Onsets

Another aspect of the Mayo Clinic’s website statement "The A1C test is a common blood test used to diagnose type 1 and type 2 diabetes..." bothers me. Specifically, I do not know that the part "common blood test used to diagnose type 1" is true.
Type two is in many ways a different disease. It’s onset is gradual and the patient can live for years without knowing they have it.
The A1C test measures sugar coating on cells in the blood. This coating forms over two to three months until the coated cells die by attrition. The A1C test can diagnose Type 2.
The onset of Type 1 is not a matter than the pancreas reduces insulin production or the body has increased difficulty metabolizing or using the insulin. In Type 1, the pancreas just stops. There is no gradual development of the condition that would show up in a test that calculated sugar in the blood over time. Doctors diagnose Type I "Diabetes Mellitus" by the symptoms in front of them. A test of the here-and-now blood sugar levels will confirm the symptoms of extreme thirst, constant urination, tiredness, apathy, sweet-smelling breath and a quick question to the patient or hir parents about weight loss.
It seems to me that claiming an A1C test as a useful diagnostic tool for Type 1 is more a matter of running profitable tests.
I could be wrong; this wouldn’t be the first time in life. I am basing the commentary on near-40 years of diabetes experience rather than academic studies telling what tests can be run for information and profit to the industry. But I don’t think I am wrong.
My onset was sudden. I do have memories of the day, true memories, not memories of retellings. I was wasted and drained and had lain down on a picnic table in the back yard and had no interest in being called for dinner. There’s no true or retold memory of a lead in to illness.
The other true diabetes-onset memories are odd snippets. I do not remember the first shot of insulin or blood tests in the hospital.
I do remember my older siblings not being able to visit, but they had been dragged along to wave from the end of the hall of the children’s ward. I remember that because one of my brothers always terrified me and I felt safer knowing he could not get near.
I remember being given tomato juice for the first time and gagging on it in distaste.
I remember playing "Old Maid" with my grandmother. She was sore winner about it, way too triumphant for having won against a four-year-old who had just learned the game. I remember suspecting she cheated. I observations of her character later in life dissuaded me from thinking that even if she didn’t cheat, she would.