Help with new diagnosis and very high blood glucose

Pjctx said:

I need advice. I'm in the US. It's the weekend. My blood tests finally came back for 756 glucose and 11.7 a1c. I got a meter and the lowest it's been in 48 hours has been 456 but typically 530+.

Do I need an ER or urgent care immediately? I start a new job Monday and cannot leave during this next week. Primary care doc said he won't treat me, that I need to see an endocrinologist. That will take a minimum of three weeks. Should I just go to an urgent care Sunday ? Can they do anything to lower it? Do I just ignore the symptoms (thirst, urination every half hour, extreme fatigue, etc...) until then or is it really a crisis?

Need advice asap.

Pjc

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@Pjctx 756 is an extremely high blood sugar. You need to see a doctor as soon as possible. You also need a test for ketones.

Don't ignore the thirst. The high glucose levels in your blood are 'spilling over' into your urine and taking water with it by an osmotic effect, To prevent dehydration you need to drink plenty of water.

When someone has a very high blood glucose, they may be at risk of diabetic ketoacidosis which can be life-threatening. Read about it here:- https://familydoctor.org/condition/diabetic-ketoacidosis/#symptoms In the UK, it is recommended that adults with a blood glucose of 25 mmol/l (450 mg/dl) should be referred urgently to hospital:- https://patient.info/doctor/the-patient-with-newly-diagnosed-diabetes as they are high risk of having diabetic ketoacidosis. With the levels you are reporting, you need to be seen in urgent care. In the meantime, make sure someone is with you in case you become too ill to seek help.

(People with borderline high blood glucose can buy a meter which measures blood ketones or strips which measure ketones in the urine. Whenever the ketone level is high then a trip to urgent care is definitely needed. Even if the ketone level is low, it would be wise to keep monitoring it frequently in case ketoacidosis develops. The advice is that if you have any of the later symptoms such as a fruity odour (odor) on the breath, abdominal pain, vomiting, or affected breathing, get help immediately even if you have a blood glucose below 25 mmol/l (450 mg/dl).)

Try not to eat any foods containing significant levels of sugars, starches or carbohydrates as these are broken down to glucose during digestion and will currently just add to the problem.

If you are Type 1 you would need insulin in order to be able to use glucose and you would need to start treatment as soon as possible so 3 weeks would be too long to wait.

Pjctx said:

Do I need an ER or urgent care immediately?

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Yes, as in right now, not tomorrow, today.

I was taken to hospital with those symptoms and an inexperienced junior doctor sent me home saying it was"exam stress". I was taken back the next day unconscious, DKA. My parents were told that if they hadn't popped their head in my room to check me before they went to work, I would have been dead by the time they got home from work. I'm not saying that to scare you, just to drive home that this needs to be checked today.

It's got all the hallmarks of type 1 diabetes, but once you get the high sugars sorted by the docs, it's a totally manageable condition. You'll deal with it, but get round to a hospital now.

Yes, go to the ER rather than urgent care. They will start you on insulin most likely and bring those sugars down. You feel loads better. Have someone drive you

Hi. As others have said that level is extremely dangerous so you must act immediately. It is likely that you are T1. You will be given insulin in the ER and are likely to need to continue taking it.

Pjctx said:

I need advice. I'm in the US. It's the weekend. My blood tests finally came back for 756 glucose and 11.7 a1c. I got a meter and the lowest it's been in 48 hours has been 456 but typically 530+.

Do I need an ER or urgent care immediately? I start a new job Monday and cannot leave during this next week. Primary care doc said he won't treat me, that I need to see an endocrinologist. That will take a minimum of three weeks. Should I just go to an urgent care Sunday ? Can they do anything to lower it? Do I just ignore the symptoms (thirst, urination every half hour, extreme fatigue, etc...) until then or is it really a crisis?

Need advice asap.

Pjc

Click to expand...

