i was in the hospital this past monday till weds morning due to a DKA. every time im in the hospital for it they treat diabetes the wrong way. they ER dept gives me the fluids i need including the insulin drop which is correct. they check my sugar levels which is correct but once i am transferred to the medical floor is when its different.
on the medical floor they check your sugar levels but depending on where you are they take a while to give you the insulin. they also do the sliding scale which doesnt work for me anymore. i have to let them know that i need the long acting as well as that covers the day and night. before a meal i get my levels checked and wont eat until i get my insulin. i decided to go ahead and eat anyways as i know they are busy with other patients. but they need to know that a diabetic needs their insulin. then i have my sugar levels checked after my meal and sometimes it will be high due to not getting any insulin as they do it on a sliding scale or not enough insulin and they wonder why and i have to tell them why and tell them i need insulin to cover for the high. i spoke to the diabetic nurse educator who im on a first name basis with as she has seen me in the past. i didnt mention how it suppose to be but she did help me get discharged on weds so i can see my endo as she thought that was important. but next time i see her ill let her know how i feel about how the treatment is. its archaic. i even told my eno that they need to learn how to do diabetes in modern times now. he agreed. so next time ill have my pump out as i cant use it while im on a drip and ill figure out how much insulin they need to give me. also on a side note they dont give me all of my meds im on as they dont have some of them. so next time ill make sure im allowed to take what i have with me.
anyways, does anyone else have this issue or am i the only one that has an issue? i love the hospital as they really take care of you well and the staff makes sure your ok but the way they do diabetic care isnt up to par.
I have seen posts here and other sites with similar experiences.
Since I knew this, when I was in hospital, I worked with my endo to have approval to dose own insulin. During my surgery, and next 2 days, I was on IV drip (with insulin, fluids, glucose), adjusted by staff. Then I had to sign papers to get authority for me to dose my own, and put my pump back on. I also put dexcom back on soon after surgery.
Hope you are doing ok now.
Did you have pump issues that led to DKA?
my infusion set failed on me. i didnt realize that the tape came up. i thought it was just a little bit of the tape so i put tape on it. then once i wasnt getting any better i looked under the tap to realize that the cannula was coming out. then i changed it to the newer one. i still wasnt feeling that good that i had to go to the hospital. its always an infusion set failure that lands me in the hospital. i think ill have them call my endo the first time im in the ER so they can get instructions from him as he isnt part of the hospital. my endo is at joslin.
Its surprising how quickly that can happen. I had this during my first year of pumping, and it was while traveling out of town, staying alone in hotel. I was able to lower BG with injections, but was not able to check ketones since I forgot to pack them ! All turned out ok.
Here is link from prior discussion. Check out Bernsteins recommended letter referenced.
“My blood sugar meter and blood sugar control medications, including insulin syringes, should not be confiscated by hospital personnel. This is a barbaric practice that is rapidly being abandoned in modern hospitals.”
Only been in the hospital once since diagnosis, I did not bring any insulin or syringes but no one attempted to take my meter but wow things would go south quick if they did. I hope that’s not still happening to people.
These hospital threads are scary. I hope people are writing reviews on Goggle Yelp ect to warn other diabetics where to stay away from.
“The nurse that administered the morphine mixed TAP WATER with the morphine then tried to give it to my husband. Who does that?!?”
Did they really use Tap water with that mans medication? who knows, but again I suggest writing reviews, both good and bad so other diabetics know both what hospitals to avoid and the good ones to go to.
And remember these review sites use AI programs to filter and delete reviews so avoid the caps or toxic language and giving only one star. Its not the stars that count its the review itself. One star triggers the filter to look for anomalies that someone is just trying to drive down the rating increasing your chances your review is removed , it makes mistakes.
I have stayed in the hospital a lot for various medical problems. The strange way the floor nurses “treat” diabetes made me decide to treat my diabetes myself. Just keep insulin and meter and glucose in the room and do it myself. The doctors usually ask that I “tell” them what I am doing. But basically, they let me do it.
interesting. i think ill have my own supplies and will tell them that i have it. i will let them give me the insulin drip and the fluids. but once i am on the medical floor ill tell them i have my own supplies so im able to avoid the highs, etc
We’ve dealt with this kind of thing a lot when taking our daughter in to ER due to sickness induced dka. Often they seem more concerned about high BS’s than ketones which is really odd - the reason we’re in there is for IV to flush out ketones…we love it when they back off and just let us deal with checks, insulin etc - and just give her the IV!
