Ketoacidosis

I am 22 years old and I was close to being in a coma. In had a bad infection in my mouth and it led me into ketoacidosis. I was rushed to hospital where they monitored me and put me straight on a drip of fluids and Insulin, I was in hospital for 5 boring awful days. On day 2 I went to take my second dose of insulin (I was only on 2 a day at the time) but my insulin pen was dodgy and we didn’t know if the dose had gone in or not so I was told to leave it by the doctor. The worst thing I could have done. I still had acid in my blood and all it did was multiply. I went from feeling a lot better to throwing up constantly. My throat was burnt raw from the acid I was throwing up yet I was so unbelievably dehydrated I had to keep sipping water which was sizzling against my throat. As my symptoms gradually worsened I started asking my nurses for help which they were not understanding at all of my feelings of ketoacidosis. They just kept offering me anti sickness tablets which I kept throwing up. Not listening to me when I told them I needed fluids and Insulin. And I kept being left for and hour at a time before I was checked on. That’s when I started getting the throbbin aching mucsel pains in my neck, my back, my arms and legs. I was in and out of consciousness still throwing up the little sips of water I had been drinking. Aching from the wrenching! The nurse finally came in and said the doctor was on her way after I had screamed the whole ward down in absolute agony. I felt as if I was going to die (well I must have been very close). The doctor finally walked in to my room and assessed me and said we are getting some more casuals put in and putting insulin back on (seeing as they decided to remove it earlier that day as I was showing progress) . I just remember falling asleep after being exhausted and then waking up a couple of hours later feeling a bit more refreshed and the muscle pain was gone. The next morning was emotional seeing my parents as we both knew how severe my condition was the night before. But to top it all off another stupid nurse came in and turned off my insulin drip leaving me with glucose just flooding into me! Which then set off my ketone again, thankfully I wasn’t sick that night or in any pain. And I was very closely monitored by a very nice nurse who was caring and knew what she was doing. There was a lot of nurses in that hospital who were very good and helped me a lot and I thank them for that, however a few nurses who didn’t have a clue what they was dealing with and who put me in that state or severe ketoacidosis. I never want to be in a situation ever again! But who knows the next time I have an illness or infection ketoacidosis just creeps up on you.

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Wow sorry you went through all of that. Such an awful hospital, that is my fear too, hopefully it will never happen again.

Not suggesting you do anything, this is a totally personal and individual call. But had it been me, I would be talking to a lawyer right now. A medical judgement call is one thing; non-responsiveness that could have risen to the level of being life-threatening, quite another.

When asked what is the most pressing problem facing consumers today, Ralph Nader (google him if you don’t know who got seat belts in your cars) said hospital mistakes were at the top of the list. If possible, do not be alone at all in the hospital (i’ve been in past visiting hours- i guess the nurses appreciated the help). I don’t know the situations with the doctors, but my mom was an ICU room nurse for 40 years and she saw how the hospitals got progressively worse with nurses asked to take care of too many patients. when the nurses tried to go on strike, they were just replaced, many of the replacements had come from overseas. We had all us 4 siblings in with my mom in her hospital room covering a full 24 hours after there was an incident.

No that’s totally understandable I really want to do something about but I’m 22 and I have no idea how to go about it. Saying that when I spoke to the diabetes specialist when I was in hospital she wasn’t happy at all about how I was treated and she filed a complaint. I am seeing her for a consultation and a check up on the 1st of September so I will speak to her then about it. Not only did they make things 10 x worse, but when I was leaving they gave me the wrong instructions on my discharge notes (which I have kept safe) I was changed from 2 I injections on novo mix 30 to 4 injections with a private and abasaglar. On my discharge notes the doctors had only told me to inject before breakfast, tea time and before bed. So had I not been listening properly I would have skipped an injection every day and probably ended up back in hospital again with ketones. And that was meant to be a professional doctor. Like I said some nurses and doctors are brilliant and I am very greatful for their help but some of them are a complete joke.

Sorry my auto correct has changed some of my words I hope you get what I’m trying to say lol

Thanks, I know that the nurses have a lot of patients to see and look after and it must be really hard for them. However I think some of them should be educated more with situations like ketoacidosis as I think they just get the impression that your a ‘little bit under the weather’ when your being sick which is why the offer anti sickness. But in my case anti sickness wouldn’t do anything because I needed insulin in my body and they just didn’t understand and kept telling me to stop refusing pain relief aswell when I had muscular aches which was awful. And the worst thing about it was I was scared for my life to stay another night let alone 3 more nights with people who didn’t know what they were dealing with properly. Worst experience ever. If this ever happens again I will try another hospital and demand to have someone stay with me overnight because had my mother been with me that night I wouldn’t of been in that severe critical state. Thanks for your input though.

Sorry you had to go through this experience. Some nurses and doctors are WONDERFUL and some just don’t know what they are doing. I have only been D-type 1 for 3 years but have been in DKA two times. The first was at diagnosis BG 1141- aka coma. A wonderful nurse stayed with me all night and I still to this day think that God sent her to me as she didn’t work at that hospital usually. The ICU staff was wonderful and I owe my life to them. The next time I was in DKA was at a different hospital of which I NEVER want to go back to. The emergency room staff was great but the ICU was a joke. Having been on the pump for only a month, I knew what my lantus dosage should be. They tried to give me twice the amount and I refused the amount. I told them the amount of which they argued, but I still refused. That night I still went low -51. I would have slept right through that one, but the nurse did a fingerstick and woke me up. Yay for that. I said
that I would need some fast acting carbs like juice when I saw her puzzled look. She said she would go and try to find some. I was thinking (Really??? Find something and this was ICU) She finally brought me some juice, and then I requested some protein to keep from going back down. When again I saw her puzzled face, I suggested some peanut butter. Note to self and others…Don’t ever enter a hospital without your meter and your own glucose or whatever. I had sent mine home. Big mistake. The next morning they tried to give me the double dosage again and again I refused. That time a new nurse entered the scene who used to work in my endo’s office and she went along with my dosage. She called my doctor and got the dosages correct. Now I have it on paper my dosages and have shown family members where to find the settings on my pump. One more thing, I will NEVER be in the hospital again alone.

Wow ! Your telling me they didn’t know that a low BM reading means fast acting glucose and some cards to keep it going??? What goes through people’s heads when they employ people like this!. I wish proper diabetic nurses and doctors could have there own ward for all ages in most hospitals! But sadly when I was speaking to my consultant she said sadly there isn’t enough people who even know about diabetes and it’s complications. It is so scary when you are the one telling the doctors and nurses what’s is right and wrong. It’s so lonely. You are meant to be a place where you feel safe and looked after, instead they do not have a clue.

That is exactly what I was saying.