Mental Health Implications - High Sugar Levels

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My Father last April/May had high blood sugar levels for a long period of time. 26.05.12 he was 23 after testing. He was over 15+ for over 6 weeks or more. The first few weeks, he was hyperactive, totally confused and was suffering with blood poisoning from a bad leg infection. He was unable to be kept on a ward with other patients as he tried getting out. My family had him sectioned and put in the local mental hospital. He was refused his insulin unless he was over 15. His last injection of the day was at tea time 6'ish. Whilst in hospital, he had to wait up to 8.30 pm before he was tested and given his last insulin for the night. He had ketones in his blood. He was upset understandably that he was prevented from lowering his sugar levels and was concerned that it would cause organ damage. He was being treated for mental rather medical. My family didn't want to know my concerns. I am now a witness at his inquest with 5 pages of statement to read out. At present, the Coroner is still investigating the notes from the mental institution. September he had gone yellow and lost a lot of weight, death warmed up. October he was in a lot of pain and at the end of October, he hung himself. I know that my family don't like the thought of me being a witness regarding what happened at the mental institution as they would rather brush it under the carpet that he was depressed, hence his suicide. Not the fact that they didn't want him to be involved in the family business, or write a will or buy another property which he desperately wanted to do. I can't believe what has happened and it has wrecked our family. I would rather not have anything to do with them. Can someone please give more info regarding what stages my Father would have been going through due to witheld insulin. Organ failure & shutdown?

 

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Re: High Blood Sugar Levels - Extended Timescale

At the inquest held on 19th April 2013, it was stated by a Director at the mental hospital that my Father was not mentally unwell.
He should therefore have not been admitted to a mental hospital.
He should therefore not have been dosed with mental drugs, simply treated for high sugar levels which were effecting his mental state. On his release from hospital, my Mother continued to keep him on his tablets.

I have a meeting with the Hospital Director & the matron of the hospital 29/05/13.
The main aim of this meeting is that no other diabetic should be treated in this way and that the local Diabetic clinic is consulted and asked for advice regarding any diabetic admitted. In the notes it states that a higher level on insulin was given after consultation with the Diabetic unit, the next day, the notes state that my Father appears stable and normal. After my Father's release, he was still have mental drugs, I need to know why & who instigated this. At the inquest, they said that a delay in writing up notes and reports had resulted in this error.

 

[Isobel94]

Hi there, I'm terribly sorry to hear what happened to your Father. That sounds awful and an example of how narrow-minded people view diabetes. They think that if you look healthy on the outside you're fine. Not so.

I can't give you any textbook definitions or scholarly articles which discuss the effect of high BG on a person psychologically (although it has been well documented in the literature, I've heard) but I can tell you from personal experience that I just don't feel like myself when I have a high. One time, when I was continuously in the 20s over one weekend (lumpy sites, quickly sorted it out), I had these awful paranoid thoughts that people were trying to read my mind, and that someone was going to shoot me... awful, truly awful, just not me at all. I felt like I wanted to scream from the very pits of my lungs, from fear, from anger, from anxiety. I felt like a time bomb. It's different from person to person, however I know what it's like when you're high for more than three days and you just feel like rubbish, for want of a better word.

That does sound rather incompetent in the case of your Father that his diabetes was not treated during his stay in the mental hospital. It even seemed like a bad idea that he was put in there in the first place. You don't just take insulin when you're at 15 mmol/l, you take it before meals and before bed, or whatever schedule you have. Don't they know it's supposed to be between 4 and 7??. It sounds like a load of nonsense. How dare they prevent him from taking his insulin. From what I'm reading it seemed like he just wanted someone to listen to him, not throw him into a mental hospital. And then for him to be so cruelly treated there, that's just inhumane.

I send my condolences and deepest sympathy for the untimely death of your Father. I hope my experiences may have given you further insight into the relationship between diabetes and mental health. In the meantime, mind your own mental health, it can't be easy having to deal with first the death of your Father and then an inquest. Look into what happened, but then move on, because not much can be done about it now. You have to live your life.

Best of luck,
Izzy.