HONK?....Casualty

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Ellowyne

Ellowyne

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I was just wanting to know if anyone can explain what HONK Please?...Last night on Casualty they featured a lady, oldish, who was admitted with Gangreen (Spelling may not be correct) Feet, and said that she had been neglecting herself ad that she was suffering with HONK....When they went back to the ladies house she had all biscuits and so forth on the side!...She was Type 2 Diabetic, they did'nt say what treatment she was having, anyway, the lady died of a silent something?....It was to do with her heart :confused:

I looked up Honk and it said hat is was a condition that occured of severel weeks, and that the Blood sugars ranged from 40mml/60mml?....I don't undersand the conversion from 40MML/60MML, to how we would read it?

I just felt really worried after watching the programme, I am trying to reduce my Insulin so I can lose some weight so my sugars have been higher...but I have lost 5lb, no food change, just reduced Insulin....Now I am worried that I may become ill as I try to reduce it more, but I can't cope wit this weight gain, I've put on almost a stone in weight since starting the Insulin, my joints can't cope....:(

Any thoughts please?.....Love Ellowyne xXx
 
Hi Ellowynne, I saw the episode too and was interested to see how they treated it. HONK is a bit like DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis), which you may have heard some of us talking about, which affects mostly Type 1 and is caused by a lack of insulin.

In HONK, however, the body does not produce ketones (acidic by-products of burning fat for energy) as most Type 2s are still producing insulin, so there is no risk of acidosis. However, it does cause blood sugar levels to rise very high and can be just as dangerous as DKA, possibly leading to coma or organ failure. Basically, it is like out of control blood sugar levels - the 40-60 mmol/l might be typical levels and can be compared to 'healthy levels' between 4 and 7!

In the episode, they seemed more concerned about her foot (looked pretty horrible, didn't it!). She died of a 'Silent MI - a myocardial infarction or heart attack. The suggestion was that damage caused by the diabetes to her autonomic nervous system meant that she didn't feel it happening. I remember when I was in hospital they said I had had a heart attack, but might not have felt it, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Don't worry about it Ellowynne - as long as you are looking after your levels it's highly unlikely to happen to you 🙂 I know you are having to compromise your levels a little in an effort to lose some weight, but do be careful and don't let them climb too high!
 
Thank you Northerner, I think I understand, it takes me time to get things!

My blood sugars are just up and down really, my mornings are still at 9/10's, dispite upping my Levimer to 31 Units!....My unch Units of Novorepid were at 11 Units and evening meal 20/26 Units....even though I have cut down on my carbs I still neeeded this amount to keep my sugars down. I've now cut my Novorepid to 18/22 at Dinner, at 2/3 hours my bloods are at 13/14, at other times, 8/10.

Strangly,after been rushed into hospital agin last week, Gall bladder pain, and my blood pressure dropped to 80/50...For a few days after getting out of hospital, my b'sugars were really low for me, around the 7/8 most of thE time?....Then, they began to rise again :( It was a very scary time, I was driving and had to pull over because I was feeling I was going to pass out, I managed to phone my partner and, the most I remember is the Ambulance arriving and them frantickly trying to get a drip in me!.....Again they offered me the Gall bladder removal, but I just can't go through with it with the weight I am, I just know, in my heart, I know I WILL DIE!

I am convinced I will die by the end of this year...I can't help my feelings, I know this disease is going to kill me, or related to this, i.e Heart attack or some kind of failure. I want to come off the Insulin, go really low carb, say 20 gramms aday?....But again, I am scared to get it wrong...I told the Drs how I feel about the operation and that I will die, they said that I may end up being rushd in and be so unwell that I will hae no choice, like if my Pancreaus becomes infected or inflammed....I need to just give up the food, then I wil be ok, no Insulin then I will lose weight, I have no other choice, other than the get fatter and die anyway...sorry to be so down, just feel so painfuly depressed and lonely with this.
 
So sorry to hear you are feeling so low, my dear. :( You have so much to deal with all at once it's no wonder it becomes overwhelming. Are you getting any professional help to help you lose weight, like from a dietician? I think that the stress you are under must also be contributing to your raised levels, so do try and find some time to try and relax. Have they given you a target weight for you to achieve before you can have the gall bladder operation?

