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Diabetic Ketoacidosis - A wake up call

garethnpc

garethnpc

Member
Messages
16
Location
Newport
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have had type 1 diabetes since 2007, I'm 35 now and haven't had what you would call any serious complications since diagnosis. Then just over a month ago, I went to visit the doctors to see about my heartburn and not being able to keep food down, and after a quick blood test I was sent to hospital. I was diagnosed with a case of DKA soon after, kept in for 4 days while they brought my sugars and ketones down, and I was able to leave feeling a lot better, although incredibly shocked to know how something like that can come out of nowhere. I know why it happened, and was a combination of 3 things, letting more sugary foods creep into my diet thinking that I was handling my levels ok by doing large fast acting insulin doses, not doing my regular slow acting night time dose of levemir (I cannot stress how important this dose is), and not testing my blood glucose levels at all to see exactly where I was and how to act on it. I have changed my lifestyle quite a lot, my diet a lot, and I now have a blood glucose meter which also tests for presence of ketones in the blood, so I can properly monitor whats going on, and on a very regular basis. Basically I was taking my condition for granted, and although no major damage has been done the short term complications and possible outcomes have been a massive wake up call to my lifestyle and management of my diabetes. I am posting this for anyone who wants to know or add anything about what happened to me, to ask or answer any questions about it, as I think the best knowledge I have gained about my diabetes have come from other people who have it :)
 
I'm glad to hear that you've taken it as a wake up call n ok now.

Just asking out of interest.., was there any reason why you stopped doing the 3 basics?

Just that a lot of people do end up in DKA. I haven't in 30+ years but I'm interested as I don't fully understand the difference between us folk that have stayed away from DKA's and those that go into DKA.

Is there a reason why people stop doing all 3 basics?

Alrhough I have stayed out of DKA.. My instances (years ago now) were for hypo's.. Probably for running too tight control!!

Most importantly though are you better now for climbing back onboard this Diabetes Express?? It is a bit of a rollercoaster ride at times!!
 
Hello :) Well there wasn't any specific reason, I suppose because I was feeling fine in myself for so long, that I just got out of habits, like glucose testing, I wasn't doing it at all at one point as I was sure as I was feeling fine I was managing with the doses I was doing. The sugary foods bit was mostly sugary drinks to be honest, I'm a bit of a sucker for a bargain and was buying a lot of cheap sugary drinks I used to like (pre diagnosis) and giving myself larger doses of rapid to deal with it. Unwise I know. Plus being honest, I used to smoke lot of marijuana, and although medically proven to lower blood sugars, I often succumbed to the sweet tooth that came with it! I stopped doing my night time dose of levemir just out of pure laziness, and the random hours my job throws up did not help but it is so important to do this dose as it releases insulin all day not just through the night, which I think a lot of people are unaware of. All this is my personal experience of it so I can only speak for myself, others may have induced it through other reasons. Obviously with you experiencing more hypo`s than hypers like you said you are running a tight ship there! I don't get too many hypo`s, though when I do I feel slight relief as I know the insulin is working and it gives me an indication of how long it takes to kick in and helps me adjust my carb counting! @donnellysdogs
 
Interesting... Thank you.

Its interesting to realise how differently we all are.

I wonder if persons are sort of pre set in how we will handle diagnosis and outcomes... Ie something in your personality tipped you towards less control and hypers and somethingg tipped me towards more control and hypo's.

I waa told ai would die early, I would get complications from high levels. I was shown a ward containing patients of whom there were a couple amputees.

I always wonder why some of us go towards hyper rather than hypo or vice versa.

Glad you are ok now and very true.. There is a person posting at the moment about not giving there night levimir jab... So people are unaware of how you cannot just stop basal insulin.
 
Yes I think every case is different, in some people their pancreas will still produce a small level of insulin especially in the first tages of type 1, others have faster metabolisms, or other medical issues such as dental problems or a stomach ulcer can attribute to problems. Ive had my scare now, my blood levels are consistently below 8 and I feel a lot more educated.

I think some people (like I did) think that the body can get by without insulin in the night while sleeping and will just have a dose af bolus with their first meal of the day and that's far too long to make the body wait for insulin. Problems will definitely arise over time, I hope more people get the message.
 
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