical professional for a medical check-up, you can rest assured that certain tests will be carried out for diagnostic and other purposes – this is part of the process.
“Doctor, this calf muscle has been hurting for the past two weeks.” A medical professional will examine the area, take your blood pressure, listen to your breathing, check your heart rate, and perform other tests. Why so many tests if the original pain was in your leg? For starters, it could be a sign of heart problems, stroke, nutritional deficiencies, or even a muscle tear or sprain. An examination is very important.
It's no secret that one of my biggest advocacy efforts is diabetes underdiagnosis. I've written, spoken, and advocated for diabetes. I've even published scientific articles on diabetes. I'm currently working on a new diabetes initiative. We're looking at adding a step to pediatric visits to check blood glucose levels. Why isn't this being done today?
Hold on, you can't test the blood sugar of every young person, every kid who comes to the doctor… hmmm… yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. We know that some people don't have diabetes on Monday but will have it on Tuesday, right? It usually takes time for the pancreas to weaken the production of insulin. Autoantibodies start attacking important cells and eventually the pancreas stops working. But it can take months or even years for the insulin production to stop. So maybe it's not such a bad idea to check your blood sugar during a medical checkup. We know that checking your blood sugar with a blood sugar meter doesn't diagnose diabetes, but the same doctor can listen to your heart and lungs and hear something strange and if your blood sugar is high, he or she will know that further testing is needed. Why don't we have this? It's done frequently for pregnant women.
Can't the ADA add this to the standard of care that GPs undertake when examining children? Look, I'm not being greedy. Only when a child comes in vomiting do I run tests first to rule out DKA. Start there. Almost every child I've seen or heard of who has died with a diagnosis of T1D went to the doctor and was told it was the flu. Go home, rest, drink lots of fluids. If the fluid is water, it will buy you a little time, but if you're drinking apple, orange or other juices, your blood sugar is already rising to dangerous levels and you're just speeding up the process of the patient's eventual death.
But they didn't know.
But with a simple drop of blood and a diabetes testing kit, it may be possible.
It makes no sense to me that in 2024, kids will be dying from undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. The world is smarter than this. Let's make this… happen. Let's make checking blood sugar part of the process. It will save lives.
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