DKA - how was it for you?

[Northerner]

A lot of people here have mentioned that they have suffered DKA, I'm just wondering how much my experience of it was down to that or the accompanying stomach virus they now think I also had.

I started being ill one night, quite out of the blue. I was very sick, and then continued to be sick every hour or so. I couldn't eat and couldn't even keep water down. I assumed I had a virus, and that I would recover in a couple of days, so put up with it, trying to drink what I could. This went on for four days and I realised I had lost 17 pounds in weight in that time - I was skinny to start with, so it was very significant, went down to 8st 4. I eventually called for the ambulance when I found trouble breathing, my heart was racing and I couldn't see myself getting any better on my own.

Within a day I had got my appetite back. I spent 8 days in hospital, feeling guilty about taking up a bed because I felt so good, but they were concerned about my heart. By the time I left my weight had gone back up to 9st 6!

A couple of months later they told me the heart problem was actually myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart caused by a virus and now fully recovered.

Does DKA on its own make you this sick, or was it the virus?

 

[annemarie08]

A lot of people here have mentioned that they have suffered DKA, I'm just wondering how much my experience of it was down to that or the accompanying stomach virus they now think I also had.

I started being ill one night, quite out of the blue. I was very sick, and then continued to be sick every hour or so. I couldn't eat and couldn't even keep water down. I assumed I had a virus, and that I would recover in a couple of days, so put up with it, trying to drink what I could. This went on for four days and I realised I had lost 17 pounds in weight in that time - I was skinny to start with, so it was very significant, went down to 8st 4. I eventually called for the ambulance when I found trouble breathing, my heart was racing and I couldn't see myself getting any better on my own.

Within a day I had got my appetite back. I spent 8 days in hospital, feeling guilty about taking up a bed because I felt so good, but they were concerned about my heart. By the time I left my weight had gone back up to 9st 6!

A couple of months later they told me the heart problem was actually myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart caused by a virus and now fully recovered.

Does DKA on its own make you this sick, or was it the virus?

DKA makes you very sick and it comes on very quickly. i had tooth ache for a few days due to an ulcer and was doing the usual pain killer lark. on the friday evening my two children went out and i layed on the sofa all evening just feeling a bit under the weather. on saturday i felt abit queasy and had no appetite so had an early night, during the night i woke up feeling ill, sick, stomach pains etc and put it down to a bug, i couldnt keep anything down even water. on the sunday i felt like s*it and couldnt keep awake i was also struggling to breathe i was like that all day, luckily my daughter (shes 15) realised something was'nt right and called the doc, 6hrs later he turned up by which time she had already phoned an ambulance as i was unconcious and they couldnt wake me. i had gone from 9 stone to 7 1/2 stone in 2 days. i woke up in whiston hospital 3 days later on 2 drips and a catheter!!! they had apparently been checking my heart because they thought i/d have a heart attack!!

 

[sugarfreerach]

mine was my won fault as i stopped my insulin for a week. again ill- no appetite and when i drank water it came back up again. sweats and just wanted to sleep, dad rang an ambulance after a whole day of being sick every half an hour whether id drank or ate or not! the ambulance man had a go and mum as if a diabetic is sick more than three times then we need to call an ambulance (who knew that!?) they took me in and hooked me up to a drip, sliding scale etc. i was in for a week but i went down to 7st- (i also had an eating disorder so at the time i was quite pleased!) i know now it was incredibly stupid and irresponsible or me and i leant my lesson the hard way!

 

[WorzelGummidge]

I brought it on myself when I was about 14. I was being bullied at school and being in hospital nearly dying seemed perferable to going to school - so much so that as soon as I was released I did it again.

First I had the stomachache I always get when my BG is high. I felt very full even though I hadn't eaten and then I started throwing up. It only took about 12 hours of no insulin for the vomiting to start, and I was in hospital about 6 hours later. I threw up everything in my stomach then threw up my stomach lining becuse nothing else was left. The acid burned my throat and I was so exhausted but couldn't stop vomiting. Everything in me was crying out for a drink but whenever I took a sip I threw it back up. I don't remember much from that night except 6 or 7 doctors round my hospital bed trying to stop me dying.

It was truly, truly awful. I still wish that my bullies could realise what it was like, so they'd know that the pain they put me through was even worse.

 

[Alan221]

My experience of DKA was unexpected to say the least. I felt flu-like one Monday morning when I got up for work, and started to be sick as I went into the shower. I stayed off work that day, but went in again Tues/Wed/Thurs. I was still feeling rough on Friday and stayed at home. My wife persuaded me to go to the doctors on Sat night and I was diagnosed with a chest infection and dehydration. I wouldn't let him near me with a needle for a blood test as i'm needle-phobic. On Sunday morning the paramedics were called out - initially I was still resisting anything sharp anywhere near me, but eventually I ended up in the back of an ambulance with a drip in and was taken to A&E. I awoke 4 days later with all sorts of tubes hanging out of me (arms, leg, neck, nose and mouth) - one of my worst nightmares. I look at it as a positive experience though as I believe I'm a better person for it, but I could have done without the dialysis!