Garthion
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi one and all,
I have, through no fault of my own (or my Diabetes) just spent a week and a half in Hospital with high fever and Vomiting. Started Last Tuesday morning with me being sick at 1am then roughly hourly until 6 when I tried to phone in sick for work but my assistant manager wouldn't have any of it demanding I went in for at least an hour (stupid!!!) so I did, in that hour I was sick 3 times, before returning home and, at 8:45, (I start work at 7am) I was sick for a continuous 20mins (due to the fact I had been out in the cold) I kept vomiting all morning until my younger brother came home from work and phoned my GP (I had no energy left at this point) who made an emergency referral to Good Hope Hospital's AMU to which my Brother then took me. (I did a BM before leaving the house, it read 18.1) We got to the hospital and I was seen in 15mins (a new record for Good Hope) being taken straight to a bed in AMU and asked toi sit down in the chair so they could do the obligatory blood tests (Standard vacu tube types, arterial blood gasses and blood cultures) My tempetature was taken as is standard at which point I discovered that I had a very high temperature (41.9) they gave me paracetamol tablets to start bringing my temp down, BIG mistake, within seconds they came back up, alomg with some rather green bile.
When they were trying to get my bloods they were having a great deal of difficulty as I was severely dehydrated due to having kept absolutely nothing down all day, not even water. This prompted them to start me on emidiate (sp) fluids (1 litre in 2 hours) this was straight Saline, nothing else at this point. It took the nurses and doctors 4 attempts to get the canular into the back of my right hand! One thing to note here, due to me having had severe headaches for the best part of 8 months I have developed a very high pain threshold, these attempts at putting the first canular in hurt more than I can describe without being banned because of how little fluids were in my body at the time.
Once the canular was in they "double vented" (a pipe that allows 2 types of drip enter through the same canular) so that I could be put on a sliding scale (non-ketoic) insulin regime. My blood gasses had come back by now showing that I wasn't going DKA (Thank God) The first bag of saline was forced through to start getting me re-hydrated and I was left for a short while until one of the on-call doctors was available to see me.
Thew Doctor made the decision that I should have a chest X-Ray (which happened within 1/2 hour) and be put on an antibiotic regime by IV. The first dose of which was started after the X-Ray. This X-Ray came back clear by the way 😉
That was the end of the first day, the night waslike any other night in Hospital, half an hour's sleep then BM checks and obs every 2 hours, the midnight one showing my teperature had rissen to a phenomenal 42.5 degrees so the window behind my bed was opened to cool me down and I was given some more paracetamol tablets (yep, you guessed it, the came back up fairly quickly!)
Wednesday, bright sunlight steaming through the window behind my bed, my right arm freezing cold and in a LOT of pain, the canular had slipped, coming out of my vein over night and the insulin and saline staring to go into my hand's tissues. The canular was removed when I calle for assistance and showed the nurse and a new one placed in the crook of my right arm (really uncormfortable place, you can't bend your arm!) The consultants came around at 8am (during breakfast, of which I had none due to still feeling sick) and started the usual prodding and poking, including getting me to look straight at the window, which I couldn't due to it making my severe headache much worse, making me feel like I was going to be sick again and really hurting the backs of my eyes. Following this the Consultants made their first mention of the M illness (Meningitis) (I was vaccinated for the C varient at college butr not the other 2) along with ideas about Glandular Fever, Syphalis and even Apendicitis.
I was booked an Ultra sound exam to rule out Glandular fever and abcesses which happened on Thursday (results came back negative) before the consultants walked off muttering about Lumbar punctures and CT scans (Neither of which happened)
Shortly after one of the 2 Doctors I regularly see in the Diabetes Clinic came in and saw me there so arranged for me to be transferred to the Diabetes specialist ward (Ward 17) where the care would be more tailored to my needs. I was moved in the afternoon and stayed there until my discharge yesterday afternoon.
Once on W17 the antibiotics were changed and I started getting the paracetamol through a second canular that was inserted just below my right wrist. I was also given Codeine to alleviate my headache (these were very small tablets that I could swallow and keep down especially after I was given an anti-sickness drug through canular No3)
It took until Friday for my temperature to stabalise but still I was kept on the sliding scale and fluids (see I said I was dehydrated) until Monday lunch, by which point I was eating and drinking normally, with only one or two bouts of nausea since Thursday Morning.
