Diabetes And Operations

[sunsal49]

Am going into hospital soon for a hemithyroidectomy. I am Type 2 insulin treated diabetic. Any advice that would help with supporting me through the operation process?

 

[porl69]

Hi @sunsal49 and welcome to the forum. All the time I have been in hospital for operations I have been looked after really well. Always first down to theater, as they can' really enforce the 24 hour nil by mouth, I kick up a fuss lol. And always had a DSN/Diabetic doctor into see me after the op. I do tend to be a little argumentative with the nurses over food due to the fact I carb count and adjust bolus for what I eat. Ward nurses really don't like us doing that lol.
Good luck with your op. I am sure everything will go well for you

 

[Deleted Account]

Last year I had an operation with my type 1 diabetes.
They took lots of blood for various test. I suspect most of these are done for everyone but they wanted to make sure my diabetes management was good so there was an upper limit for Hb1AC.

On the day, my main concern was insulin management whilst I was unconscious. I use a pump and it took a little bit of polite pleading to get them to agree to keep it on and as soon as I came round I was completely in control of my diabetes..
On injections, I suspect things will be easier. The anaesthetist will manage your BG whilst you are in the operation. I recommend having a good chat with him or her before your op to give you a peace of mind.
They use a sliding scale and I have heard of people being kept on this throughout their hospital stay. I prefer to use what I am familiar with but I guess it is up to you how long you want someone else to take control.

It is usual to have to fast prior to an operation. This is easy provided we don't have a hypo. Therefore, I kept my BG a little higher than usual for 24 hours before the op just in case and avoided anything which may drop my BG such as exercise and alcohol.

If you have a diabetes team in the same hospital as the op, it is worth telling them you are in - they may come and visit or make sure the team looking after you know what they are doing with your diabetes.

Be prepared for your BG to rise after the op - your body would have been through quite a bit and you may be moving around less than usual.

I hope your op goes well and you are back to full strength soon.

 

[sunsal49]

Hi @sunsal49 and welcome to the forum. All the time I have been in hospital for operations I have been looked after really well. Always first down to theater, as they can' really enforce the 24 hour nil by mouth, I kick up a fuss lol. And always had a DSN/Diabetic doctor into see me after the op. I do tend to be a little argumentative with the nurses over food due to the fact I carb count and adjust bolus for what I eat. Ward nurses really don't like us doing that lol.
Good luck with your op. I am sure everything will go well for you

Thank you. I found your advice very helpful and appreciate your reply!

Last year I had an operation with my type 1 diabetes.
They took lots of blood for various test. I suspect most of these are done for everyone but they wanted to make sure my diabetes management was good so there was an upper limit for Hb1AC.

On the day, my main concern was insulin management whilst I was unconscious. I use a pump and it took a little bit of polite pleading to get them to agree to keep it on and as soon as I came round I was completely in control of my diabetes..
On injections, I suspect things will be easier. The anaesthetist will manage your BG whilst you are in the operation. I recommend having a good chat with him or her before your op to give you a peace of mind.
They use a sliding scale and I have heard of people being kept on this throughout their hospital stay. I prefer to use what I am familiar with but I guess it is up to you how long you want someone else to take control.

It is usual to have to fast prior to an operation. This is easy provided we don't have a hypo. Therefore, I kept my BG a little higher than usual for 24 hours before the op just in case and avoided anything which may drop my BG such as exercise and alcohol.

If you have a diabetes team in the same hospital as the op, it is worth telling them you are in - they may come and visit or make sure the team looking after you know what they are doing with your diabetes.

Be prepared for your BG to rise after the op - your body would have been through quite a bit and you may be moving around less than usual.

I hope your op goes well and you are back to full strength soon.

Thank you for your reply. There were several things here that i found very helpful. I will certainly have a good chat with the anaesthetist. The news about sugars rising helps as well. Thanks for your best wishes.

 

[MargaretR]

Thank you. I found your advice very helpful and appreciate your reply!

Thank you for your reply. There were several things here that i found very helpful. I will certainly have a good chat with the anaesthetist. The news about sugars rising helps as well. Thanks for your best wishes.

I have had 5 spells in hospital in the last 2 years, and two of those were 2 week stays.

Only in the most recent one did I get a visit from a diabetic nurse, who asked me one or two questions about how I was managing, and then said ‘you don’t need me, just keep doing what you are doing’

The health care assistants kept insisting that all the food was suitable for diabetics. Eg rhubarb crumble and custard. I just kept smiling and refusing. I’m type 2, and I think they didn’t know the difference between 1 and 2.

I coped by taking with me things that I know don’t send my blood sugar rocketing eg Edam cheese(non smelly and easy to break chunks off), yoghurt, a muesli which works for me, strawberries etc. If you make friends with the healthcare staff/ nurses they will normally put stuff in their fridge. My yoghurt got put on the breakfast trolley and given to me as they went round the ward.

The main problem I had last time was the I kept getting things I hadn’t ordered, which were totally wrong for me. I was at the end of the delivery run and they kept giving away what I had ordered and giving the unwanted stuff to me. After 3 days of this I started keeping a note of what I had ordered, so I could be certain. I also talked to a nurse, and explained low-carving, and she went to the staff who delivered the meals and said I must get what I ordered. Things got much better. I’ve inserted this paragraph and put it in the wrong place. It should come after the paragraph below about ordering.
Also prime visitors to bring in things you can eat.

Order what you can from the menu, and be prepared to leave the bits out that would spike you.

If all else fails, and you are mobile, take yourself off to the cafe (most of the hospitals have one open to visitors) and order something off the menu which you can eat. I only had to do this 2x, but had a couple of good meals.

Good luck