Strange units of measurement (used in Canada a century ago)

[Zhnyaka]

Has anyone come across the measurement of bg in percentages or fractions? How does this convert into millimoles per liter?
I came across this in a book about the history of insulin and these units are not similar to either mmol/l or mg/dl.
if it is still approximately similar to mmol/l (assuming it's about 50mmol/l and a coma),

then, for example, a suspiciously wide range is indicated here as the norm

Did the author forget to convert the shares into percentages? What are the percentages from here anyway?

 

[Antje77]

I think there's a typo with the period in the marked part in the second pic, the normal range should read as .85 to .150 per cent.
Multiply those numbers with 100 and you get to a normal range in mg/dl.

Same conversion with the upper pic, multiply with 100 and the poor dog started at 500 mg/dl, a level seen in uncontrolled T1's and DKA, dropping to 300 mg/dl and dying at 370 mg/dl. Not a level you usually die on, but it is if the DKA isn't treated as well as BG.

So I think the units used are either dg/dl (decigram) or cg/l (centigram).

Thank you collie 406 for your unasked for help in keeping me alive so much later.

 

[Zhnyaka]

I think there's a typo with the period in the marked part in the second pic, the normal range should read as .85 to .150 per cent.
Multiply those numbers with 100 and you get to a normal range in mg/dl.

Same conversion with the upper pic, multiply with 100 and the poor dog started at 500 mg/dl, a level seen in uncontrolled T1's and DKA, dropping to 300 mg/dl and dying at 370 mg/dl. Not a level you usually die on, but it is if the DKA isn't treated as well as BG.

So I think the units used are either dg/dl (decigram) or cg/l (centigram).

Thank you collie 406 for your unasked for help in keeping me alive so much later.

Hmm... it makes sense, although it confuses me that at 500 mg/dl, which corresponds to 28mmol/l, the dog fell into a coma. It is unpleasant for me if my bg achieves such values, but I can even work quite well. I probably would have died from such bg if it had lasted at least a month, but the specified period seems too short for death. Although I'm not sure that dogs and humans have the same bg norm.
Thank you, you helped me a lot!

 

[Zhnyaka]

it also confuses me that mg/dl is the weight divided by volume, but if we get % as a result, then we divide the values that are measured in the same units

 

[Antje77]

although it confuses me that at 500 mg/dl, which corresponds to 28mmol/l, the dog fell into a coma.

500 mg/dl corresponds to around 29 mmol/l, it was hyper, not hypo!

 

[Zhnyaka]

500 mg/dl corresponds to around 29 mmol/l, it was hyper, not hypo!

I understood But I was conscious at 35

 

[Antje77]

I understood But I was conscious at 35

At 35 mmol/l or at 35 mg/dl?
At both levels it's pretty usual to still be conscious, although it's in the danger zone at both ends of the scale.

Mg/dl (hypo) some will lose consciousness at this level, or get convulsions, others will still be able to self treat and more or less function.
Mmol/l (hyper), most people will be conscious if they are at this level for not too long a time. It's ketoacidosis that will cause coma, not high BG, and it takes time to develop DKA.

In the dog's case, they state its BG was very high at .5 (presumably being 500 mg/dl or 28 mmol/l). If it was in DKA, the acidosis would have needed to be treated as well as the high BG, it takes more than just insulin to treat DKA.

In humans, the advice to test for ketones at high levels is to rule out DKA.
No/low ketones - Keep trying to get BG down at home for a bit longer.
High ketones - get yourself to hospital to be safe.

 

[Zhnyaka]

At 35 mmol/l or at 35 mg/dl?

35 mmol/l. I forgot to take a basal (in those years it was a protaphane that had to be pricked twice a day and it had nothing like looping) and went swimming on the lake. When I returned a few hours later, my blood glucose meter showed HI, I injected myself with 10 units of bolus, and tried to behave so that my parents would not suspect anything. It took a few hours and my blood glucose meter was still showing HI. In general, I managed to reduce bg to normal in less than a day, so this cannot be called a prolonged increase in bg, but ketones were definitely in the urine

 

[Zhnyaka]

High ketones - get yourself to hospital to be safe.

this is, of course, true, but let's be honest, how often do people with long experience of diabetes actually do this? We are narcissistic patients who believe that we know better than doctors what we need because often our diabetes experience is longer than the work experience of an endocrinologist

 

[Antje77]

this is, of course, true, but let's be honest, how often do people with long experience of diabetes actually do this? We are narcissistic patients who believe that we know better than doctors what we need because often our diabetes experience is longer than the work experience of an endocrinologist

I've never tested for ketones in my life to be honest. But if I were running high bg and having DKA symptoms, I would be getting myself to hospital as fast as I could.
DKA kills even old salts in diabetes.

Otherwise, I'm all the annoying know-it-all diabetic, but DKA is not about high BG, it's about your blood becoming acidic, and once it starts it can kill very quickly.

 

[Zhnyaka]

I've never tested for ketones in my life to be honest. But if I were running high bg and having DKA symptoms, I would be getting myself to hospital as fast as I could.
DKA kills even old salts in diabetes.

Otherwise, I'm all the annoying know-it-all diabetic, but DKA is not about high BG, it's about your blood becoming acidic, and once it starts it can kill very quickly.

Yes, but I have saline and insulin. And strips for ketone content. Potassium and sodium are not in injections, but I also have it. If I'm not completely sick, I can do this without the help of an outsider. In addition, you notice your ketoacidosis very early, because you know that hyperglycemia can lead to this, so it is usually treated within a few hours