Big hugs to you {{{{Ellowyne}}}}
 
Ellowyne, i'm also sending hugs (weird, i'm not a big hugger in real life, but over the internet i feel less shy...). Awww, i wish i could reassure you that you'll be ok, but i'm not a doctor and i don't think i've ever met you. I guess all i can say is keep going! Losing weight is tough at any time (all those stupid celebrities make it look easy but they have people to cook thier healthy meals for them and shout at them to go to the gym and all...it's not so easy when you're your own PA..) but especially so when you're diabetic. I'm too chicken to stand on the scales but have totally wimped out of going to the gym this week. lots of the girls at work are trying to lose wieght and are haveing sucess at slimming world. personally the idea of being organised into a group to lose wieght doesn't appeal, also they all tend to get excited about treats and things, most of which i've already cut out and have little intention of letting back in...They tell me they have programs for diabetics, so maybe that might appeal to you, or not. Your gall bladder sounds poorly too, which is added stress and worry for you, no wonder you feel down and frustrated.
I guess you could trying cutting a little bit of carb or whatever out at a time, to give your body time to adjust, and i reakon that that way, you can't go too far wrong. I'd say the biggest problem with eating less carbs is having less energy, if you felt really tired (or having headaches, says my DSN) you know you've gone too far. You're type 2 arn't you? Has anybody offered you Liraglutide or Exenatide (Victoza or Byetta)? They not let you take them with your gall bladder problems (more likley if you have kidney or liver problems to he honest), but they're both supossed to be good for weight loss as well as decreasing insulin resistance.
Good luck with your struggles, keep posting
Rachel
 
Thank you for the kind messages...I do appretiate the time taken to respond. They won't let me take Victoza or Byetta because I have been hospitalized with suspected Pancreatus, and my blood results have had readings to indicate that my Pancreaus has been affected by my Gall stones?...Not sure of the blood test they done?....I think I need to get organised and try this low carb diet, I can't see ay other way around it...Just feeling so low and alone, it helps to come here though, thank you so much for your support.

Love Ellowyne xXx
 
I was going to write about HONKs...Aside from being one of the best medical accronyms ever..(although i've always been amused by SOB for Shortness of Breath)...*pauses to search for medical dictionary...fails....pulls out trusty Grechen Becker.*.she mentions something called HHNS, which sounds similar, Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemia non-ketotic syndrome. I think HONK just misses the hyperglycemic bit off because you never get one with high blood sugar. As Northy explained, it's like diabetic ketoacidosis without the ketones and tends to happen mostly in type2s with high blood sugar levels.
i think that the staff suspected i might have had this when i was first diagnosed. My blood sugar was at around 19, it had probably been higher, and had been for several days, maybe weeks, maybe months i'm guessing. My vision had been blurry over the weekend, and it had finally freaked me out enough to go to the minor injuries unit at my hospital, where i work (coz i was daft enough to go into work and managed untill around 10.30 when at teatime i was conviced by my collegues that something was deffinately not right, and no, i didn't have GP then either). They quickly ushered me across to Accident and Emergency, with "we think you've got diabetes...". A and E strapped me up to an ecg machine, kept taking my blood pressure and sent me for a chest x ray...on a trolley. No explainations. "but my heart is fine, it doesn't hurt, and can walk!!!" didn't seem to convice anyone. The point is, they did seem in two minds about ketones. (wonders subsquently if this might mean i'm LADA), and what i hadn't known, and nobody told me was that both HONK and Ketoacidosis can cause heart failure. I don't think i had it.
I think HONK is pretty rare, and tends to happen if your blood sugar has been high for a long time.
 
You're not alone Ellowyne, we're all here for you. We know how hard you have struggled, and hearing friendly and understanding voices can mean a lot, so please keep posting and don't lose hope 🙂
 
ellowyne all i can say isBIG HUGS xxxxx pm me is you want x🙂
 
Hi there

I don't know if this is going to help you but I just wanted to let you know about the gall bladder thing that I can totally understand why you are worried about.

I was rushed to hospital a couple of years ago with a DKA (I was a wrongly diagnosed Type 1) and they said that the cause of the DKA was an infected gall bladder (Coli Cystitis). I only knew this when I woke up in ICU with a day of my life missing. After being told that I was lucky to be alive, they offered me the operation to have my gall bladder removed. I looked at the situation I was in and said yes immediately. There was a month after finally being released from hospital and the operation and, having never had an operation in my life, it started to look really really scary. I was petrified the morning of the operation but knew that it was the best thing to do. I looked at my husband (boyfriend at the time) and did not want him to go through seeing me nearly dead ever again.

I went in, was put in a room, taken down to theatre and given the anesthetic and was told that I would soon be asleep. I have no idea what happened next as I woke up in recovery and felt okay. I am not going to lie to you, the first few days was not pleasant as I recovered from the operation but I soon started to feel like me again and no more shoulder pain, no more stomach pains and lots of attention at home. All in all, it went really well.

I know at the moment it seems really scary but after it is all over, you will wonder what all the fuss was about. I had a laproscopic procedure so the scarring is minimal and apparently even kind of cute (according to hubby).

I would recommend speaking to more people who have had the procedure, just to let you know about it. Think about it and, trust me, I am not telling you what to do (I hate that) but it is worth putting some thought into before the decision is taken out of your hands.

Best of luck and I am thinking of you and sending lots of lovely thoughts your way.

Sarah xxxxxx
 
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