I've never been hospitalized for high blood sugars but when I was much younger 10-15 years old I had a habit of going low in the middle of the night and I wouldn't wake up. So there was a handful of times I was brought to the hospital and given an IV drip of glucose. Once I was awake they would give me migraine medicine then send me home to sleep it off - kind of funny.
In the 16 years of being dx'ed I've been too the ER 5 times. When I got dx'ed. 2 times for stomach bugs. Once when me endo kept increasing my long acting insulin, until it was almost double of what it should be for my age! I had too stay in the hospital for a week just when summer vacation had started to do stupid tests!! No need to say that I'm with a different endo now! And Once when I had a really bad hypo in my sleep, when I woke up I couldn't move my arm and leg... :(
I've never been to the ER for high blood sugars or extreme lows, but I have gone (aside from diagnosis), maybe 3 or 4 times because of the stomach flu when I was much younger. Aside from diabetes, I've been a few times, like when I had a hip inflammation the summer before I was diagnosed (likely the environmental trigger).
i am proud to say that i have never gone to the emergency room for any reason other than my diagnosis in my twelve years of diabetes(:
Yea I've been about six times... one for every year I've had diabetes
Hospitalized twice - once for diagnosis, another time for "almost" DKA. (I think I indeed had it - helloooo, I was BARFING, and I couldn't get the bg levels to come down. And couldn't keep water in me!) That second time we went to the ER first. They put in an IV, which is really what I needed. Took the nurse 5 minutes to find a vein. Yikes! I was praying the entire time. (I hate needles in me if I am not the one stickin' 'em in!!)
So... then after I got a hospital room and took my pump off, it was 4 hours till they gave me a shot. *shakes head* The hospital staff were so surprised that my blood sugars could fluctuate THAT fast. Hellooooo!!!!! I'm a T1, y'all!! Well, evidently they didn't have much experience with T1s, let alone pump patients. Argh.
My mother and I kept saying that I needed to be on shots and that I needed to be on a sick-day regimen with a sliding scale of how much insulin to take for every 25 whatevers over 100 and how often to check my bg level.
When the diabetes educator came in the next morning, she said yes, that's what we needed to do. (Duh!!) She recommended almost the same regimen my endo always gives me for when I'm sick.
Finally, the ketones came down to negative. I was drinking liquids again. And eventually I was able to eat.
Quite the scary experience!
Never been unconscious for any reason... in my life! Blessedly, I have yet to become insensitive to low bg levels. I still feel the fluctuations... either direction.
unfortunately, probably more times than anybody else here. definitely more than 10 but prob less than 20. unfortunately, i have hypoglycemic unawareness, so i have an extremely difficult time knowing when my sugars go down low. at least most of the time. sometimes, i can tell. very weird. i also suffer from depression, which makes controlling my sugars that much more difficult. i try my best, but sometimes i just don't care. i know, very bad, but it has just become too much for me to handle. i think god has it in for me. was it something i did? sorry, have a weird sense of humor. only way i can get thru. that and the occasional trip to the topless bar. sorry, please don't read if you are under 18. i meant going to church. ok, thanks for listening. take care. bye-bye
danny
8 Times: Diagnosis, inflected foot, DKA, absyss, pneumonia, DKA, inflected throat, pneumonia
most of them since I left for college. I'm hoping to change this trend.
I had a similar experience with my first DKA. My best friend came with me to the hospital (I went in an ambulence b/c I couldn't walk). When we were in the E.R. one of the nurses asked him "What is this?" Showing him my pump.
He said - "shouldn't you know?" Yeah, he can be a smart-ass.
I really don't think people know much about T1s - but it's scarey to think that the hospital staff doesn't either.
He also told the nurses that my viens are hard to find. The first one proceeded to stick me about 8 different times until she finally called for a specialist. I was passed out at the time - so I really didn't care - but he was freaking out.
I'm really lucky to have friends that have looked out for me like that.
Once to ED, for hypoglycemia. I was admitted though. never for DKA. I never seem to be affected by it. I spill ketones, yes, but nausea and vomitting? hasn't happened, ***BIG KNOCK ON WOOD***