The change in antibiotics worked wonderfully, the infection was overcome and (for the first time in 8 months) I had no headache by Friday. I was kept in over the weekend so that I could continue to be monitored and given the AB via IV (it worked better that way) Monday came and the consultants asked that I had the lines removed for lunch time and my BMs monitored for at least another 24 hours with the last 3 doses of AB being administered via the canular (No2) rather than orally. My BMs then went to pot for a short while as my body adjusted to the lack of continuous Insulin after the pump was removed (I normally inject my insulin 4 times daily) with results peaking at 19.9 at dinner from being 4.4 at lunch! All was well the next morning (not, my BM was 2.2) and all of Tuesday as my BMs were taken every 2 hours whilst I read a book, watched a bit of TV (Till the money ran out in the system) and then got incredibly bored, so much so that I was seriously considering self discharging to get away from there. Anyway, Tuesday night I got no sleep at all due to another patient fidgeting and shouting all night
and Wednesday (Yesterday) I was given the all clear, with my discharge happening after lunch so that I could have my Insulin and something to eat before leaving.
All in all, not an experience I would wish to repeat but at least I am a lot better now than I was last Tuesday. This has made me think that I should try to ask for an insulin pump as I felt better with the continuous insulin than the seperate injections and my BMs were more regular. I shall have to see at my next check up.
One other note, this infection could not be identified, there was nothing in my blood, urine, lungs or Glands, it was not viral (antibiotics would have no effect) this left the consultants with only the thought that the infection had been in the fluid around my brain, and if so, I was lucky to have gotten there when I did as it could have killed me, sobering thoughts.
postscript
The assistant manager at my work who made me go in for the hour has been (or is being) reprimanded especially after my manager was informed that I could have died from this. She (the AM) wouldn't speak to me today when I took a Doctor's note to my boss to cover me until next Tuesday as I really do not want a relapse.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to write it all down while I was thinking about it, I just hope I never have to go through any of that again, which has caused me to become slightly needle phobic as each time I had blood taken the pain was excruciating, which means, for me to feel like this, it has got to have been way more than most people would cope with.
Can't think of any more to write so, thank you for reading this, if you got this far, and I hope that no-one else ever has to go through this like me, I've had DKA and know how bad that is, but this made me hypersensitive to pain.
Goodnight.
I have, through no fault of my own (or my Diabetes) just spent a week and a half in Hospital with high fever and Vomiting. Started Last Tuesday morning with me being sick at 1am then roughly hourly until 6 when I tried to phone in sick for work but my assistant manager wouldn't have any of it demanding I went in for at least an hour (stupid!!!) so I did, in that hour I was sick 3 times, before returning home and, at 8:45, (I start work at 7am) I was sick for a continuous 20mins (due to the fact I had been out in the cold) I kept vomiting all morning until my younger brother came home from work and phoned my GP (I had no energy left at this point) who made an emergency referral to Good Hope Hospital's AMU to which my Brother then took me. (I did a BM before leaving the house, it read 18.1) We got to the hospital and I was seen in 15mins (a new record for Good Hope) being taken straight to a bed in AMU and asked toi sit down in the chair so they could do the obligatory blood tests (Standard vacu tube types, arterial blood gasses and blood cultures) My tempetature was taken as is standard at which point I discovered that I had a very high temperature (41.9) they gave me paracetamol tablets to start bringing my temp down, BIG mistake, within seconds they came back up, alomg with some rather green bile.
When they were trying to get my bloods they were having a great deal of difficulty as I was severely dehydrated due to having kept absolutely nothing down all day, not even water. This prompted them to start me on emidiate (sp) fluids (1 litre in 2 hours) this was straight Saline, nothing else at this point. It took the nurses and doctors 4 attempts to get the canular into the back of my right hand! One thing to note here, due to me having had severe headaches for the best part of 8 months I have developed a very high pain threshold, these attempts at putting the first canular in hurt more than I can describe without being banned because of how little fluids were in my body at the time.
Once the canular was in they "double vented" (a pipe that allows 2 types of drip enter through the same canular) so that I could be put on a sliding scale (non-ketoic) insulin regime. My blood gasses had come back by now showing that I wasn't going DKA (Thank God) The first bag of saline was forced through to start getting me re-hydrated and I was left for a short while until one of the on-call doctors was available to see me.
