Around ten years ago, when she was feeling tired and run down, Janet Glanville put the symptoms down to stress.
At the time, she was under stress caring for her terminally ill parents, she had also been through a miscarriage and was not surprised to be feeling under the weather, “I just didn’t put two and two together,” she said.
Janet had a blister on her foot that was not healing properly, so eventually she saw her doctor and was sent for blood tests to find out why.
The test results showed that Janet had Type 2 diabetes.
“The diagnosis was completely out of the blue, I have no family history of diabetes and I was only forty-two,” said Janet.
Diabetes affects 1.7 million Australians, including an estimated 500,000 cases of undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes.1
Complications of untreated diabetes include eye problems, foot ulcers, bladder problems and kidney failure.
Early symptoms such as Janet’s can be non-specific and the only way to diagnose diabetes is via pathology testing.
Janet is now being regularly monitored through blood and urine tests. These check blood sugar levels, kidney function and can also pick up how the disease may be progressing.
“I am ever so grateful I had that blood test,” said Janet.
Although she has lived with the condition for ten years, Janet does not currently require insulin injections and is able to manage her diabetes through modifications to diet and lifestyle, “I eat healthily and go for more walks now.”
Janet says she is thankful for pathology testing, for diagnosing her condition at an early stage and allowing her to stay informed about her health.
“I have regular pathology tests to monitor my diabetes and check for complications. Sometimes your levels go up and down so you need pathology to keep an eye on that and make adjustments if needed. Just knowing I have these tools available to help offset complications gives me security.”
Watch our video of Diabetes Australia CEO, Greg Johnson, visiting a pathology lab to find out more about the testing used to monitor the health of people with diabetes.