• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

DKA

MarkHaZ123

MarkHaZ123

Well-Known Member
Messages
146
So last Thursday when working away I woke up in the night with D&V. This continued for a number of hours.
Throughout Thursday I couldn't get out of bed. Friday I felt no better but Saturday I felt better in the afternoon before waking up on Sunday to feel dreadful again.

I continued to get worse and the D&V started again. My vision was going strange I was do thirsty every 30 seconds but continuing to release fluids on the toilet.

My partner took me to Hospital where on first check my Ketones were 7. I'd never seen this this high before and was shocked whilst still really ill.

Onto a drip for the next 30 hours with them pushing food and drink at me.

Over a stone in weight lost in 4 days.

On review I just can't help thinking of how bad it could have been as I was saying il just ride it out at home as I believed I had D&V. My partner had non of it though. If I had just stayed at home and rode it out then how long would it of been before I collapsed unconscious.

Looking at things I know now I hadn't taken any insulin from Thursday to Sunday as I wasnt eating or drinking anything. This obviously doesn't help the situation at all. The last thing I wanted was to eat anything and the last thing I thought of was insulin when I was bed bound.


Now it's decision time as to if I go on a pump and iv also got to make sure my control is better which since Monday has been much better.

Just thought I'd share my story. First time and hopefully last time this happens to me. I don't think iv ever been so scared for my life. It definitely shows that no matter what as a type 1 we have to keep that insulin going.
 
Are you on a basal insulin at all @MarkHaZ123 ? While it's possible to skip the fast acting insulin while ill and not eating it's essential to keep your basal going. (As I guess you now realise).

Glad you're feeling better now.

Maybe ask your diabetic team for some sick day rules for insulin dosing when you are ill?
 
A pump will help you - plug it on, set your background insulin (basal) levels and it will help keep you in range.

You still need to be disciplined to keep on top of your settings, and change the insulin and cannula used in the pump - a pump is very very much better than injections, but you also need to put work in to achieve the perfect solution.

Modern stuff is HCL (Hybrid closed loop) where you wear a CGM (BG sensor) and it sends data to the pump, this lets it alter the basal insulin automatically to keep you in range - sick day rules are catered for automatically as your BG rises, you need to tell the system when you eat and how much though

Its almost like having a pancreas - but not quite - give it 5-10 years and it will be a lot closer.

The ideal is a fully closed loop where you don't do anything, just let it do its stuff - we are on the way to that but the current solutions take a heck of a lot of work to set up and control, not perfect but better

Recommendation from my experience - talk to your diabetic team about a pump / CGM and possibility of a HCL solution (we don't all qualify yet). Life changing stuff.
 
CheeseSeaker said:
A pump will help you - plug it on, set your background insulin (basal) levels and it will help keep you in range.
Click to expand...
Until if fails. I know this is rare but because a pump provides no long acting insulin, when it fails, DKA can occur much faster.
I find it needs more discipline than injecting ... it is great with that discipline but you need to make sure it is working, your cannula sites are working and that you carry an alternative with you at all times so you can revert to injecting.
 
In Response said:
Until if fails. I know this is rare but because a pump provides no long acting insulin, when it fails, DKA can occur much faster.
Click to expand...
True - but when that happens my phone and watch light up like a Christmas tree and I have alarms set that rise in volume (even the dog tells me to get up and turn it off)

If the alarms are set low enough (12 or above with a delta of +0.2mml works for me) I've not had a problem

Must admit over the 14 years of pumping, used to carry a syringe - but never needed one - now I don't. I just have a spare cannula with me to change 'just in case' - but thats not following guidance obviously - we all find our own path
 
Hello @MarkHaZ123 Sorry to hear about your experience, how frightening for you.

Can I check, were you still taking your basal and still checking your BG levels ? I always correct when going over 12 mmol/l to err on the side of caution, but if you weren't eating, were you still checking your levels were ok ?

Just playing devils advocate to help avoid future episodes.. going high without insulin of any kind on board should be a red flag.
 
Back
Top