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Ended up at A&E today

carina62

carina62

Well-Known Member
Messages
349
Location
Leicestershire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
miserable weather, rude and bad mannered people
Not the best way to spend a Saturday today. Had very bad vomiting and diaorreah in the early hours of the morning. My partner rang 111 and they suggested I go to my nearest Walk In Centre, after blood tests they suggested I go to A&E as my lactate reading was 2.7 (should be below 2) so she mentioned the word Sepsis which scared me stupid. My BS was 13 (never been as high as 13 ever). I was very dehydrated so after having fluids on a drip and a second lot of blood tests (which thankfully were all fine) I was sent home this afternoon.

The word gastroenteritis was mentioned, I have never felt so ill in all my life. I recently had a UTI infection and am waiting results from my urine sample to see if there is bacterial growth. The word Sepsis really scared me, I've heard diabetics can be more susceptible to Sepsis but I don't want to feel like I did today. I wasn't tested for Ketones but I'm going to buy test strips in future. Not a very pleasant day
 
Norovirus, both me and Mrshar67 had it, I've never been so glad to have 2 toilets.
Just after we had it, local swimming pool was closed for deep clean as a children's birthday party group all ended up with it, some poor children also ended up at A&E.
 
I hope you're starting to feel much better... sounds like a horrible time you've had. Yeh if you had an infection you're at risk of sepsis too :( I wish you the best. :)
 
Shar67 said:
Norovirus, both me and Mrshar67 had it, I've never been so glad to have 2 toilets.
Just after we had it, local swimming pool was closed for deep clean as a children's birthday party group all ended up with it, some poor children also ended up at A&E.
Click to expand...

Yes, Norovirus was mentioned. Never felt so ill.
 
Yes it is right nasty, I'm glad you are recovering, that on top of a UTI is horrible, not to be a Debbie downer, but norovirus has a nasty habit of coming back after a couple of days just when you think your better, it is also contagious for about 10 days
 
I had a norovirus a few years ago. Worst thing I have ever had. Take care of yourself.
 
I have had two bouts of sepsis, both before diagnosis and neither leading to a diabetes diagnosis. The first time it was in both legs, the second in one when I was also hospitalised for a few days. It was extremely unpleasant and painful for a couple of weeks but I also recovered fully and have had no lasting impact. I am a lot more careful to try and ensure it does not happen again now though.

Symptoms for me initially were extreme cold and shivering followed by fever and serious inflammation of the affected area.

I hope it hasn't happened to you, if you do feel any of these symptoms go straight into A and E

If you have got sepsis your CRP ( c-reactive protein) will shoot up, which they will have confirmed has not happened when they sent you home after blood tests ( mine went from 4 - 400)
 
That does sound nasty! You did the right thing going to A&E. Hope you feel better soon.
 
I didn't realise that UTI's can cause sepsis and also why are diabetics more susceptible to sepsis? This information has really scared me.
 
CherryAA said:
I have had two bouts of sepsis, both before diagnosis and neither leading to a diabetes diagnosis. The first time it was in both legs, the second in one when I was also hospitalised for a few days. It was extremely unpleasant and painful for a couple of weeks but I also recovered fully and have had no lasting impact. I am a lot more careful to try and ensure it does not happen again now though.

Symptoms for me initially were extreme cold and shivering followed by fever and serious inflammation of the affected area.

I hope it hasn't happened to you, if you do feel any of these symptoms go straight into A and E

If you have got sepsis your CRP ( c-reactive protein) will shoot up, which they will have confirmed has not happened when they sent you home after blood tests ( mine went from 4 - 400)
Click to expand...

I knew CRP was an indicator of inflammation in the body but didn't realise that it was an indicator of sepsis. Is there any way of checking yourself for CRP other than getting a blood test? I didn't know until yesterday that Lactate (which I'd never heard of before) can be a marker for sepsis. All scary stuff!
 
As far as I know what CRP and ESR says is " there is something wrong somewhere " when a doctor says you have " inflammation - he probably means one or other of these markers is elevated.

Until recently I simply thought it meant - of I've just had a cold so I'm reacting to that. I have now realised that it means a lot more than that.

It means that your systems are under stress somewhere that could be - you need medication for an infection, you have a cold, you have measles, you have sepsis, you have corornary heart disease,you have liver failure, kidney failure , cancer - because it is a general marker - the underlying cause could be anything and if it is low then on balance you are likely to be in good health across the board, if it is higher than normal is means something is under stress somewhere so better to try to get it down ( which once again appears to be aided by an LCHF diet), if it is very high then something somewhere is wrong and the cause may be very obvious - for example many cases of sepsis will produce localised inflamed flesh . ( in my case they drew permanent ink-lines on my legs above the infection and said, if it spreads beyond that line report into A&E immediately - in the meantime don't move your leg. )


In the USA you can now order a home CRP test,($39.95) though you still need to send it to a lab to get result. In the UK the NHS is trialling this I think.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/mi...rotein-testing-in-primary-care-63499354178245

I'm guessing that in a few years time this will be another thing one can buy and test at home, but it doesn't seem so yet.
 
carina62 said:
I didn't realise that UTI's can cause sepsis and also why are diabetics more susceptible to sepsis? This information has really scared me.
Click to expand...

