Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ash-harris on February 19, 2013 at 3:16pm

What a lovely sentiment Joni, it has indeed been helpful to read about others experiences. I count myself lucky that as drastic as my DKA was, things could have been far worse.

I threw a surprise birthday get-together for my partner Jason to both thank him for his support and to let everyone we knew, know what a wonderful man he is :)

So a month on and I'm still sleeping a lot and eating a little. bg levels are yo-yoing but the Lantus is still being adjusted. I'm walking again and building up my strength. I was quite chuffed with myself for managing to visit my Nan about a mile away, had to have a break half way and was knackered the next day mind, but it was so nice to get out of the house and regain some of my independence.

I've started Amitriptyline for the nerve damage and keeping myself occupied with various crafts and a touch of cleaning, however shuffling around on my bum with the hoover is certainly more amusing than the way I used to do it :)

Regards, ash

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Permalink Reply by Buckley83 on February 2, 2013 at 4:49am

Very interesting and cautionary thread.

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Permalink Reply by Gracey on May 8, 2013 at 5:55pm

KI'm so glad to have found this. My husband fell into coma as we had no idea what was wrong they said your husband has type 1 and has ketoacidosis, what's that Omg so after two days of constantly by his side asking what's happening and hearing only don't worry he's dehydrated and needs help with his sugar levels of almost 900 not till a little ill mannered non caring doc finally shows his head do I over hear why are you giving him so much adavan he's in a coma (I know a spelled adavan wrong). I'm just in shock.. About 24 or so hours later he is up. After he's alert can't use the word awake cause he wasn't for say sleeping more thrashing, moaning, ripping his lines out, and when I asked what year it was he said 85.and growled at me. None the less the nurses said they can not believe he's alive and up and moving, talking, fully aware. Now we are scared for his vision it's blurry. I read in a few places it's the norm for new insulin users. He lived in the 300 to 400 range most of his life and didn't know it. Now I have him below 200 average about 165 to 175 which feels low to him given the circumstances. I'm in complete shock I find my self crying in my car when I'm not near him. And being super woman around him. Any support or suggestions will be appreciated

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Permalink Reply by Gracey on May 8, 2013 at 5:59pm

He was 37 and diagnosed

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on May 8, 2013 at 6:15pm

Glad you're here, Gracey, and hope your husband joins us as well. Please feel free, both of you to ask questions and again, welcome! You're in the right place!

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Permalink Reply by Betty J on May 8, 2013 at 6:22pm

@Gracey, believe it or not he will be ok. What is now important is he needs a Endocrinologist also a Certified Diabetes Educator. As time moves on he will also need a Podiatrist and some other specialist. Educating yourselves about how to live with this disease is very important....I'm also happy you found this website, here you have the experts (those of us who live with this disease).

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Permalink Reply by Gracey on May 8, 2013 at 7:36pm

We have already found an endo doc his first appointment is tomorrow. I'm more worried about his vision, though I have read over and over new insulin users to have blurry vision idk I find myself doing as much as humanly possible I've only been attending to a diabetic for about a week the food thing.. Easy.. Stay under 65 carbs with free healthy fillers as to trick him into being full no problem. It's the snippy, happy low his brain is going through on top of quitting smoking ugh. I am a stay at home super wifey with a go go gadget attitude I'm trying to stay positive. I'm hoping by talking to other people who already have there regimen down will help. Idk if he will come here to look around I hope he will

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Permalink Reply by meee on May 8, 2013 at 9:36pm

I went through dka last year, I was in the icu for 4 days and my vision went totally blurry after fluid and insulin treatment.. I lost both my close and far focus ability, it was a terrifying experience. No one really gave me any clear explanation of what was going on other than that there was sugar in my lenses from the high bg preceding dka and it would take time for it to resolve.. it did resolve but my vision has not gone back to normal and it fluctuates with my bg if I go low it gets blurrier if I go high the same. But there was a lot of improvement and it took about 2-3 months.. my rx changed twice in that time and my eye doc was surprised he said. 1- he said he had never seen anyone loose both close and far focus and then told me later he was surprised I had improved so much and so quickly. Your husband should go to an opthamologist and a retinologist also just to make sure there was no damage to his retina from high bg or from dka( I doubt he spent most of his life at 200-300 bg because he would have had symptoms and complications and someone would have diagnosed him with bg that high). I didn't have high bg for a long period, maybe 2-3 months at most.

The most important thing is to keep his bg in a normal range, which means as close to 80-90 as possible. After dka your whole body goes into a shock and your bg may bounce around more than normal, so it may take time to get to a more normal range. I didn't have any feeling of hypoglycemia when I got to 80's to 90's range, I just felt more normal again finally, my highest bg reading was 363 that I know of when I entered the er, and I was already in dka at 279, so I didn't have sky high bg although I certainly was very out of it by the time I got to the er. I was seeing flashing lights, my mental capacity was diminishing rapidly and I was probably close to coma- my blood gases were 5 by that point.

Anyway, you are at the right place, you can get lots of help and information here while he recovers. He needs to take it easy for a while. Just watch out for symptoms of dvt which would be pain & swelling in any of his limbs( I had this while in the icu and was released with it only to return the next day) and make sure to follow up with all his appointments and blood work. I would recommend reading some books too, dr Bernstein's book the diabetes solution and Using Insulin should help a lot. This really is alot to handle, your husband is lucky to have you to help him transition through this. Things are going to get easier over time, just hang in there. :)

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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on May 8, 2013 at 9:43pm

No DKA for me, but blurry vision immediately before diagnosis - it's what ultimately sent me to the doc. After my BG was under control, the blurry vision resolved, but it took a few weeks before it felt like what it was before the fun began.

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Permalink Reply by meee on May 11, 2013 at 9:31pm

I forgot to say that what saved my sanity during my hospital stay and the weeks after was to use different strengths of reading glasses. I was able to see with them... I also got two very expensive graduated lenses, but I hated them and returned them both.. the first was really necessary though as I was unable to see at that point, and one bifocal which I still have but also cannot adjust to. The reading glasses work best for me. He might want to use reading glasses till his vision adjusts which it will eventually.

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