blood sugar after a stroke - help needed

[agm1970]

hi

i am looking for some advice with regard to diabetes after suffering a stroke.

my father aged 67 has had type 1 diabetes for over 40 years and has managed his condition excellently. his blood sugar levels have nearly always between between 7-10, hes had a few 'hypos' as his body changes but nothing too serious.

last sunday he suffered a stroke, which has affected his memory and speech and has already showed signs of recovery however his blood sugar levels have continued to rise throughout the week peaking today at 29! he has been on a regulated hospital diet which we have tried to tweak - not his usual diet but nothing to extreme

it seems strange but to date the families knowledge of type 1 diabetes seems superior to date from the doctors and nurses that have treated him.

we are aware that high blood sugar can be a major risk factor with regard to strokes and we certainly want to avoid this.

if anyone has had a previous experience - i would be delighted to hear from you

best wishes

Alan

 

[hanadr]

I suffeed a stroke in 2003 and my Bg in hospital was astronomical. Not at all helped by the "diabetic diet" I was given. I didn't know as much then and ate is in blind confidence that the hospital staff knew what they were doing :shock:
What kind of stroke did he suffer, was it a bleed or ischaemic?
I have worked very hard with exercise to get myself fairly right. I have a little impairment, but not much.
I'm sometimes asked if I had a TIA, because I'm not very disabled., but No it was an ischaemic stroke.
Tight BG control and exercise to help the muscles of my left side have been the best things for me.
Is your father managing his own blood sugar in the hospital? and if not, could he?
because I think that ward staff often haven't a clue.
EG they caused a panic, when my daughter, admitted for pancreatitis, had a bg of 3.5. definitely nothing to worry about under the circumstances.

 

[JANROU]

It may be worth getting the diabetic team at the hospital invoved in his care, it is possible that for a short while he could benefit from a sliding scale drip of glucose solution and insulin.

 

[kegstore]

Alan

Really sorry to hear about your father's stroke. The medical and dietary knowledge of diabetes when in hospital can be sadly lacking until you get fairly high up the food chain, and even then you have to - for example - keep prodding nurses to provide insulin before a meal, not 2 hours after or at the next drug round as is their wont.

Identifying the carb content of hospital food is also a challenge, and one I never succeeded in doing, it's the one place you would expect that sort of information to be readily available. Did anyone actually do anything as a result of the 29 bg reading? It would not surprise me if not, you might get a comment "ooh that's a bit high" but no action at all.

You're absolutely right to be concerned about the elevated risk associated with strokes and high blood sugars. While your father's in hospital I think it may be down to your family to ensure his bg levels stay reasonably flat and normal.

 

[agm1970]

thanks for the advice so far. at the rehab unit they gave him some insulin via IV which brought him back to 16, he then went to A&E and he has for now stabilised at 15.

its our first experience of having to deal with diabetes on his behalf but it does seem that in general the NHS have poor information on this condition and they need prodded. they certainly haven't given us to much confidence.

as an example of poor care because of the timings involved he missed hospital lunch and dinner today and not one nurse of doctor even noticed.