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Annoyed

Adrian1981

Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Just wanted to share my frustration with you.

On Friday I started to get sudden onsets of abdominal pain. There were no other symptoms. The pain appeared in waves of around 8 hrs.
On Monday night the pain got so intense, I had the urge to be sick and was short of breath.
I took myself to the walk in medical centre where they did a few checks. They detected keytones in my urine and as a precaution took me to hospital.

I spent the night in hospital and after my blood was stable and the keytones had gone they sent me home but had been made to fast for my stay of 20hrs. There was no investigation to the cause of the stomach pains.

On Wednesday night the stomach pain and retching returned and before I knew it I was back in hospital.

I have all had sorts of blood test and an ultrasound on my stomach and they cannot find the reason for the pain.

They are now sending me home and told me the whole thing is down to my blood sugar levels and to go home and sort it out.
My immediate concern was that when I came into A&E for the second time my bm was 9.0 and there were 0.2 keytones in my blood. My thought was that surly it's not my glucose causing the problem.

Whilst I have been in hospital for the second time my bm has remained stable between 9 and 12 and no keytones but they have had me fasting for 36 hrs.
They wouldn't let me correct my bm level with insulin and also they told me to not do my Lantus.
I am frustrated that they are blaming my Diabeties when it was stable when I came and the problem still re occurred. It was only when I went home and started eating again it returned. I have had DiAbeties for 30 years and have had up and down readings but never any associated pains.

What are everyone else's thoughts?
Adrian





I can't offer guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
I had no Idea what Lantus was (YouTube) is my font of knowledge.. lol.
Did they explain why?
Sorry cant help much.
 
I am almost 100% sure it will be Gastroparesis. I had the exact same symptoms as you in 2009, incredible stomach pain to the point of passing out (morphine didn't touch it), massively bloated (was asked by the first doctor when I was due) and throwing up about 20 times a day. An there was absolutely no signs of anything wrong in my bloodworks etc, I got told I was addicted to morphine and making it up. After a year of back an forth to a&e and altogether 6 weeks inpatient in hospital, I diagnosed myself, if this is the same as you you will have to inform them that you suspect it is gastroparesis.

Does this sound similar? If so, ask for a Barium X ray. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the comments. They have not mentioned why they blame the diabeties I think it's more because they can't find anything else.

My thoughts were Gastroparesis or cholecystitis. I'm sorry it went on for you for so long.

They are not to keen on me giving my opinion. I just hope that once I go home it doesn't start again.

Adrian


I can't offer guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
Sorry forgot to answer your questions yes it does sound sort of similar only have bad no sickness at either end or no temperature.
I feel fine when the pains are not present.


Adrian


I can't offer guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
Sorry I ended up going on about myself there, ha. Yeh I definitely think if you go to a and e again, that you should ask them for the barium xray. Did you have bloating as well as sickness?
 
Don't worry I was happy to read your experience and advice.

I am currently still here as an inpatient. Being bounced between amu ( medical assessments) and sau (surgical assessment unit ).

No I don't have any bloating only the abdominal pain and when it gets bad the urge to be sick and short of breath.

All they have done is blood and urine tests and the ultrasound.

Adrian


I can't offer guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
Oh no , not fun. Attempt to track down the gastro- specialist or surgical specialist? They never listened to me either :/. Is the pain upper or lower abdominal? Sorry if I'm being nosey.
 
Sounds like they couldn't find the problem but found something convenient to blame; the diabetes. Diabetes or high blood sugar doesn't normally cause the sort of problem you experienced. I hope if it returns they are able to track it down.
 
The symptoms of DKA are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and heavy breathing amongst others, it might just be they are right that this was the cause of your troubles so diabetes is to blame and nothing else.

Not been in hospital for DKA but I suspect they were already giving you an insulin infusion to counteract your high bg and this is why they told you to leave your insulin pens alone.
 