From my readings of it all so far ( admittedly very amateur) it seems to me that diabetics are more susceptible to everything pretty much, that seems to be that high sugar levels in the blood, which is an instrinsic part of every single organ and thus is connected to everything becoming " inflamed " and inflammation then leads to all the other diseases.

That would seem to be where the Noakes Foundation is going in basically suggesting that many diseases have a similar root cause ( liver,. kidney, heart, cancer and alzheimers) - insulin resistance, where individuals effectively can learn how serious that resistance is by their ability to control it through diet or medication as shown up in blood sugar results.

On the plus side , once diabetic, the individual who does achieve control of his blood sugars, is likely to be much better able to understand and identify when other things are now going wrong in his / her body because blood sugars themselves respond to other things going wrong ( hence higher with a cold, or stress etc) . The average non - diabetic or non diagnosed individual has no real clue what is happening in his body on a day to day basis.

The information brought forward in the Noakes testimony actually suggests that a very large proportion of South Africa is actually un-diagnosed diabetic or pre-diabetic and by extension that probably applies to much of the western world as well. As such actually being diagnosed and on here, puts you way ahead of the curve compared to unenlightened brethren not just with regard to diabetes, but also regarding the likely earlier detection of anything else serious.
 
CherryAA said:
As far as I know what CRP and ESR says is " there is something wrong somewhere " when a doctor says you have " inflammation - he probably means one or other of these markers is elevated.

Until recently I simply thought it meant - of I've just had a cold so I'm reacting to that. I have now realised that it means a lot more than that.

It means that your systems are under stress somewhere that could be - you need medication for an infection, you have a cold, you have measles, you have sepsis, you have corornary heart disease,you have liver failure, kidney failure , cancer - because it is a general marker - the underlying cause could be anything and if it is low then on balance you are likely to be in good health across the board, if it is higher than normal is means something is under stress somewhere so better to try to get it down ( which once again appears to be aided by an LCHF diet), if it is very high then something somewhere is wrong and the cause may be very obvious - for example many cases of sepsis will produce localised inflamed flesh . ( in my case they drew permanent ink-lines on my legs above the infection and said, if it spreads beyond that line report into A&E immediately - in the meantime don't move your leg. )


In the USA you can now order a home CRP test,($39.95) though you still need to send it to a lab to get result. In the UK the NHS is trialling this I think.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/mi...rotein-testing-in-primary-care-63499354178245

I'm guessing that in a few years time this will be another thing one can buy and test at home, but it doesn't seem so yet.
Click to expand...

I would like to buy this test along with the device that tests for Lactate ( this was what the Medical Centre Team flagged up as a red flag for sepsis as my reading was 2.7 and it should be below 2) and plus the fact that I'm diabetic they based their decision on sending me to A&E to get properly checked out (I was also very dehydrated). I certainly have become more 'knowledgeable' about my health since becoming diabetic (plus other health issues which have thrown up at me over the last two years), this, I will now put down to something else 'new' I've learnt. I do tend to buy home self testing strips for checking protein in urine, ketones, liver disease and urine infections and tend to test at home every couple of weeks but I have to say that not that long ago, I used one of my home test strips and it showed up pink as meaning I had a possible UTI and when I mentioned it to the doctor he didn't even ask me to provide a urine test to double check, he just sort of dismissed it as I'm sure he thought 'home test kits' not reliable etc so I was fobbed off. If this happens again, and I do get a pink reading I will just go along to the doctor with my urine sample and get them to test it there and then. This is the sort of thing which makes me cross, doctors (most of the time) fob you off and you are made to feel a hypochondriac whereas you have to trust your own instincts.
 
I agree. I am now checking all my measurements a lot more closely. It's clear to me that my medical practise should have diagnosed diabetes two years ago. too often the doctors don't reallt provide you with enough information and we have all got used to " accepting " things in purchasing medical lives which would be totally unacceptable in other spheres of life.
 
Sorry to hear that but glad your bloods were good an that they allowed you home.

I suspect a lot of hospitals are suffering the winter vomiting or noro virus at the moment so they seem keen not to admit unless absolutely necessary, I know my own local hospital is as my wife works there.
 
Yes I agree, from my recent experiences of doctors they seem to only 'act' when things happen rather than taking a preventative measure cos I guess they don't want to get the public to know too much in case they all start demanding tests here, scans there etc. I think it's only since the internet that we've become more knowledgeable and I've certainly learnt a lot about blood tests, results etc I now always ask for a printed copy of my results so that I can do a comparison. We have to take our own responsibility for our own health rather than just, like you say, accept what we're told by the doctors ( the doctors don't want us to know too much!). Blood tests can tell you so much about one's health and I now take much more notice of what I get tested for. I'll continue to use my home testing strips, check my own BP etc and just keep an eye on things as I believe in the saying 'knowledge is power'.
 
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