Could insulin deprivation for 12 hours possibly cause a heart attack?
If you had only been insulin-deprived for a total of 12 hours your entire life, it’s difficult to imagine how that could happen.
HOWEVER
Heart attacks are one of the principal complications of prolonged chronic hyperglycemia. If a vascular event that had been building for some time just “happened” to occur during that 12 hour period, it seems most likely be that it just chose that particular moment to strike.
12 hours is long enough to get into some of the stages of DKA, and by far the most common cause of death resulting from DKA is through cerebral edema that seems to happen in the recovery process.
Although obviously the tachycardia and shortness of breath that commonly happens in DKA can’t be good for the heart, I have never seen any research saying that they can cause a heart attack.
Type1Hotties, I can’t help but be curious about why you are asking this question…
Care to share?