Sounds as if you are in real pain - sorry to hear this. For over 4 weeks I have had real bad abdominal pain and currently waiting for blood tests. I thought gastroparesis. Is yours lower abdomen and does it go through to your back?
Mine followed a very bad cold and lurgy and coldsore that was infected so I was put on ABs so I've put it down to those playing havoc with my stomach but that's over 3 weeks ago now.
Let's hope they get to the bottom of it and make a sound diagnosis and just not fob you off my saying down to diabetes control. Sorry can't shed any more light on it but Mooshk has offered one line of thinking about what it may be. All the best.
 
I agree with noblehead that they were treating you for DKA based on abdominal pains and moderate ketones. This would explain the no food and no insulin, provided they had you on an insulin drip.

However your BG and ketones both sound low for DKA. They should have done blood electrolyte tests to confirm DKA. See if you can get those tests - probably via your GP.

If they told you to stop all insulin without providing an IV insulin infusion they were dangerously wrong, but I doubt that. There was an IV infusion right?

[edit - I see you also had vomiting, nausea and shortness of breath. Classic DKA.]

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had DKA two weeks ago and it appeared to resolve, with ketones dropping to near normal. At which point I ate, and the whole cycle promptly kicked off again. So I think they correctly diagnosed DKA. You should check all your insulins to make sure they are not inactivated, check your fridge temperature, replace your current cartridges from a fresh box, check the expiry dates on your supplies, check your delivery equipment (pens etc) and technique.

What was your BG and ketones on the first trip to hospital? What had your own BG monitoring shown you prior to going to the walk in clinic? Did you have persistent highs that wouldn't respond properly to insulin?

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Hi Adrian

Have you ever considered the possibility of undiagnosed Crohns disease? The abdo pain and sickness can be very debilitating during a flare up and as you have autoimmune diabetes there is a risk that you may have other undiagnosed autoimmune conditions such as Crohns disease.
Have you lost weight recently for no reason and have your toilet habits changed,ie,lots of trips to the toilet,diarrhea,mucus or maroon coloured blood in your poo etc in conjunction with the pain and vomiting?
 
During hospital treatment of T1 diabetics it is protocol to stop insulin self treatment and use an IV insulin infusion. They also discourage self testing. It is extremely infuriating for a diabetic used to managing their own condition for years or decades. However in order to manage an acute and life threatening situation you can perhaps understand why they insist on controlling all the inputs, all the variables. It is very unpleasant for the patient. I know, I've been there, too many times.

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Yeah your right Spiker it would be frustrating but if the condition is serious it's understandable.

The last two times I was in hospital (nothing too serious as in DKA) I told the ward staff that I would administer my own insulin and test my bg, they were fine with that but they did ask and record all my insulin doses and bg readings for the Dr's/Consultants to view.
 
Can't help with OP but it's not always protocol for hospital to administer the insulin. I was in hospital last year for 3 nights and they were delighted for me to carry on administering my insulin via pump and my duloxitine.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Yeah sorry I am just talking about if you are admitted for an acute insulin related condition. And even then they are persuadable if you appear sensible and cooperative, but are insistent.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi,

Thanks for all the comments again. I have been discharged with no fault found for the stomach pains.

I was , on my first admission treated for the early stages of DKA because of the keytones detected but the symptoms reappeared hence my seconds admission. The thing that confuses me, if it was DKA, how what this causing the second spout of symptoms and at that time of admission my bm level were good and keytones 0.2?

Also through the duration of both admissions I wasn't on insulin drip, was nill by mouth and also not taking my own insulin.

I was only released both times after my bm levels were stable after being fed breakfast and lunch on the day of release using my own insulin and proving that the keytones had disappeared.

I'm still none the wiser and now am back home, continuing with my normal eating and insulin regime and hoping that it doesn't return.
I have booked an appointment with my GP so will see what he says.

Thanks again

Adrian


I can't offer guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
I wonder if you might have developed coeliac disease (more common in Type 1s). It would be worth keeping a note of what you eat. My symptoms would come on after about an hour or so of eating anything with high gluten content.
 
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