Thew Doctor made the decision that I should have a chest X-Ray (which happened within 1/2 hour) and be put on an antibiotic regime by IV. The first dose of which was started after the X-Ray. This X-Ray came back clear by the way 😉
That was the end of the first day, the night waslike any other night in Hospital, half an hour's sleep then BM checks and obs every 2 hours, the midnight one showing my teperature had rissen to a phenomenal 42.5 degrees so the window behind my bed was opened to cool me down and I was given some more paracetamol tablets (yep, you guessed it, the came back up fairly quickly!)
Wednesday, bright sunlight steaming through the window behind my bed, my right arm freezing cold and in a LOT of pain, the canular had slipped, coming out of my vein over night and the insulin and saline staring to go into my hand's tissues. The canular was removed when I calle for assistance and showed the nurse and a new one placed in the crook of my right arm (really uncormfortable place, you can't bend your arm!) The consultants came around at 8am (during breakfast, of which I had none due to still feeling sick) and started the usual prodding and poking, including getting me to look straight at the window, which I couldn't due to it making my severe headache much worse, making me feel like I was going to be sick again and really hurting the backs of my eyes. Following this the Consultants made their first mention of the M illness (Meningitis) (I was vaccinated for the C varient at college butr not the other 2) along with ideas about Glandular Fever, Syphalis and even Apendicitis.
I was booked an Ultra sound exam to rule out Glandular fever and abcesses which happened on Thursday (results came back negative) before the consultants walked off muttering about Lumbar punctures and CT scans (Neither of which happened)
Shortly after one of the 2 Doctors I regularly see in the Diabetes Clinic came in and saw me there so arranged for me to be transferred to the Diabetes specialist ward (Ward 17) where the care would be more tailored to my needs. I was moved in the afternoon and stayed there until my discharge yesterday afternoon.
Once on W17 the antibiotics were changed and I started getting the paracetamol through a second canular that was inserted just below my right wrist. I was also given Codeine to alleviate my headache (these were very small tablets that I could swallow and keep down especially after I was given an anti-sickness drug through canular No3)
It took until Friday for my temperature to stabalise but still I was kept on the sliding scale and fluids (see I said I was dehydrated) until Monday lunch, by which point I was eating and drinking normally, with only one or two bouts of nausea since Thursday Morning.
The change in antibiotics worked wonderfully, the infection was overcome and (for the first time in 8 months) I had no headache by Friday. I was kept in over the weekend so that I could continue to be monitored and given the AB via IV (it worked better that way) Monday came and the consultants asked that I had the lines removed for lunch time and my BMs monitored for at least another 24 hours with the last 3 doses of AB being administered via the canular (No2) rather than orally. My BMs then went to pot for a short while as my body adjusted to the lack of continuous Insulin after the pump was removed (I normally inject my insulin 4 times daily) with results peaking at 19.9 at dinner from being 4.4 at lunch! All was well the next morning (not, my BM was 2.2) and all of Tuesday as my BMs were taken every 2 hours whilst I read a book, watched a bit of TV (Till the money ran out in the system) and then got incredibly bored, so much so that I was seriously considering self discharging to get away from there. Anyway, Tuesday night I got no sleep at all due to another patient fidgeting and shouting all night
and Wednesday (Yesterday) I was given the all clear, with my discharge happening after lunch so that I could have my Insulin and something to eat before leaving.All in all, not an experience I would wish to repeat but at least I am a lot better now than I was last Tuesday. This has made me think that I should try to ask for an insulin pump as I felt better with the continuous insulin than the seperate injections and my BMs were more regular. I shall have to see at my next check up.
One other note, this infection could not be identified, there was nothing in my blood, urine, lungs or Glands, it was not viral (antibiotics would have no effect) this left the consultants with only the thought that the infection had been in the fluid around my brain, and if so, I was lucky to have gotten there when I did as it could have killed me, sobering thoughts.
postscript
The assistant manager at my work who made me go in for the hour has been (or is being) reprimanded especially after my manager was informed that I could have died from this. She (the AM) wouldn't speak to me today when I took a Doctor's note to my boss to cover me until next Tuesday as I really do not want a relapse.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to write it all down while I was thinking about it, I just hope I never have to go through any of that again, which has caused me to become slightly needle phobic as each time I had blood taken the pain was excruciating, which means, for me to feel like this, it has got to have been way more than most people would cope with.
Can't think of any more to write so, thank you for reading this, if you got this far, and I hope that no-one else ever has to go through this like me, I've had DKA and know how bad that is, but this made me hypersensitive to pain.
Goodnight.