Good luck! We are on our way to the dr.... I am tired of getting no help from anyone, including an endocrinologist ...my husband has trouble with lantus..his AM sugars have been 500 and over all of a sudden, because she decided to cut him from 20 to 9???? No one seems to care and I am going to raise heck today. I think he needs to be hospitalized to get back control ..he has been diabetic since 1989-type 2....took insulin in 1991...they don't know what they are doing. Luckily, we have attended 3 classes for diabetes, and a support group since 1989... I suggest you find one! The nurse is a c.d.e, and is also on the pump, so she knows... when I called her, she said his lantus was too low...well last nite, I gave him 20 units, and still high? Now I read on here, how people take it during the day? Interesting... The endo dr said she worried about it getting too low, which is true....but HIGH SUGAR IS JUST AS BAD! And damages the rest of the body...luckily we have a lhasa apso, who can detect low sugars...she is an angel...she got him out of 12 almost-comas so far. Good luck to anyone having these problems....but I have had it with this endo dr, and I want answers, even if it means going back to the veteran's hospital...we called the endo 2 days ago,, and she hasn't returned my calls??? Her nurse practitioner said that it didn't matter if he took 10 or 100 units of lantus??? HELLO? Time for a 2nd and 3rd opinion!!

Scott-C said:

Yes, as in right now, not tomorrow, today.

I was taken to hospital with those symptoms and an inexperienced junior doctor sent me home saying it was"exam stress". I was taken back the next day unconscious, DKA. My parents were told that if they hadn't popped their head in my room to check me before they went to work, I would have been dead by the time they got home from work. I'm not saying that to scare you, just to drive home that this needs to be checked today.

It's got all the hallmarks of type 1 diabetes, but once you get the high sugars sorted by the docs, it's a totally manageable condition. You'll deal with it, but get round to a hospital now.

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In Feb of 2015, my husband didn't feel good and went to a walk in clinic...they told him to go home and sleep it off.. when he was due for a cataract operation that may..he went for the pre op tests.....our dr said he had a heart attack in feb??? So much for walk ins... he had to have a triple bypass....ty obamcare

@Pjctx, how are you getting on now ?

Pjctx said:

I need advice. I'm in the US. It's the weekend. My blood tests finally came back for 756 glucose and 11.7 a1c. I got a meter and the lowest it's been in 48 hours has been 456 but typically 530+.

Do I need an ER or urgent care immediately? I start a new job Monday and cannot leave during this next week. Primary care doc said he won't treat me, that I need to see an endocrinologist. That will take a minimum of three weeks. Should I just go to an urgent care Sunday ? Can they do anything to lower it? Do I just ignore the symptoms (thirst, urination every half hour, extreme fatigue, etc...) until then or is it really a crisis?

Need advice asap.

Pjc

Click to expand...

1. Hey! I was diagnosed in August last year, so only 8 months ago and for the last couple of weeks Ive been in your situation every single day after eating dinner. Even though I know it is a pain in the ass to keep it that high, you should inject a correction dose and wait at least 4 hours for it to come down. In that time check your BG at least once an hour while you wait. Also be prepared it may come down very fast if its after excercise or if its been more than 2 hours since eating. I'm just saying 4 hours in general, cuz that's how long the insulin will work in your body. From my experience 1 unit can bring me down from 23 to 10 in 4 hours, only a couple of months ago I needed 4 units to bring me down from 15 to 6, so be careful. Even though its an horrible feeling having ketones in your blood, it is better to be too high than too low. How much insulin you need will change as your pancreas stops producing insulin on its own. This happened to me 2 months after I was diagnosed. My numbers sky rocked and it felt like I never gave enough insulin, so for the first couple of months you should test before eating and 2 hours after even if its a pain in the ass, because the minute you feel like you're in control of your diabetes your pancreas will stop producing insulin and everything will change. That is if you're type 1 diabetic of course. I just assumed, if you're not I don't have much knowledge about type 2. I am a type 1 diabetic myself, so that's just what happened to me and my experience.